Post by FaithWalker on Jul 15, 2008 7:33:23 GMT -6
Barack Obama will visit Israel and the West Bank next week, Israeli and Palestinian officials said Monday. The announcement came a day after the Democratic presidential hopeful sought to downplay his recent remarks on the contentious issue of dividing Jerusalem.
Obama will be in Israel on July 22 and 23 and hold talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, President Shimon Peres and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli official said.
Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said Obama would also meet President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah next Wednesday.
"The Palestinians welcome this meeting," said Erekat. He also said that if Obama is elected U.S. president, the Palestinians hope he will stay the course between Israel and the Palestinians in reaching peace.
Obama's Republican opponent, John McCain, visited Israel last March but did not meet with the Palestinians.
Obama had been widely expected to visit the Middle East this summer. He has faced wariness among some Jewish voters over his commitment to Israel, fuelled by suspicion over comments indicating willingness to talk to Iranian leaders.
Obama said on Sunday he used "poor phrasing" in a speech supporting Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel.
"You know, the truth is that this was an example where we had some poor phrasing in the speech. And we immediately tried to correct the interpretation that was given," he said in an interview aired Sunday on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria - GPS."
"The point we were simply making was, is that we don't want barbed wire running through Jerusalem, similar to the way it was prior to the '67 war, that it is possible for us to create a Jerusalem that is cohesive and coherent," Obama said.
Obama's campaign has issued similar clarifications since the candidate's speech to pro-Israel lobby group after he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination early last month.
In the speech, Obama told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that if elected president in November, he would work for peace with a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
"Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided," the Illinois senator said. Palestinian leaders reacted with anger and dismay.
Israel calls the city its undivided and eternal capital, but this status has never been recognized internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, for a future capital.
The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1995 describing Jerusalem as capital of Israel and saying it should not be divided, but successive presidents have used their foreign policy powers to maintain the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and to back negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on the status of Jerusalem.
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Obama will be in Israel on July 22 and 23 and hold talks with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, President Shimon Peres and opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, an Israeli official said.
Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat said Obama would also meet President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah next Wednesday.
"The Palestinians welcome this meeting," said Erekat. He also said that if Obama is elected U.S. president, the Palestinians hope he will stay the course between Israel and the Palestinians in reaching peace.
Obama's Republican opponent, John McCain, visited Israel last March but did not meet with the Palestinians.
Obama had been widely expected to visit the Middle East this summer. He has faced wariness among some Jewish voters over his commitment to Israel, fuelled by suspicion over comments indicating willingness to talk to Iranian leaders.
Obama said on Sunday he used "poor phrasing" in a speech supporting Jerusalem as the undivided capital of Israel.
"You know, the truth is that this was an example where we had some poor phrasing in the speech. And we immediately tried to correct the interpretation that was given," he said in an interview aired Sunday on CNN's "Fareed Zakaria - GPS."
"The point we were simply making was, is that we don't want barbed wire running through Jerusalem, similar to the way it was prior to the '67 war, that it is possible for us to create a Jerusalem that is cohesive and coherent," Obama said.
Obama's campaign has issued similar clarifications since the candidate's speech to pro-Israel lobby group after he clinched the Democratic presidential nomination early last month.
In the speech, Obama told the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that if elected president in November, he would work for peace with a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
"Jerusalem will remain the capital of Israel, and it must remain undivided," the Illinois senator said. Palestinian leaders reacted with anger and dismay.
Israel calls the city its undivided and eternal capital, but this status has never been recognized internationally. Palestinians want East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, for a future capital.
The U.S. Congress passed a law in 1995 describing Jerusalem as capital of Israel and saying it should not be divided, but successive presidents have used their foreign policy powers to maintain the U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv and to back negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians on the status of Jerusalem.
Link