After putting himself in the middle of the historic tensions between Israelis and Palestinians this week, U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday wraps up his first trip to Israel since becoming president. He then moves on to another of America's closest allies in the region - Jordan, a military and intelligence partner, which has been facing trying times.
Obama is devoting his last hours in Israel and the Palestinian territories to cultural endeavors.
With Israeli President Shimon Peres and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the president and Secretary of State John Kerry visited the grave of Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Zionism, where Obama placed a stone on top of the tomb.
From there, the delegation went to the grave of Yitzhak Rabin, the former Israeli Prime Minister who was assassinated in 1995. Obama also laid a wreath and a stone there. The stone for Rabin's grave came from the grounds of the Martin Luther King, Jr. memorial in Washington.
Obama and the Israeli leaders also visited the Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem, where the president turned up the "eternal flame" of remembrance of the 6,000,000 Jewish victims of Nazi death camps in World War II.
Before continuing on to the last stop of his trip, Obama with visit the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, which is on the West Bank, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Obama then travels to Jordan, where he will meet with King Abdullah II, who has faced harsh criticism lately from his country's people.
READ MORE: Obama travels from Israel and Palestinian lands to Jordan
President Obama arrives in Ramallah for his first visit to the West Bank since becoming President of the United States.
Jessica Yellin is live from Ramallah. John King is live from Jerusalem.
President Obama arrives in Tel Aviv for the start of a historic Middle East visit today. He is scheduled to meet separately with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas during the trip. The president is expected discuss the United States’ commitment to preventing a nuclear-armed Iran with Netanyahu and restarting negotiations between Israel and Palestine.
His plane lands in less than 90 minutes but his mission is taking on a new urgency at this hour because there is mounting evidence the Syrian government has used chemical weapons on its own people near the city of Aleppo.
Sara Sidner is live in Jerusalem for "Early Start" this morning with the latest on how developments in Syria might affect the president’s agenda on this trip.