Romney, who arrived in Jerusalem on Saturday night, was scheduled to hold talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday morning, followed by meetings with President Shimon Peres, Israeli opposition leaders and Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad later in the day.

He was also due to make a foreign policy statement. Romney has consistently attacked what he says is Obama's weak and misguided Middle East policy, saying in January that the Democratic incumbent "threw Israel under the bus," by defining the 1967 borders as a starting point for Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.

He has also charged that Obama's policy towards Iran is too weighted towards engagement with an Israeli enemy with suspected nuclear ambitions, and has vowed tougher sanctions if he is elected.