Region | Palestinian Territories
Obama vows staunch support for Israel during visit
US presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged staunch support for Israel during a visit to Occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday and said he would work to invigorate the Middle East peace process, if elected.
- Agencies
- Published: 13:03 July 23, 2008
- Netanyahu said Obama promised never to seek to damage Israel's security.
- Image Credit: AP
Occupied Jerusalem: US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged staunch support for Israel during a visit to Occupied Jerusalem on Wednesday and said he would work to invigorate the Middle East peace process, if elected.
As part of an overseas tour aimed at bolstering his foreign policy credentials, Obama met Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and right-wing opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.
Netanyahu, a former prime minister, said Obama promised never to seek to damage Israel's security. Both men agreed on the "primacy" of preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power.
Obama was due later to see President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who could be forced out of office by a corruption probe.
"I will share some of my ideas. The most important idea for me to reaffirm is the historic and special relationship between the United States and Israel - one that cannot be broken," Obama said on arrival on Tuesday night.
Obama, who faces Republican John McCain in the November election, is struggling to overcome wariness among some Israelis and some Jewish voters in the United States about the strength of his commitment to Israel.
Obama also dismayed Palestinian leaders when he said last month that Jerusalem should be Israel's "undivided" capital.
Obama later said he used "poor phrasing" when he made the remarks.
Obama met with the two men at Occupied Jerusalem's posh King David Hotel, where an "Israel for Obama" campaign poster was draped over an armchair in the lobby. The poster included Obama's campaign slogan - "Change you can believe in" - in Hebrew.
Later, Obama headed to the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and was to call on President Shimon Peres before making the short drive from Occupied Jerusalem to the West Bank of Ramallah for talks with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.
The meeting with the Palestinians stands in contrast to the decision by Republican presidential hopeful Sen. John McCain to visit only Israel in March, without stopping in the West Bank.
On the road leading to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' headquarters on Wednesday, police were out in full force, standing 10 meters apart and outfitted in full battle regalia, with camouflage uniforms, helmets, bulletproof vests, and carrying truncheons and assault rifles.
After visiting the West Bank, Obama was to meet with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Occupied Jerusalem, fly by helicopter to the southern Israeli town of Sderot - the target of many Palestinian rocket attacks - then chopper back to Occupied Jerusalem to meet Prime Minister Ehud Olmert. A late-night tour of the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site, is to cap the visit.
Obama arrived in Israel on Tuesday night from neighboring Jordan and is due to leave for Germany early on Thursday.
The Illinois Democrat is working to shore up support among US Jewish voters. Many supported Hillary Rodham Clinton in the battle for the party's presidential nomination, and some have questioned his commitment to Israel.
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