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Obama in West Bank; Rockets fired at Israel from Gaza


Screen grab from Reuters video shows Israeli authorities viewing rocket fired by Gaza militants that landed in back yard of home in southern town of Sderot, causing damage but no injuries on March 21, 2013. It happened as President Obama was visiting Israel, but four rockets fired landed nowhere near Mr. Obama. / Reuters video


Updated 5:30 a.m. ET

RAMALLAH, West Bank President Obama is in the West Bank for brief meetings with Palestinian leaders on the prospects for restarting Mideast peace talks with Israel.

Mr. Obama and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas were to hold a working lunch, followed by a news conference. Mr. Obama and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad will then visit a youth center in Ramallah.

Expectations are low for any type of breakthrough on the peace process. Mr. Obama says he is focused on hearing from both parties on what it will take to restart negotiations.

The U.S. president is on the second day of his visit to the region. He was to return to Jerusalem later Thursday for a speech to Israeli young people.

The importance of reaching an Israeli-Palestinian peace pact was underscored Thursday when Palestinian militants in Gaza launched rockets into southern Israel.

Before heading to the West Bank, Mr. Obama visited Israel's national museum -- where he inspected the Dead Sea Scrolls, which highlight the Jewish people's ancient connection to the land that is now Israel.

Mr. Obama was expected to tell the Palestinians that the creation of a Palestinian state remains a priority.

He was not bringing a new plan to relaunch peace talks, but in meetings with the Palestinians and a speech to Israeli students later in the day, he was to appeal to both sides to halt unilateral actions that make negotiations more difficult.

Those troublesome actions include continued construction of Jewish housing settlements on land claimed by the Palestinians and repeated Palestinian efforts to achieve recognition at the United Nations in the absence of a peace agreement.

On Wednesday, Mr. Obama reaffirmed the unwavering U.S. commitment to Israel's security and noted there had been no fatal attacks on Israelis from the West Bank, which is controlled by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

That calm has not extended to Gaza, which is run by the militant Islamic Hamas movement.

As Mr. Obama began his program Thursday, Israeli police said militants in Gaza had fired two rockets at the southern town of Sderot.

One of the rockets exploded in the courtyard of a house in Sderot early in the morning, causing damage but no injuries, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld. The other landed in an open field. Sirens wailed in Sderot shortly after the 7 a.m. rocket attack, forcing residents on their way to work or school to run to bomb shelters.

The Israeli military said four rockets were fired in all, but the third and fourth landed in Gaza.

As a presidential candidate in 2008, Mr. Obama visited the border town, which is frequently targeted by rocket attacks from the nearby Gaza Strip.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

But the Israeli newspaper Haaretz notes that, "Earlier this week a senior Hamas official threatened retaliation against Israel for what he called frequent violations of the ceasefire agreement, by Israel. The senior official referred to a number of incidents where IDF (Israeli Defense Force) forces opened fire at Palestinians approaching the Gaza security fence."

Over the past decade, Gaza militants have fired thousands of rockets and mortar shells at Israel, prompting Israel, with considerable U.S. assistance, to develop its "Iron Dome" missile defense system, which it credits with intercepting hundreds of rockets.

Immediately after his arrival in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, Mr. Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu toured an Iron Dome battery at Ben Gurion International Airport in a vivid display of U.S. security assistance to Israel.

Hamas has ruled Gaza since 2007 after ousting the rival Palestinian Fatah group in bloody street fighting. Fatah and the Palestinian Authority, led by Abbas, now govern only part of the West Bank.

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