Obama defends plans for direct talks with Iran
By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer 52 minutes ago
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080...XOgOcqyFz4D
SDEROT, Israel - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama defended his proposal to negotiate with Iran Wednesday and said he would use "big sticks and big carrots" to persuade the country's leaders not to develop nuclear weapons.
"My whole goal in terms of having tough, serious direct diplomacy is not because I'm naive about the nature of any of these regimes. I'm not," Obama said at a press conference. "It is because if we show ourselves willing to talk and to offer carrots and sticks in order to deal with these pressing problems, and if Iran then rejects any overtures of that sort, it puts us in a stronger position to mobilize the international community to ratchet up the pressure on Iran."
He said a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a threat to both Israel and the United States.
The campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain quickly responded that Obama was backtracking on his expressed willingness to meet with Iran's leaders without preconditions.
A year ago, Obama was asked whether he would meet personally, without preconditions, with leaders of Iran and other hostile nations during the first year of his administration to resolve differences with the United States. Obama said he would.
On Wednesday Obama said, "I think that what I said in response was that I would at my time and choosing be willing to meet with any leader if I thought it would promote the national security interests of the United States of America. And that continues to be my position. That if I think that I can get a deal that is going to advance our cause, then I would consider that opportunity. But what I also said was that there is a difference between meeting without preconditions and meeting without preparation."
This was Obama's second press conference during his trip to Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and Europe, part of his campaign's attempt to establish his credentials as a potential world leader. He spoke in Sderot, near the Gaza border. The city has been a frequent target of rocket attacks from Palestinian militants, and the news conference was held beside a display of the spent rockets.
Obama tried to use Wednesday's event to allay doubts about his support for Israel. Many Israelis are worried by Obama's willingness to talk to Tehran, a bitter enemy of the Jewish state. Many U.S. Jewish voters supported Obama's rival Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, and some have questioned his commitment to Israel.
Obama said it is in Israel's interest to achieve a lasting peace with the Palestinians, but he emphasized Israeli's right to defend itself. He also said that Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel, but that the issue should be settled through negotiation.
"That's an issue that has to be dealt with the parties involved, the Palestinians and the Israelis, and it is not the job of the United States to dictate the form in which that will take, but rather to support the efforts that are being made right now to resolve these very difficult issues that have a long history," Obama said.
Many Israelis are concerned that Obama — a first-term U.S. senator with little foreign policy experience — would push Israel too hard in negotiations with the Palestinians. His family's Muslim roots have added to the unease, even though Obama is a Christian.
"I bring to Sderot an unshakable commitment to Israel's security," Obama said. "The state of Israel faces determined enemies who seek its destruction. But it also has a friend and ally in the United States that will always stand by the people of Israel."
Palestinians doubt Obama or any other U.S. leader would reverse what they see as Washington's bias toward Israel.
Earlier in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Obama assured Palestinian leaders he'd get involved in the Mideast conflict quickly, a top Palestinian official said.
In his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Obama confirmed "that he will be a constructive partner in the peace process" and would not "waste a minute" if elected, Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said.
Obama plunged into the intricacies of the region's longest-running conflict with a packed schedule of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Donning a Jewish skullcap at Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, he laid a wreath of white chrysanthemums and lisianthus and lit a memorial flame. "Despite this record of monumental tragedy, this ultimately is a place of hope," he said.
"At a time of great peril and torment, war and strife, we are blessed to have such a powerful reminder of man's potential for great evil, but also our capacity to rise up from tragedy and remake our world," he wrote in the visitors' book.
American tourists who passed by him at the memorial told him, "Remember what you see here," and he replied, "Yes, I understand, I understand," said Yad Vashem's director, Avner Shalev.
Obama also met with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and parliamentary opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud Party takes a hard line against the Palestinians. He was to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the evening.
Obama met with Barak and Netanyahu at Jerusalem's posh King David Hotel, where an "Israel for Obama" campaign poster was draped over an armchair in the lobby. The poster included Obama's campaign slogan — "Change you can believe in" — in Hebrew.
Obama left Abbas' headquarters without speaking to reporters. But on Tuesday, he cautioned it is "unrealistic to expect that a U.S. president alone can suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace in this region."
His meeting with the Palestinians stands in contrast to the decision by Republican presidential hopeful John McCain to visit only Israel in March, without stopping in the West Bank.
On the road leading to Abbas' headquarters on Wednesday, police were out in full force, standing 10 yards apart and outfitted in full battle regalia, wearing camouflage uniforms, helmets and bulletproof vests and carrying truncheons and assault rifles.
Obama arrived in Israel Tuesday night from neighboring Jordan and is to leave for Germany early Thursday.
___
Associated Press writers Laurie Copans, Amy Teibel and David Espo contributed to this report.
By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press Writer 52 minutes ago
news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080...XOgOcqyFz4D
SDEROT, Israel - Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama defended his proposal to negotiate with Iran Wednesday and said he would use "big sticks and big carrots" to persuade the country's leaders not to develop nuclear weapons.
"My whole goal in terms of having tough, serious direct diplomacy is not because I'm naive about the nature of any of these regimes. I'm not," Obama said at a press conference. "It is because if we show ourselves willing to talk and to offer carrots and sticks in order to deal with these pressing problems, and if Iran then rejects any overtures of that sort, it puts us in a stronger position to mobilize the international community to ratchet up the pressure on Iran."
He said a nuclear-armed Iran would pose a threat to both Israel and the United States.
The campaign of Republican presidential candidate John McCain quickly responded that Obama was backtracking on his expressed willingness to meet with Iran's leaders without preconditions.
A year ago, Obama was asked whether he would meet personally, without preconditions, with leaders of Iran and other hostile nations during the first year of his administration to resolve differences with the United States. Obama said he would.
On Wednesday Obama said, "I think that what I said in response was that I would at my time and choosing be willing to meet with any leader if I thought it would promote the national security interests of the United States of America. And that continues to be my position. That if I think that I can get a deal that is going to advance our cause, then I would consider that opportunity. But what I also said was that there is a difference between meeting without preconditions and meeting without preparation."
This was Obama's second press conference during his trip to Afghanistan, Iraq, the Middle East and Europe, part of his campaign's attempt to establish his credentials as a potential world leader. He spoke in Sderot, near the Gaza border. The city has been a frequent target of rocket attacks from Palestinian militants, and the news conference was held beside a display of the spent rockets.
Obama tried to use Wednesday's event to allay doubts about his support for Israel. Many Israelis are worried by Obama's willingness to talk to Tehran, a bitter enemy of the Jewish state. Many U.S. Jewish voters supported Obama's rival Hillary Rodham Clinton for the Democratic presidential nomination, and some have questioned his commitment to Israel.
Obama said it is in Israel's interest to achieve a lasting peace with the Palestinians, but he emphasized Israeli's right to defend itself. He also said that Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel, but that the issue should be settled through negotiation.
"That's an issue that has to be dealt with the parties involved, the Palestinians and the Israelis, and it is not the job of the United States to dictate the form in which that will take, but rather to support the efforts that are being made right now to resolve these very difficult issues that have a long history," Obama said.
Many Israelis are concerned that Obama — a first-term U.S. senator with little foreign policy experience — would push Israel too hard in negotiations with the Palestinians. His family's Muslim roots have added to the unease, even though Obama is a Christian.
"I bring to Sderot an unshakable commitment to Israel's security," Obama said. "The state of Israel faces determined enemies who seek its destruction. But it also has a friend and ally in the United States that will always stand by the people of Israel."
Palestinians doubt Obama or any other U.S. leader would reverse what they see as Washington's bias toward Israel.
Earlier in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Obama assured Palestinian leaders he'd get involved in the Mideast conflict quickly, a top Palestinian official said.
In his meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Obama confirmed "that he will be a constructive partner in the peace process" and would not "waste a minute" if elected, Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said.
Obama plunged into the intricacies of the region's longest-running conflict with a packed schedule of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian leaders.
Donning a Jewish skullcap at Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, he laid a wreath of white chrysanthemums and lisianthus and lit a memorial flame. "Despite this record of monumental tragedy, this ultimately is a place of hope," he said.
"At a time of great peril and torment, war and strife, we are blessed to have such a powerful reminder of man's potential for great evil, but also our capacity to rise up from tragedy and remake our world," he wrote in the visitors' book.
American tourists who passed by him at the memorial told him, "Remember what you see here," and he replied, "Yes, I understand, I understand," said Yad Vashem's director, Avner Shalev.
Obama also met with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and parliamentary opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, whose Likud Party takes a hard line against the Palestinians. He was to meet with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the evening.
Obama met with Barak and Netanyahu at Jerusalem's posh King David Hotel, where an "Israel for Obama" campaign poster was draped over an armchair in the lobby. The poster included Obama's campaign slogan — "Change you can believe in" — in Hebrew.
Obama left Abbas' headquarters without speaking to reporters. But on Tuesday, he cautioned it is "unrealistic to expect that a U.S. president alone can suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace in this region."
His meeting with the Palestinians stands in contrast to the decision by Republican presidential hopeful John McCain to visit only Israel in March, without stopping in the West Bank.
On the road leading to Abbas' headquarters on Wednesday, police were out in full force, standing 10 yards apart and outfitted in full battle regalia, wearing camouflage uniforms, helmets and bulletproof vests and carrying truncheons and assault rifles.
Obama arrived in Israel Tuesday night from neighboring Jordan and is to leave for Germany early Thursday.
___
Associated Press writers Laurie Copans, Amy Teibel and David Espo contributed to this report.
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Obama vows support for Israel
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
english.aljazeera.net/news/mi...899.html
Barack Obama, the US Democratic presidential candidate, has said he backs Israel's decision not to negotiate with the Palestinian group Hamas.
Speaking in the Israeli town of Sderot, which has been hit by rocket attacks from Hamas-controlled Gaza, Obama said the US also supported Israel's right to defend itself "against those who threaten its people".
He also reiterated his position that Jerusalem "will be" the capital of Israel.
However the Illinois senator, currently on the final leg of his Middle East tour, said that he believed the city to be a "final status issue" that must be decided by negotiation and said he remained committed to a two-state solution to the conflict.
The status of Jerusalem remains one of the most contentious parts of any solution to the Middle East conflict.
In June Obama caused anger in the Arab world when he said that Jerusalem should be Israel's undivided capital.
The international community, including the United States, does not recognise Israel's claim that Jerusalem is its undivided capital and Palestinians hope to have occupied East Jerusalem as the capital of any future Palestinian state.
Iran 'threat'
Obama also said that he would take "no options off the table" with regards to Iran, saying the country posed a "grave threat".
In focus
In-depth coverage of US presidential election
"A nuclear Iran would be a game-changing situation, not just in the Middle East but around the world," Obama said.
The Illinois senator, who had earlier held talks with Palestinian leaders in the West Bank city of Ramallah,
said that if he was elected he would adopt a policy of "big sticks and big carrots" regarding the Iranian government.
"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 travelled from Jerusalem to the West Bank city on Wednesday for talks with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Salam Fayyad, the prime minister, before heading to Sderot.
Later he will meet Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister before flying to Germany for talks with Angela Merkel, the German chancellor.
Security was tight for Obama's West Bank visit, with helmeted riot police carrying truncheons and rifles lining the access road to the walled compound as he shook hands with an Abbas aide and then entered the building.
The Illinois senator's Middle East tour has been an attempt by the Democratic presidential candidate to bolster his foreign policy credentials ahead of the US's presidential election in November.
The visit is in contrast to John McCain, the Republican presidential candidate, who did not visit the West Bank during his time in the region.
Some goodwill
Earlier on Wednesday, while meeting Shimon Peres, the Israeli president, Obama pledged that that as president he would preserve the close ties between the US and Israel, and that Israel's security would be a top priority in his administration.
Obama travelled to the West Bank, unlike his Republican rival John McCain [AFP]
"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 and my hope that I can serve as an effective partner, whether as a US senator or as president," Obama said.
At Israel's Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, he laid a wreath, lit a memorial flame, and deemed the place to ultimately be "a place of hope".
He was also due to tour the Western Wall, Judaism's holiest site.
Obama's visit in the West Bank has generated some goodwill, particularly since his Republican rival, John McCain, did not visit the Palestinians during a Middle East trip earlier in the summer.
Nour Odeh, Al Jazeera's corrrespondent in Ramallah, said: "The Bush administration only began to be engaged in the Middle East peace process in November 2007 at Annapolis. That peace process is yet to yield any results and is not expected to conclude with a Palestinian state - as promised - at the end of 2008.
"There were a lot of Palestinian frustrations right before Barack Obama came to Ramallah ... but keep in mind that this visit to the West Bank town is only for 45 minutes. Obama is keeping the better part of his day visiting Israeli officials and concentrating on the very important Jewish vote in the US". -
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Iran 'steadfast' on nuclear work
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
english.aljazeera.net/news/mi...738.html
Iran's president has said that his country will not bend on its uranium enrichment programme, despite proposals by world powers aimed at bringing an end to Tehran's sensitive nuclear programme.
"The Iranian people are steadfast and will not step back an inch against the oppressive powers," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Wednesday at a rally in the southwestern province of Kohgelouyeh-Boyerahmad.
His comments come after world powers said Iran has a fortnight to respond to an offer which seeks to end the five-year crisis over Tehran's nuclear ambitions.
Gordon Johndroe, the US national security spokesman, said: "We hope the Iranians will provide a positive answer," to incentives offered by a number of countries for Iran to halt its sensitive nuclear fuel work.
"[But] if they do not, the international community is united that more sanctions are coming," he said.
Britain, China, France, Russia and the US – the five permanent UN Security Council members - plus Germany have offered to help Iran pursue a civilian nuclear programme in return for suspending enrichment.
They want Tehran to refrain from installing more uranium-enriching centrifuges in exchange for a block on further sanctions - the so-called freeze-for-freeze approach.
Sanctions threat
Iran is already facing three sets of UN Security Council sanctions for continuing its nuclear work, which the West says is aimed at making nuclear weapons.
But Iran denies that it is looking to produce a nuclear bomb and says its programme is aimed at producing electricity.
Ahmadinejad said the US presence in the Geneva talks was a "positive step" but he said that Iran would not change course, despite the threat of further sanctions.
"The Iranian nation does not value your threats. You are mistaken if you think you can force this nation to back down with sanctions, threats and pressure," Ahmadinejad said.
He advised US officials "not to ruin your positive step with irrelevant comments and a colonialist language".
Ahmadinejad’s latest statement comes after the US sent William Burns, an under-secretary of state, as its envoy to negotiations between Saeed Jalili, Iran's chief negotiator, and EU officials in Geneva last week.
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