Barack Obama Tours Holocaust Memorial in Israel

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Source: Associated Press

Barack Obama tours Holocaust memorial in Israel

By DAVID ESPO, AP Special Correspondent
29 minutes ago
JERUSALEM - Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama toured Israel's Holocaust memorial Wednesday, laying a wreath in memory of the 6 million Jews who died and saying, "Ultimately, this is a place of hope." Obama toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial on a Jerusalem hillside as he moved through a busy day of meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials, including Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

The Democratic nominee-in-waiting is on a tour of the Mideast and Europe, a journey financed by his campaign and designed to reassure skeptical voters back home of his ability to serve as commander in chief and guide diplomacy after eight years of the Bush administration.

Obama drew an unusually warm welcome from Israeli President Shimon Peres, who said his greatest wish is for a "great president of the United States. That is the greatest promise for us and the rest of the world." "God bless you," said the 85-year-old fixture of Israeli politics, who joked that he was speaking as one young man to another. Obama is 46.

At the Holocaust memorial, Obama wore a white skullcap as he laid a wreath in memory of the victims of the Nazis.

Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080723/ap_on_el_pr/obama_mideast