Obama arrives in Jordan, last stop in Mideast
By The Associated Press
This article was originally published March 22, 2013 at 7:06 a.m. Updated March 22, 2013 at 4:09 p.m.
PHOTO BY AP/PABLO MARTINEZ MONSIVAIS
U.S. President Barack Obama walks out of the Hall of Remembrance at the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem on Friday, March 22, 2013.
- Comments (2)
- aAFont Size
AMMAN, Jordan — President Barack Obama arrived in Jordan on Friday for the final stop on his four-day visit to the Middle East and a day of meetings with King Abdullah II that are expected to focus on the influx of refugees from the civil war in neighboring Syria.
More than 400,000 Syrians have crossed the border into Jordan to escape the violence, crowding refugee camps and overwhelming aid agencies run by this important U.S. ally in the Middle East. Abdullah has voiced fears that extremists and terrorists could create a regional base in his country.
Obama will also seek to bolster Jordan's efforts to reform its government as it seeks to stave off an Arab Spring-style revolution.
Before arriving in the Jordanian capital of Amman, Obama closed a three-day visit to Israel, another important U.S. ally in the region, by paying respects to the nation's heroes and to victims of the Holocaust. He also solemnly reaffirmed the Jewish state's right to exist.
Accompanied by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, Obama laid wreaths at the graves of Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern Zionism who died in 1904 before realizing his dream of a Jewish homeland, and former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who was assassinated in 1995.
He also toured the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial, declaring after that the memorial illustrates the depravity to which man can sink but also serves as a reminder of the "righteous among the nations who refused to be bystanders."
Read tomorrow's Arkansas Democrat-Gazette for full details.
Comments on: Obama arrives in Jordan, last stop in Mideast
To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Read our Terms of Use policy.
You must login to make comments.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 total comments
LevyRat says... March 22, 2013 at 8:55 a.m.
Symbolic stops, that's about par for a President who is more concerned with how things look than being a leader.
( permalink | suggest removal )
BillSmith says... March 22, 2013 at 9:13 a.m.
I saw and heard students giving him a standing ovation, unlike Bush who had shoes thrown at him in Iraq. And LevyRat talks about a leader. That shows the mentality he has for picking leaders.
( permalink | suggest removal )
To report abuse or misuse of this area please hit the "Suggest Removal" link in the comment to alert our online managers. Read our Terms of Use policy.