World Must Stop Iran From Getting Nuclear Weapon, Says Barack Obama

Barack Obama today pledged his "unshakable commitment to Israel's security" after a day of meetings with Israel's most senior leaders and a helicopter flight to a town targeted by rockets from Gaza.

Most of the talks on his visit were dominated by the Israeli government's concern over Iran's nuclear ambitions ? a concern echoed by the Democratic presidential candidate. "A nuclear Iran would pose a grave threat and the world must prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon," Obama said.

Obama also spoke of his hope for a Middle East peace agreement that would see the creation of a "viable and peaceful Palestinian state" alongside a secure Israel.

The Illinois senator traveled in a heavily guarded convoy to Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, where he met the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, and prime minister, Salam Fayyad. The one-hour meeting in the Palestinian territories ? which came during a 36-hour visit to Israel - still managed to trump his Republican challenger for the White House, John McCain, who spoke to Abbas only by telephone during his trip to Israel in March.

Obama was flown by helicopter with Tzipi Livni, the Israeli foreign minister, and Ehud Barak, the defence minister, to the southern town of Sderot, which has borne the brunt of Gazan rocket attacks. He visited a house hit by a rocket and talked to an Israeli boy who lost a leg in another rocket attack. There was no suggestion he would travel next door into Gaza, which is now under the control of Hamas, the Islamist movement elected two years ago.

Obama spoke in the city police station's courtyard against a backdrop of shelves of exploded Palestinian rockets. "This terror is intolerable," he said of the constant attacks.

Rocket fire has largely stopped since the Egyptians brokered a fragile ceasefire last month between Gazan militant groups and the Israeli military. But in the first five months of the year, the conflict in and around Gaza claimed the lives of 14 Israelis and 362 Palestinians, according to the Israeli human rights group B'Tselem.

Obama said he would work for a peace agreement: "Israelis desire a secure peace in which both they and the Palestinians can fulfill their legitimate aspirations: a strong secure state of Israel living alongside a viable and peaceful Palestinian state. We must support Palestinian leaders who share this vision." He committed to beginning this work as soon as he was elected, not years into his term.

On Iran, he tried to offer the Israelis reassurance: "I will take no options off the table in dealing with this potential Iranian threat. A nuclear Iran would be a game-changing situation not just in the Middle East but around the world."

Obama's knew his choice of vocabulary would be closely scrutinized; he worried Palestinians last month when he said Jerusalem should not be divided. When asked again about Jerusalem today Obama said the future of the city was a "final status issue", but added: "I continue to say that Jerusalem will be the capital of Israel. I also have said that it is important that we don't simply slice the city in half."

Some Palestinians are genuinely hopeful an Obama presidency might improve the chances of a peace agreement with Israel. "We have no problem with him supporting Israel, the question is how," said Ghassan Khatib, a Palestinian analyst and former planning minister.

"We are not expecting him to become pro-Palestinian or not to be pro-Israel but he could be more useful to Israel if he convinced Israel to stop expanding settlements, if his administration became more supportive of the negotiations, if he could relax regional tension." A McCain presidency, he said, would be "problematic".

On the other hand, many Israelis appear to favor McCain as a more likely ally. Gerald Steinberg, the chair of the political science department at Israel's Bar-Ilan University, said it was too early to judge Obama until he began choosing his senior staff. "He is not someone who people can easily box into a liberal or neo-con approach to the Israeli-Arab issue," he said. But he had concerns about some of his advisers who were regarded, in his view, as "part of the Israel-bashing gang."

Obama was to meet the Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, over dinner before making a late-night visit to the Western Wall, a Jewish holy site inside east Jerusalem's Old City.