Barack Obama and the Arab-Israeli Conflict
This section is intended to give readers an overview of President-elect Barack Obama’s positions on the Middle East peace process as he begins his tenure. The baseline for gauging Obama’s views may be his failed 2000 race for Congress. At that time he made statements viewed as pro-Palestinian because they urged the United States to take an “even-handed approach” toward Israeli-Palestinian peace-making. As an Illinois state senator, Obama had cultivated ties with Chicago’s Arab American community, which was partly concentrated in his state senate district. He won a U.S. Senate seat in 2004 with significant support from Chicago’s Lakeside liberals, who included leading Chicago Jewish Democrats. His position on the Arab-Israeli conflict remained an issue during the 2008 presidential race, however, and Obama made a point of laying out his positions at several points during the campaign, in contrast to his Republican challenger Sen. John McCain, who did not detail his positions.
- Obama for America, “Barack Obama: A Strong Record of Supporting Israel,” 12 July 2007 (excerpts)
- Sen. Barack Obama, Address to the 2008 AIPAC Policy Conference, Washington, DC, 4 June 2008 (excerpts)
- Sen. Barack Obama, Letter to U.S. Pres. George W. Bush Regarding the Middle East, 24 June 2008
- Ha’Aretz, “How Democratic, GOP Platforms Differ on Israel,” 9 September 2008