MIDDLE EAST: U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama vows staunch support for Jewish state, holding only a low-profile meeting with Palestinian leaders

Record ID: 496811

  • Title: MIDDLE EAST: U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama vows staunch support for Jewish state, holding only a low-profile meeting with Palestinian leaders
  • Date: 24th July 2008
  • Summary: (BN10) RAMALLAH, WEST BANK ( JULY 23, 2008) (REUTERS) U.S DEMOCRATIC PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE BARACK OBAMA'S CONVOY ARRIVING AT PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND, MUQATA VARIOUS OF CONVOY ARRIVING IN FRONT OF PRESIDENTIAL COMPOUND VIEW OF OBAMA BEING WELCOMED BY PALESTINIAN OFFICIALS OBAMA WALKING INSIDE BUILDING VARIOUS OF OBAMA MEETING WITH PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT MAHMOUD ABBAS CLOSE OF
  • Embargoed: 8th August 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVA2YWC8GBXEFQ3CP1GCXI9DBNGS
  • Story Text: U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged staunch support for Israel on Wednesday (July 23) in Jerusalem, describing the Jewish state as a miracle and holding only a low-profile meeting with Palestinian leaders.
    Obama, who is seeking to allay wariness among some U.S. Jewish voters about his policy towards Israel, said in comments to reporters he hoped to help bring peace in the Middle East.
    The Democratic candidate started his trip meeting Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak, Opposition Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and President Shimon Peres.
    The Illinois senator, meeting Israeli President Shimon Peres, described Israel as a "miracle that has blossomed" since its founding 60 years ago. Wearing a Jewish skullcap, he later laid a white wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial museum.

    "I'm here on this trip to reaffirm the special relationship between Israel and the United States, my abiding commitment to its security, and my hope that I can serve as an effective partner, whether as a ... senator or as a president, in bringing about a more lasting peace in the region,"
    he said during a joint news conference with Peres in Jerusalem.
    Keeping his visit to the occupied West Bank low-key, Obama did not make a statement after an hour-long meeting with President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in Ramallah.
    Aides said he would release a written statement later.
    Obama's next stop after Ramallah was Sderot, which sits near the border with the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip and has been hit by Palestinian rockets.
    Republican candidate John McCain visited Sderot in March and did not go to the West Bank.
    Obama dismayed Palestinian leaders when he said last month that Jerusalem should be Israel's "undivided" capital.
    Palestinians want Arab East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as the capital of a future state.
    Obama later said he used "poor phrasing" when he made the remarks.

    "Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel and I have said that before and I will say it again. And I have also have said that it is important that we don't simply slice the city in half, but I have also said that that's a final status issue that's an issue that has to be dealt with the parties involved, the Palestinians and the Israelis, and it's not the job of the United States to dictate the form that that will take, but rather support the efforts that are being made right now to resolve these very difficult issues that have a long history," Obama told reporters in Sderot in an answer to a question about what has been labelled his "flip flop" policy.
    In Gaza City, Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri criticised Obama's support for the Jewish state.

    "Obama's visit to the Israeli occupation is connected to the U.S elections in general. But Obama's choice to visit to the city of Sderot and declaring statements against our Palestinian people, Hamas and the resistance forces, as well as the statements that he assured through his total support for the security and interests of Israel and considering Jerusalem a capital for Israel. These positions mean that there is no minimal hope to any change in the U.S foreign policy towards the Arab-Israeli conflict. And this means that we are in front of one American policy. And the Palestinian people should depend on their own and on the Arab and Muslim world in facing this opposing American policy which both the Democratic and Republican parties are adopting," said Abu Zuhri.
    Returning to Jerusalem after a day of political meetings in which he assured Israel and its U.S. Jewish supporters he was a friend who would not press for peace concessions that would compromise its security, Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Wednesday night.

    " I'm very happy that you found the time to come and visit with us in tradition of all the great friends of the state of Israel," Olmert said before a private dinner with Obama in Jerusalem.
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