Obama Made Secret Promises to Palestinians
Report: Obama voiced support for Palestinians’ right to Jerusalem.
The Palestinian Authority has refrained from officially declaring its support for one of the US presidential hopefuls, claiming this was an “internal American issue”, but a Lebanese newspaper reported Tuesday that Palestinian leaders in the West Bank are hoping for Democrat Barack Obama’s victory.
Sources in Ramallah told the al-Akhbar daily that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad are expecting Obama to win, “despite his leaning towards Israel,” which they said was aimed at gaining the support of the Israel and the Jewish lobby in the United States.
The sources said that during a recent meeting with Obama, the two Palestinian leaders “heard the best things they ever heard from an American president.”
According to the report, the Democratic senator told Abbas and Fayyad that he “supports the rights of the Palestinians to east Jerusalem, as well as their right to a stable, sovereign state”, but asked them to keep the remarks a secret.
UPDATE at 11/4/08 2:11:00 pm:
Dennis Ross says it didn’t happen.
Ross issued a statement completely rejecting a Lebanese newspaper’s claim that Hussein Obama had promised Abbas to divide Jerusalem. The statement assured, “As someone who was present in Senator Obama’s meeting with the Palestinian leadership, I can state definitively that there were no secret commitments made, and no discussion of Jerusalem whatsoever.”
Frank says: