Joe Biden
Joe BidenThinkstock

US Vice President Joe Biden will arrive in Israel on March 8 for a two-day visit, Israel's government said Wednesday, with talks expected to include defense aid and Israeli-Palestinian violence.

Talks between Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may also include the conflict in neighboring Syria.

It was unclear whether Biden would visit the PA-controlled territories.

Israel and the United States have been seeking to move past deep disagreement over the Iran nuclear accord, which Netanyahu strongly opposed, and work out a new 10-year defense aid package for the Jewish state.

Biden last visited for the funeral of former prime minister Ariel Sharon in January 2014.

This will probably be the last official trip by a top-level official in the Obama administration to Israel. Officials on both sides are hoping that it will not be a repeat of his 2010 visit, which was marred by the simultaneous announcement that new residences would be built in the haredi neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo, in northern Jerusalem. The announcement drew a public scolding from Biden and it soured relations with Washington for months.

Now, the US is pressuring Israel to stop building for Jews in "sensitive" parts of the capital. "We don’t want another neighborhood in Jerusalem to be called ‘Ramot Biden,'" a high-ranking official told NRG.