Israel excited by Obama visit

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"ISRAELIS could barely contain their excitement yesterday as US presidential hopeful Barack Obama prepared to touch down in Jerusalem this morning.

The country's largest-selling newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, devoted its first two pages to Senator Obama's visit, which dominated yesterday morning's talkback radio and television.

He will be received by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defence Minister Ehud Barak, as well as President Shimon Peres - a more impressive line-up than was rolled out for Republican candidate John McCain's visit earlier this year.

He will be taken on a helicopter tour of Sderot, the southern Israeli town hit by thousands of rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip in recent years. He is also scheduled to visit Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, where he will briefly meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas."

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because he's more concerned with the welfare of his country than theirs? Even if this is true all I can say is sorry but that is how it's supposed to be.

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"Barack Obama, the US Democratic presidential candidate, has met Palestinian leaders at the government's headquarters in Ramallah, in the final part of his Middle East tour.

Obama travelled from Jerusalem to the West Bank city on Wednesday for talks with Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, and Salam Fayyad, the prime minister.

Saeb Erekat, a senior Palestinian peace negotiator, said Abbas planned to tell Obama that, if elected president, he must not waste time and must immediately turn his attention to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Obama said on Tuesday in Jordan after a meeting with King Abdullah that he would work to bring Israel and the Palestinians together "starting from the minute I'm sworn into office".

But he has cautioned it is "unrealistic to expect that a US president alone can suddenly snap his fingers and bring about peace in this region."

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his visit to Ramallah got "quieter" coverage

"They are all the same," said Amjad Badran, a shop owner on Manara Square. "The American policy hasn't changed in the last 50 years. All the American presidents have supported Israel. Besides, he won't be elected because he's black. At the end of the day, it's the Senate and the Congress who determine U.S. policy, and they are affected by the Zionist lobby."

http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1004880.html

before any howls about this quote-"it's the Senate and the Congress who determine U.S. policy, and they are affected by the Zionist lobby."

the person quoted said affected not controlled