video transcript

On the second day of his Middle East tour, U.S. President Barack Obama visited the Israel Museum in Jerusalem on Thursday (March 21). At the facility, he viewed the Dead Sea Scrolls - ancient Jewish parchments discovered in the West Bank in the 1940s which include secular text dating from the third century BC to the first century AD. For many years, only a small number of scholars were allowed to view the fragments of the scrolls, but access has since been widened. A few large pieces of scroll remain on permanent display at the Israel Museum in Jerusalem. After viewing the scrolls, Obama visited a technology exposition. Later he will travel tot he West Bank for talks with Palestinian leaders.