Jordan's King Abdullah II is to become the first Arab leader to be invited to visit the White House since Barack Obama took office in January.

Officials said talks between the two leaders, scheduled for Tuesday, would focus on the Israeli-Palestinian issue.

"I think the biggest topic, obviously, is going to be the Middle East peace process and where we are in that," Robert Gibbs, the White House spokesman, said on Monday.

"The president has promised to be engaged repeatedly in ensuring a lasting peace there. And that will almost certainly be the dominant topic."

Obama will meet Abdullah in his private dining room, after which they will head into the Oval Office for expanded talks including delegations from both sides, the White House said.

Obama's position

In recent weeks, Obama has made it clear to Israel that he believes the path to peace lies in already agreed frameworks made in the stalled road map plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace and the Annapolis agreement.

Two weeks ago, in an address to Turkey's parliament, Obama said "the United States strongly supports the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security".

However this solution has been put in doubt with the appointment of Benyamin Netanyahu as Israel's new prime minister, who has declined to back a Palestinian state.

No firm date

Commenting on reports from Israel that Netanyahu could visit US for talks with Obama as soon as May, Gibbs said: "If the prime minister is here, the president would be anxious to sit down and talk with him, as he sat down and talked with him last year about this and other subjects that relate to our security."

But Gibbs was unable to offer any firm date on when such a meeting might take place.

Obama met both Netanyahu, who was then in opposition, and Abdullah during a visit to their two countries last year while still a senator.