JERUSALEM - When Barack Obama comes to Israel this week, he's going to find plenty of skeptics wondering whether such a foreign policy neophyte has what it takes to finally nail down a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The Democratic presidential hopeful has already gotten himself into hot water over one of the thorniest issues in the Israeli-Palestinian divide: the status of disputed Jerusalem. Last month, he tried to woo Israel's powerful lobby in Congress by saying Jerusalem should be Israel's capital and "must remain undivided."
Palestinians, who claim the city's eastern sector as capital of a future state, were furious. Obama's attempts to defuse the flap then got him into trouble with some Israelis and their US supporters, when he clarified his remarks to say Jerusalem's fate should be negotiated