Obama Vows Focus on Iran, Mideast Peace

By Dan Balz, Griff Witte and Debbi Wilgoren Washington Post Staff Writers JERUSALEM, July 23 -- Illinois Sen. Barack Obama (D) met Wednesday with top Israeli and Palestinian leaders here and in the West Bank, discussing the importance of containing the nuclear threat from Iran and promising to focus intensely on Middle East peace efforts if he is elected president, officials said. After morning sessions with Israelis in Jerusalem and a tour of Israel's Holocaust museum, Obama met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad in the West Bank city of Ramallah. Although Obama angered Palestinians this spring when he said Jerusalem should remain Israel's undivided capital (a comment he later modified), aides to Abbas said Abbas was pleased to have an opportunity to sit down with him. They... [read full story]