The New Nation - Internet Edition

AP, Jerusalem

Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama held a breakfast meeting Wednesday with Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, the first event in a day packed with meetings and travel across Israel and the Palestinian territories.

Neither man spoke to reporters as they posed for news cameras at the plush downtown King David Hotel before sitting down to a breakfast of smoked salmon and local cheeses. After the Barak meeting, Obama met opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu. Barak's office issued a laconic statement saying the two discussed "all the relevant issues" and the "future challenges facing Israel and the region" - which meant they most likely discussed Israeli-Palestinian peace efforts and Israel's determination that Iran not be allowed to build atomic bombs.

Netanyahu told reporters those same two subjects were discussed in his meeting with Obama. "The senator and I agreed that the primacy of preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power is clear, and this should guide our mutual policies."

Many people in Israel are concerned that Obama - a first-term U.S. senator with little foreign policy experience - would push Israel too hard in negotiations with the Palestinians.

But Netanyahu said Obama told him that "he would never seek in any way to compromise Israel's security, and that this would be sacrosanct in his approach to political negotiations."