US Secretary of State John Kerry has arrived in Israel to broker negotiations between Israeli and Palestinian leaders.

Mr Kerry is expected to take part in the Yom Hashoah ceremony at Yad Vashem this morning followed by a meeting with Israeli President Shimon Peres in the afternoon.

Transcript of President Barack Obama's speech to Israeli students in Jerusalem - March 21 2013

“Well, it is a great honor to be with you here in Jerusalem, and I’m so grateful for the welcome that I’ve received from the people of Israel. Thank you. I bring with me the support of the American people - and the friendship that binds us together.

US Secretary of State John Kerry may use this week's US presidential trip to Israel to begin peace talks based on the 2002 Saudi peace initiative, reports in the Israeli media suggest.

Defence Minister Ehud Barak told the annual American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) conference on Sunday that Israel would consider taking "unilateral steps" to solve ongoing tensions with the Palestinians in the absence of a "reasonable, fair, interim agreement".

US Secretary of State John Kerry is to raise concerns directly with the Turkish Prime Minister for saying that Zionism is a “crime against humanity” on par with antisemitism and fascism, Reuters has reported.

President Obama’s nominee for Defence Secretary, former Nebraska Senator Chuck Hagel, has been confirmed by the Senate, ending several weeks of deeply acrimonious hearings in Congress.

The new US Secretary of State, John Kerry, honoured the UK with a visit at the start of his first diplomatic tour in the post and dished out a lesson in how it feels to be a small nation patronised by a superpower. There was ample briefing in advance that the focus of his discussions with the UK government would be Syria and the stalled Middle East peace process.

US Senator John Kerry plans to restart the peace process in the Middle East if he becomes secretary of state, the American Ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro told Army Radio on Friday.

This announcement confirms what Mr Kerry said in his US Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday, where he said he hoped the Israeli elections would allow for a renewal of Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

The White House has hit out at Mohamed Morsi over the Egyptian President’s recently-revealed comments that he called Zionists “bloodsuckers” in a television interview aired in 2010.

Chuck Hagel, who was nominated as US Defence Secretary on Monday, has hit back at critics saying there is “not one shred of evidence that I'm anti-Israeli”.

In an interview with the Lincoln Journal Star of his home state, Nebraska, he said that his critics have “completely distorted” his record, which in fact, shows “unequivocal, total support for Israel".