Obama Backs Dividing Jerusalem

Uploaded with permission from INN
By: Hana Levi Julian

Democratic presidential candidate Senator Barack Obama privately expressed his
support for a new Arab state within Israel's current borders, including eastern
Jerusalem, during his meeting with Palestinian Authority Chairman and Fatah
leader Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah this summer.

According to a report
published Tuesday in the Lebanese newspaper al-Ahbar, Obama told Abbas that he
supports a PA state, and Arab "rights to east Jerusalem" as well. The sources
said Abbas and PA Prime Minister Salam Fayyad "heard the best things they ever
heard from an American president" during the meeting. However, said sources
quoted in the report, the candidate asked them to keep his declaration a
secret.

PA spokesman Nimar Hamad said he had no comment on the remarks,
other than to describe the briefing Abbas and Fayyad had given to the
presidential hopeful.

"The Palestinian Authority views the American
elections as an internal matter and does not favor one person over another," he
said in an official statement. "The PA hopes that the next American president
will fulfill his commitment towards the Palestinians and pressure Israel."

Doesn't matter now as he is elected as President.