Report: Obama "Corrected" Statement On Undivided Jerusalem

UPDATED BELOW

Barack Obama caused a stir in June when he said at AIPAC that Jerusalem should not be divided. He quickly clarified the remark in response to Palestinian anger.

Today the candidate met with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Prime Minister Salam Fayyad. Afterward, a reporter says the Palestinian National Authority was conciliatory:

Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat told reporters at the end of the meeting that Obama has assured President Abbas that he will get involved in the Mideast conflict quickly, if elected U.S. president.

...

"President Abbas welcomes this important visit and considers it evidence of the importance of the Palestinian issue in American foreign policy," he said, adding "Obama told Abbas he would not waste a minute if elected."

...

Obama caused outrage among the Palestinians in early June when he told a major US pro-Israel lobbying group that Jerusalem must remain the "undivided" capital of Jerusalem.

The international community including the U.S. does not recognize the city as the eternal capital of the Jewish state. Israel claims that Arab east Jerusalem, which was annexed in the 1967, is part of the undivided city.

Obama however, corrected his statements and said that the future of the city can be resolved through peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. The Palestinians want the eastern part of the city as the capital of their state.

However, Obama's campaign says the candidate didn't discuss Jerusalem at all.

Comments

[rollingdivision]

Where is the line between pandering and lying?

[rollingdivision]

On Iran Obama continued:

Now, in terms of knowing my commitments, you don't have to just look at my words, you can look at my deeds. Just this past week, we passed out of the U.S. Senate Banking Committee, which is my committee, a bill to call for divestment from Iran, as a way of ratcheting up the pressure to ensure that they don't obtain a nuclear weapon.

But Obama is not a member of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee. Obama just made that up so he could count the committee's action as one of "my deeds."

[GoldCanyonGal]

Am I the only one who is just sick of babysitting these people...I­sraelis and Palestinians alike...I don't know how you 'talk' to Palestinians who show their little children cartoons of suicide bombing 'martyrs'.­..that damage is done and it's permanent for at least another generation­...can you 'talk' to anyone brainwashed from birth? The Israeli's that insist on building and occupying whole towns outside the legal limits of their territory.­..and then whine about being 'displaced' when some tries to move them out...I don't know...I'v­e been listening to this stupid squabble most of my adult life...I'm just sick of it...it feels a little bit like having children who never grow up...perpe­tual sibling rivalry...­.I just completely sick of it...I'd like to hear something new...some­thing we haven't tried 15 times already and failed at...I'd like to just ignore the whole, but I'm sure that would be worse in the long run...just yukkkk, sick and tired of it.

[Bobrobert]

wow

Nothing here to speak about.

Remember to vote all.

:-)

Pray for the troops.

[FatherTed]

I'm not sure what this post is trying to say. The last line, "However, Obama's campaign says the candidate didn't discuss Jerusalem at all", suggests that the Palestinians claim Obama made his correction in today's meeting with Abbas, and that Obama's people dispute this, saying Jerusalem wasn't discussed at all today.

But you are reading incorrectly the report you are commenting on. This paragraph: "Obama however, corrected his statements and said that the future of the city can be resolved through peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians", is not meant to be a description of what was discussed today, it belongs with the previous two paragraphs about Obama's comments in June.

The actual timeline is that Obama made a comment last month about "undivided" Jerusalem which made him sound like Israeli rightists who use "undivided" to mean "exclusively Israeli". But also last month, Obama went on quickly to make a clarifying statement, saying that Palestinians and Israelis together would decide on Jerusalem, and that all he meant by "undivided" was that he didn't want to see it cut up with barbed wire. Then today, Obama met Abbas who welcomed his commitment to I/P peace, and did not re-open the question of what Obama meant in his earlier remarks.

By reading background info on Obama's earlier clarification as new info from today's meeting, you seem to be creating a controversy where one does not exist.

[Pollitrix]

America is occupying the country, so if Genocide is happening right now, what is our role in it.

O'Bama is correct, we do not fight every countries that commit crimes against it's people:
North Korea
Darfour
China
Mynnmar

After his speech "Never Again" he could have meant that atrocites such as those should never happen again, take your children and family to see what destruction these actions cause and let's work to make sure that it never happens again.

[Truthfighter1]

I'm sorry folks our pandering to Israel for so long and so hard has caused us alot of problems.

I'm just saying..

[1099]

That's one opinion that obviously comes from someone with little grasp of the history and politics of the region and an astonishingly naive and narrow world view.

[Paladine]

He said in the press conference today that it would ultimately be decided between the two parties in a final status agreement.

So, big deal...no story here.

Just Repubs hanging onto every last thread they have...and there aren't many, so who can blame them.

[Bagger]

Barack is Hebrew for Baruch. Baruch means blessed. His name is becoming more appropriate with each passing day.

[personalpolitical]

I told people they were overreacting to the whole thing, and distorting his words. I felt it was fairly obvious, but people apparently just wanted to hype up something.

[marymansour]

Get out of that country, Obama. You can sidestep those issues until you become the President and can help the Palestinians finally get some justice and relief from Israeli atrocities committed on them.

[Liberal2]

yeah, Israeli atrocities like suicide bombers, guys driving bulldozers over cars on crowded city streets, brave men smashing the skulls of dangerous four year old girls....

What? Ohhhh.....

Never mind....

[Manchurian]

Don't forget the guys driving a bulldozer over an American college student. Or shooting a British correspondent through the head. Or slaughtering American sailors aboard their ship. Or gunning down people massed in prayer. Atrocities are rarely one-sided.

[LucieLee]

The fate of Jerusalem is not up to the United States. Obama was correct in saying that it is up to the Israelis and Palestinians to negotiate about.

[Wolfgang]

True,but unfortunately as long as we continue to give Israel a blank check, she will never negotiate with the Palestinians.

[silverball]

YES WE CAN!!!

[joe973]

I am fully completely pro-Obama, so it's hard for me to say it, but the "undivided Jerusalem" comment was pretty hmmm...... DUMB, it's been a sensitive issue for song long (even excluded from the camp david accords); he should have know better or his aides should have forced him to remove the statement! Anyhow, nobody's perfect; I have fairly high standard and unlike Mccain he at least attempted to correct the mishap!

[politricking]

Same old same old when it comes to the Middle East. Proclaim your love of Israel and of course pretend to care about the fate of Palestinians.