Obama Reaffirms His `Abiding Commitment' to Israel

Julianna Goldman and Jonathan Ferziger Wed Jul 23, 10:18 AM ET

July 23 (Bloomberg) -- Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama said he will protect Israel's security and strive to bring about a ``more lasting peace'' in the region as he tried to reassure the country's leaders and Jewish voters in the U.S. that his policies aren't unduly pro-Palestinian.

``I'm here on this trip to reaffirm the special relationship between Israel and the United States and my abiding commitment to Israel's security,'' Obama told reporters in Jerusalem today before meeting with President Shimon Peres. He said he hoped to work for peace ``as an effective partner whether as a United States senator or as a president.''

Obama's Middle East tour is part of an effort to bolster his support among Jewish voters uneasy about his talk of taking a more diplomatic approach to U.S. dealings with adversaries, including Iran, whose leaders have repeatedly threatened Israel and questioned its right to exist.

``There's a lot of suspicion about Obama in Israel, a feeling he may be more sympathetic to the Palestinians than the current administration,'' said Gadi Wolfsfeld, a political scientist at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. ``They're looking for reassurances that U.S. foreign policy isn't going to change. People in Israel like George W. Bush.''

To address such concerns, Obama has rejected the Palestinians' demand for the right of those who left Israel to return. He has said the U.S. shouldn't negotiate with Hamas, the Islamic Palestinian group that the U.S. and the European Union consider a terrorist organization, unless it recognizes Israel's right to exist.

Embassy Move

He also backs a plan that has angered Palestinians to move the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv. The fate of Jerusalem, which both Israelis and Palestinians claim as historically important to their respective Jewish and Islamic faiths, is among the most contentious issues in the peace process. It may derail Bush's goal of laying the foundations for a Palestinian state with a peace agreement before he leaves office in January.

Obama, 46, arrived in Israel late yesterday. The Illinois senator, on the fifth day of a seven-country tour, met with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu, the leader of the opposition Likud Party, and visited the Yad Vashem holocaust memorial.

Security `Sacrosanct'

``The main focal point of our discussions was the need to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons,'' Netanyahu told reporters after the talks. ``He said he would never seek in any way to compromise Israel's security and this would be sacrosanct in his approach to political negotiations.''

Obama was driven to Ramallah in the West Bank this afternoon in a 10-car motorcade, passing the 18-foot concrete walls of Israel's security barrier on the way. He met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at his office compound for an hour. Like Bush during his visit in January, Obama didn't visit the crypt about 50 yards away of Yasser Arafat, the former Palestinian leader who died in 2004.

After the meeting, Saeb Erekat, an Abbas adviser, said Obama pledged to be ``a constructive partner'' in the peace process with Israel.

``Obama told Abbas he would not waste a minute if elected,'' Erekat said. Abbas told Obama he should work to stop Jewish settlements from being built in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, said Erekat.

Rocket Attacks

Obama then traveled by helicopter to the southern town of Sderot, which borders the Gaza Strip and was the main target of thousands of Palestinian rockets before Israel and Hamas struck a truce last month. He is to have dinner at Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's official residence in Jerusalem.

The senator has said the U.S. should pursue ``direct and aggressive diplomacy'' with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad backed by ``tougher'' sanctions.

The U.S. and its European allies accuse Iran of pursuing a nuclear weapons program by enriching uranium. Iran insists its activities are peaceful attempts to produce electricity and legal under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. Ahmadinejad, who has said he wants to see Israel destroyed, said today that Iran will resist pressure from world powers to halt its nuclear program.

``They said Iran has surrendered. They are mistaken,'' the Iranian president said in a speech broadcast live on state television. ``If the great powers think they can sit down and discuss Iran's rights and pressurize Iranians, such a thing won't happen in 100 years.''

Israel `Miracle'

At a joint press briefing with Peres, Obama praised the president's involvement in Israel's 60-year history, describing the country as ``that miracle that has blossomed.''

Peres returned the compliment, saying his greatest wish was for Obama to ``be a great president of the United States.''

Obama's visit to the Middle East coincides with political turmoil in Israel. Olmert faces a widening corruption probe and his political opponents have lashed out after he gave up five Lebanese prisoners to Hezbollah in exchange for the bodies of two Israeli soldiers.

There was a reminder of the region's wider security challenges yesterday when a Palestinian rammed a bulldozer into a bus and several other vehicles in Jerusalem, injuring 16 people before he was shot and killed by police.

While at Yad Vashem, Obama met and spoke with the Israeli border police officer who shot the Palestinian bulldozer driver, according to Robert Gibbs, Obama's communications director.

Foreign-Policy Credentials

Before arriving in Israel, Obama met with political and military leaders in Afghanistan, Iraq and Jordan. The candidate is seeking to burnish his foreign-policy credentials with an eight-day tour of the Middle East and Europe. Polls show foreign policy is his weakness in the presidential campaign against Arizona Senator John McCain, the presumptive Republican nominee.

Obama will also visit Germany, France and Britain this week. While in Berlin, he is scheduled to give what his campaign aides called a ``substantive speech'' on strengthening the transatlantic relationship.

Earlier today, Obama said the pace of his tour was beginning to take its toll.

``I could fall asleep standing up,'' he said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Julianna Goldman in Jerusalem at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net ; Jonathan Ferziger in Jerusalem at jferziger@bloomberg.net .