President Obama visits Mideast

President Obama waved at the end of his speech to Israeli students on March 21 in Jerusalem. This is Obama’s first visit as president to the region and his itinerary includes meetings with the Palestinian and Israeli leaders as well as a visit to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

Scroll through for more scenes from the trip.

President Obama strained to hear a heckler, saying he would not feel at home without hecklers.

Palestinians smoked water-pipes at a coffee shop as President Obama appeared on television in the West Bank city of Ramallah on March 21. Obama’s visit to the West Bank was largely met by indifference.

President Obama and Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, center, greeted members of a local youth dance group after watching them perform during their visit to the Al-Bireh Youth Center in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

President Obama and President Mahmoud Abbas shook hands at a news conference at the Muqata Presidential Compound in Ramallah on March 21.

President Obama and his delegates raised their glass in a toast with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, center-right, during a dinner in Jerusalem.

Obama and Netanyahu viewed a robotic snake used in search and rescue at an Israeli technology exhibition in the Israel Museum on March 21 in Jerusalem.

President Obama and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, front left, walked along to red carpet for a troop review during Obama’s arrival ceremony at the Muqata Presidential Compound in the West Bank town of Ramallah.

Palestinians burned pictures of President Obama and an Israeli flag during a protest in Gaza City against Obama’s visit on March 21.

President Obama and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, listened as James Schneider, director of the Israel Museum, described the Dead Sea Scrolls on display in the Shrine of the Book in the Israeli Museum, Jerusalem.

Obama’s emphasis on reaching a Israeli-Palestinian peace deal was underscored when Gaza militants launched rockets into Israel. The two rockets fired at the southern town of Sderot caused damage but no injuries.

Obama and Israeli President Shimon Peres held a press conference on March 20. Eager to reassure an anxious ally, Obama promised to work closely with Israel and do whatever is necessary to keep Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.

President Shimon Peres watched Obama plant a magnolia tree, a descendant of an original magnolia tree from the White House grounds, during a planting ceremony at the president’s residence in Jerusalem on March 20.

President Obama was escorted by Israeli President Shimon Peres following their meeting.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu watched as his wife, Sara Netanyahu, greeted President Obama at the prime minister’s residence on March 20.

Secretary of State John Kerry shook hands with Israeli President Shimon Peres during a welcome ceremony.

President Obama signd a guest book at the residence of Israeli President Shimon Peres in Jerusalem.

Arriving on his first trip to Israel as president, President Obama told the Israeli people at an extravagant welcoming ceremony that ‘‘peace must come to the Holy Land.’’ Obama said US backing for Israel will be a constant as the Middle East roils with revolution and Iran continues work on its nuclear program.

President Obama gave a speech during the welcoming ceremony at Ben Gurion airport in Tel Aviv on March 20. Obama declared the use, deployment, or transfer of the weapons would be a ‘‘red line’’ for possible military intervention by the United States in the Syrian conflict.

Obama was flanked by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right, and President Shimon Peres, left, upon his arrival.

Israeli naval officer honor guards waited for the arrival of President Obama.

Obama joked that he was ‘‘getting away from Congress’’ by visiting Israel.

Israeli soldiers scuffled with a Palestinian activist wearing a mask of President Obama during a protest in the West Bank town of Hebron.

Relatives of prisoners of Palestinians held in Israeli jails burned pictures of President Obama during a protest against his visit to the region at the Jabalyia refugee camp, in the northern Gaza Strip, on March 20.

President Obama was greeted by Israel’s President Shimon Peres.

Obama’s main focus is on an Israel that is increasingly wary of developments in Syria and Iran.

President Obama walked on the red carpet with Israel’s President Shimon Peres, left, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, right during an official welcoming ceremony.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, left, and President Obama shooks hands during the welcoming ceremony.

A Palestinian man held a poster during a protest against Obama’s visit in the West Bank city of Jenin on March. 20. About 200 activists erected about a dozen tents in an area just outside of Jerusalem to draw attention to Israel’s policy of building settlements.

An ultra-Orthodox Jewish man walked past posters calling for Obama to free Jonathan Pollard from a US prison. Pollard, a former US Navy intelligence analyst, has been serving a life sentence in the United States since he was caught spying for Israel in the 1980s.

A limousine carrying President Obama drove through Jerusalem. Obama’s itinerary includes meetings with the Palestinian and Israeli leaders as well as a visit to the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem.

President Barack Obama speaks at the Jerusalem Convention Center in Jerusalem, Israel, Thursday, March 21, 2013, (AP Photo/Pablo Martinez Monsivais)