Episode XI Studios

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Iraqi Premier Steps Back on U.S. Troops Comment

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JERUSALEM (CNN) – Barack Obama held talks with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak Wednesday as the Democratic White House hopeful began a day of meetings in Israel and the Palestinian territories on the latest leg of his international campaign trail.

 

U.S. Democrat presidential candidate Barack Obama, right, shakes hands with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak in Jerusalem.

Obama, who later met with opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu, did not take questions from reporters after the meeting as he posed for news cameras the hotel where he is staying.

The visit to the region, part of Obama’s first international tour since securing the Democratic ticket, is aimed at boosting the politician’s foreign policy credentials as he heads into an election showdown with Republican John McCain.

Netanyahu told reporters after his meeting that their talks focused on “the need to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons.”

“The senator and I agree that the primacy of preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power is clear,” he said.

“This should guide our mutual policies.” Afterward, Obama aid a wreath at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial in Jerusalem and headed to a meeting with President Shimon Peres.

In the afternoon, Obama was due to meet with Palestinian leaders, including President Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

He was then expected to fly by helicopter to Sderot, a southern Israeli town that has come under rocket attack from Palestinian militants in Gaza. He will tour a home damaged in an attack.

“Sen. Obama looks very much forward to getting the perspectives and the insights of key leaders both in the Israeli government as well as the Palestinian Authority, and he’ll see leaders of all political stripes, including the opposition,” said Susan Rice, senior foreign policy adviser to Obama’s campaign.