The family of an Israel-American girl killed in a 2001 Palestinian suicide bombing in Jerusalem is seeking a meeting with President Joe Biden in hopes of forcing Jordan to extradite a woman convicted in the deadly attack.

The parents of Malki Roth turned to Biden on Sunday asking to meet with the president when he comes to Jerusalem this week. They want the president to put pressure on Jordan, a close American ally, to send Ahlam Tamimi to the U.S. for trial.

For more than two years, the Biden administration has said that Palestinians are entitled to the same measure of "freedom, security and prosperity" enjoyed by Israelis. Instead, they've gotten U.S. aid and permits to work inside Israel and its Jewish settlements.

The inconsistency is likely to come up when President Joe Biden visits Israel and the occupied West Bank this week for the first time since assuming office.

Joe Biden took office looking to reshape U.S. foreign policy in the Middle East, putting a premium on promoting democracy and human rights. In reality, he has struggled on several fronts to meaningfully separate his approach from former President Donald Trump's.

Biden's visit to the region this week includes a meeting with Saudi Arabia's King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the oil-rich kingdom's de facto leader who U.S. intelligence officials determined approved the 2018 killing of U.S.-based journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.

Israel's prime minister has expressed hope that his country will establish formal diplomatic ties with Saudi Arabia, days before President Joe Biden visits the two countries as part of a regional trip.

Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have official diplomatic relations, but have shared clandestine security ties over a mutual enmity of regional arch-rival Iran. The kingdom is widely believed to be among a handful of Arab states weighing open ties with Israel.

Iran has described as a "threat" the United States' plans for enhancing air defence cooperation with its Middle East allies, due to be discussed during President Joe Biden's upcoming regional trip.

Expanding joint action to counter Iran will top the agenda during U.S. President Joe Biden's upcoming visit to Israel, Prime Minister Yair Lapid said Sunday, urging a "decisive" response to Tehran's nuclear ambitions.

Addressing his second cabinet meeting since taking office on July 1, Lapid called Biden -- who is due in Jerusalem on Wednesday -- "one of the closest friends that Israel has ever had in American politics."

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad Saturday took part in Eid al-Adha prayers on the second day of his first visit to ex-rebel-stronghold Aleppo in over a decade, state media reported.

Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas spoke with Israel's prime minister after a rare meeting with the Jewish state's defense minister, Israeli officials said Friday, days ahead of US President Joe Biden's regional visit.

The phone call between Abbas and Prime Minister Yair Lapid took place early on Friday, according to a statement by the premier's office, and was the first conversation between the two leaders since Lapid took over from Naftali Bennett last week.

The U.N. Security Council has called a meeting for Friday after having to put off a vote on extending humanitarian aid deliveries to rebel-held northwest Syria from Turkey when no compromise could be reach on how long it would run.

Russia, one of the council's five members with veto power, insisted that the extension be for only six months, while many other council members, the U.N. secretary-general and more than 30 non-governmental groups pushed for another year-long mandate.

Once-unthinkable coordination between Israeli and Arab militaries is in the spotlight as Joe Biden makes his first Middle East trip as president, heightening debates over whether the U.S.-backed initiative between former enemies strengthens defenses against Iran or makes a regional war more likely.

Israeli-Arab security overtures have multiplied since the 2020 Abraham Accords negotiated under the Trump administration normalized relations between Israel and four Arab League nations. They have have grown further since the Pentagon switched coordination with Israel from U.S. European Command to Central Command, or CENTCOM, last year. The move grouped Israel's military with former Arab opponents, including Saudi Arabia and other nations that have yet to recognize Israel.