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Obama says internal divisions hindering Israelis, Palestinians
By David Espo
Associated Press
Jul 23, 2008
AMMAN, Jordan - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama stepped into the thicket of Mideast politics yesterday, declaring that neither the Israelis nor the Palestinians were strong enough internally to make the bold concessions necessary for peace. Obama said he would work to bring the two sides together "starting from the minute I'm sworn into office." But he cautioned that it was "unrealistic to expect that a U.S. president alone can suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace in this region."
After meeting with Jordan's King Abdullah II, Obama flew to Israel for talks with Israeli leaders. He will also meet later with Palestinians.
Upon his arrival in Jerusalem, he spoke of a "historic and special relationship between the United States and Israel, one that cannot be broken" and one that he hoped to strengthen as president.
In Jordan, he made his comments on the struggle for Mideast peace within a few hours of stepping off a military aircraft - a presidential contender carrying body armor and wearing orange earplugs - following his tour of war zones in Afghanistan and Iraq with two fellow senators.
Obama declined repeatedly to concede that President Bush's decision to dispatch 30,000 troops to Iraq in 2007 had succeeded. Still, he said, "I believe that the situation in Iraq is more secure than it was a year and a half ago."
He predicted when the troop increase was begun that it would not succeed.
Yesterday, he also stood by his call for the withdrawal of U.S. combat forces from Iraq over 16 months and said the United States, NATO and the Afghan government must do more to counter a resurgent Taliban and al-Qaeda.
Back home, Republican rival John McCain renewed his criticism of Obama's pledge to pull U.S. combat troops out of Iraq by the second year of his administration if he wins the presidency.
"Sen. Obama would rather lose a war in order to win a political campaign," McCain said at a town-hall meeting in Rochester, N.H.
Jordan was the initial stop of a second stage of Obama's international trip, this part financed by his presidential campaign after the official congressional visit to the war zones with Sens. Chuck Hagel (R., Neb.) and Jack Reed (D., R.I.).
Obama has been to the Mideast before, but not as the presumptive nominee, and his Jordanian hosts seemed eager to prepare a warm greeting. King Abdullah flew back from Colorado for the visit, and Obama aides said the Jordanians had suggested a one-on-one meeting before the two were joined by others for dinner at the palace. The king later drove his guest to the airport in his Mercedes.
After dinner, Obama flew to Israel for meetings with Israeli leaders as well as with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah, in the West Bank. After that he was to visit Sderot, an Israeli town under periodic shelling from Palestinian extremists in nearby Gaza.
Obama said an ultimate resolution in the region would involve "two states standing side by side in peace and security" and said "the Israelis and the Palestinians were going to both have to make compromises in order to arrive at that two-state solution."
Yet "one of the difficulties," he said, is that "to make those compromises, you have to have strong support from your people. And the Israeli government right now is unsettled. . . .
"The Palestinians are divided between Fatah and Hamas. And so it's difficult for either side to make the bold move that would bring about peace the way, for example, the peace between Israel and Egypt was brought about."
In particular, he said the United States should create "a greater sense of security among the Israelis, a greater sense that economic progress and increased freedom of movement is something that can be accomplished in the Palestinian territories."
Jordan's king told Obama that an evenhanded U.S. policy would bolster America's credibility in the Middle East and that achieving Palestinian statehood was essential for ending the Arab-Israeli conflict, according to a royal palace statement.
At its political core, Obama's trip is aimed at reassuring voters about his ability to function as commander in chief and forge a new foreign policy after eight years of the Bush administration.
He steered well clear of explicitly criticizing President Bush in his Mideast comments, though he said, "What a U.S. president can do is apply sustained energy and focus on the issues of the Israelis and the Palestinians."
The administration has been prodding the two sides toward a compromise in its final months in office but has come under criticism from some for not making it a stronger priority earlier.
In comments on his trip to Iraq, Obama acknowledged that Gen. David Petraeus, the overall commander of U.S. forces in Iraq, had concerns about a fixed timetable for withdrawal. He expressed sympathy with that view, though he made clear his outlook would be a broader one.
After leaving Israel, Obama is scheduled to fly to Germany, France and England before returning to the United States this weekend.
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