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U.S. Senator and Democratic presidential hopeful Barack Obama. (AP)
Last update - 14:34 14/07/2008
Ahead of Mideast trip, Obama backtracks on 'undivided' Jerusalem
By Reuters, The Associated Press
Tags: Israel, Jerusalem 

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.
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"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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      1.   The Dumbest Flip-Flop Ever 00:08  |  dyinglikeflies 14/07/08
      2.   NOW IT IS TOO LATE, BABY 00:11  |  indrajaya 14/07/08
      3.   i guess this is what obama means by `change`? 00:15  |  vik 14/07/08
      4.   No Surprise Here - Another Day, more weaseling 00:16  |  * BEN JABO 14/07/08
      5.   Okay Then... 00:27  |  Yosemite 14/07/08
      6.   Flip Flop. Flip Flop. Flip Flop 00:31  |  Jewish State 14/07/08
      7.   Obama master of Bullshit to be US president! 00:33  |  Steve 14/07/08
      8.   The blame is shared, the credit is all mine. Obama 00:39  |  Pervert 14/07/08
      9.   Obama should not apologize 00:40  |  Bill 14/07/08
      10.   for palestinians, NO PEACE W/O JERUSALEM 00:49  |  bashar 14/07/08
      11.   Oooooooh, did Barak "mis speak" again? 01:08  |  Alan SA 14/07/08
      12.   Yet another `jimmy carter 05:47  |  Arie 14/07/08
      13.   Typical corrupt politician 05:50  |  Arie 14/07/08
      14.   Obama is as honorable as the Rev Wright 05:54  |  Christopher 14/07/08
      15.   next week he speaks with an arab org and.. 06:42  |  vik 14/07/08
      16.   J`lem is an Arab city... 06:54  |  POP 14/07/08
      17.   Obama Thinks He Can Play Patty Cake With the Mullahs 07:03  |  Tod Zuckerman 14/07/08
      18.   Obama: Shut up and listen 07:10  |  Natallie Durson 14/07/08
      19.   Pressuring Israel to give up Jerusalem 07:11  |  Dror 14/07/08
      20.   All lies will surface 07:17  |  Dror 14/07/08
      21.   If I unglue thee Oh Jerusalem... 07:35  |  Proud Israeli 14/07/08
      22.   Barack Obama`s Jerusalem comments 07:35  |  Leeza Cohen Coleman 14/07/08
      23.   #1 Dyingflies 07:48  |  ballistic 14/07/08
      24.   "Paleface speak With Fork Tongue" 08:01  |  lagunageno 14/07/08
      25.   This guy changing his mind like his others friends 08:03  |  e.m Jordan is Palse 14/07/08
      26.   This guy changing his mind like his others friends 08:03  |  e.m Jordan is Palse 14/07/08
      27.   Two trees rooted in one garden, roots entwined 08:20  |  Ivar 14/07/08
      28.   THE COWARD RETRACTS HIS STATEMENT;HE WILL CUT AND RUN AND LEAVE 08:25  |  glenna 14/07/08
      29.   BARACK HUSSEIN OSAMA BIN LADEN 08:29  |  THE END OF AMERICA 14/07/08
      30.   Hussein Obama will say anything to become the first muslim prez!! 08:31  |  Republican 14/07/08
      31.   ONE THING ABOUT IT:MCCAIN DOES NOT BACKTRACK HIS WORDS;HE`S NOT A 08:52  |  glenna 14/07/08
      32.   obama remarks 09:27  |  abu-ali 14/07/08
      33.   Obama and his royal "WE" 09:34  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/07/08
      34.   America is ready for a black president but he has to be honest 09:35  |  Realist 14/07/08
      35.   accusations that Obama is a Muslim 09:49  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/07/08
      36.   To err is human 10:02  |  Chanalau, Tova 14/07/08
      37.   #15, Leeza Cohen Coleman 10:08  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/07/08
      38.   Natallie Durson Shut up and listen 10:12  |  e.m Jordan is Palse 14/07/08
      39.   #22 What`s in a name? 10:19  |  Maureen Ann 14/07/08
      40.   TALK? who wants someone who wants to TALK!? 10:20  |  PADDY 14/07/08
      41.   JERUSALEM BELONGS TO GOD 10:21  |  Markus 14/07/08
      42.   For Natallie Durson # 11 10:23  |  Clickfool 14/07/08
      43.   OK, OBAMA, IT IS OK 10:26  |  indrajaya 14/07/08
      44.   #24 GLENNA - Brain-dead in Alaska 10:27  |  PADDY 14/07/08
      45.   # 27, REALIST 10:29  |  Indrajaya 14/07/08
      46.   To: Cipora Julianna Kohn #26 10:32  |  Markus 14/07/08
      47.   #11, Durson 10:41  |  Cipora Julianna Kohn 14/07/08
      48.   Cipora on Obama 10:41  |  Marcos 14/07/08
      49.   POP Jerusalem has had a Jewish majority for over 200 years 10:47  |  PETER SM 14/07/08
      50.   IT sounds like Obama can be trusted to change like the wind 10:49  |  PETER SM 14/07/08
      51.   To Markus #34 10:54  |  G-d 14/07/08
      52.   One Creator, one humanity, one Jerusalem 10:56  |  Ivar 14/07/08
      53.   Yep, I take the credits but share the flops 11:34  |  Pervert 14/07/08
      54.   And London the day after tomorrow, Tovaleh 11:36  |  Pervert 14/07/08
      55.   The repeatedly needed "clarifyings" show an obfuscating mind. 11:59  |  S 14/07/08
      56.   #42 petersm and mindless slogan shouters 12:23  |  Labhras 14/07/08
      57.   Natallie Durson #11 `candidate for change` 12:30  |  examiner 14/07/08
      58.   Four more years of blood-letting 12:31  |  Gilad 14/07/08
      59.   Jerusalem should be as the UN originally stated 12:35  |  Guy From NYC 14/07/08
      60.   In a speech? Not his mind? Has he an orignal thought? 12:36  |  Jeff 14/07/08
      61.   I have to admit an error 13:06  |  Axel 14/07/08
      62.   # 6 bill 13:09  |  Axel 14/07/08
      63.   Israel is making Jerusalem an ugly example 13:10  |  Ibrahim<