Obama promises Israel 'unshakeable' commitment
Agence France-Presse
First Posted 03:10:00 07/24/2008
SDEROT -- Barack Obama on Wednesday vowed an "unshakeable" commitment to Israel if he is elected US president, while saying a nuclear Iran would pose a "grave threat" that the world must prevent.
"I bring here an unshakeable commitment to Israel's security," Obama said with Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni by his side, on the latest leg of his Middle Eastern and European campaign swing.
At a press conference in Sderot, he reiterated his vow to prevent Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, and promised a vigorous diplomatic effort to try to convince Tehran to cease its nuclear weapons program.
"A nuclear Iran would pose a grave threat and the world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Obama said, with an eye on the Jewish vote back home in the United States.
"A nuclear Iran would be a game-changing situation, not just in the Middle East but around the world."
Obama spoke of "big sticks and big carrots" regarding the Iranian regime and repeated his openness to meeting with it, if the conditions were appropriate.
"I would, at my time and choosing, be willing to meet with any leader if I thought it would promote the national security interest of the United States of America," he said.
Obama had flown by helicopter to Sderot after holding talks with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah, and left his hosts reassured he would commit to Middle East peacemaking.
"I will not wait until a few years into my term or my second term if I am elected in order to get the process moving," Obama said. "I think we have a window right now that needs to be taken advantage of."
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat told AFP that in his talks with Abbas, Obama said "if he wins the election in the United States he will be a full and positive partner in the peace process and will not lose a single moment in pursuing it."
The Illinois senator said he had not backed down from his comment that Jerusalem should not be divided, which he made before the US Jewish lobby last month, sparking anger among Palestinians.
"I have not changed my statement," Obama told reporters in Sderot after touring the home of a family in which a young boy lost a leg to a Hamas rocket fired from Gaza.
"I continue to say that Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel. I have said it before and will say it again ... but I've also said that it is a final status issue" that must be decided by negotiation.
Obama's original comment was seen by some observers as prejudging final status peace talks, and his campaign has since said that it was poorly worded.
The candidate also said he stood by Israel's refusal to negotiate with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas, which the United States and European Union consider a terror group and which controls the Gaza Strip.
"It is very hard to negotiate with a group that is not representative of a nation state, does not recognize your right to exist, has consistently used terror as a weapon and is deeply influenced by other countries," he said.
"I think the Hamas leadership will have to make a decision ... as to whether it is a serious political party seeking to represent the aspirations of the Palestinian people and as a consequence be willing to recognize Israel's right to exist and renounce violence as a tool to achieve its aims or whether it wants to continue to operate as a terrorist organization."
Earlier, Obama called Israel a "miracle" as he courted Jewish voters back home.
US polls showed Obama has yet to clinch the normally solid Democratic bloc of American Jewish voters, and he took pains to portray himself as a staunch friend of Israel, just over three months before the US election.
Obama paid his respects to President Shimon Peres, and his role in Israel's history, before meeting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
"You have been deeply involved in this miracle that has blossomed and we are extraordinarily grateful not just as Americans but as world citizens for your outstanding service to your country," Obama told Peres.
Earlier, the Democratic senator toured Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem to the six million Jews who perished under the Nazis.
He laid a wreath at the Hall of Remembrance, where ashes recovered from Nazi extermination chambers are interred.
Obama, who has already visited Kuwait, Afghanistan, Iraq and Jordan, heads on to a three stop-tour of Europe, beginning in Berlin on Thursday.
|
