US Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama pledged staunch support for Israel during a visit to Jerusalem on Wednesday and said, if elected, he would work to invigorate the West Asia peace process. As part of an overseas tour aimed at bolstering his foreign policy credentials, Obama met Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and right-wing opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu.

Netanyahu, a former prime minister, said Obama promised never to seek to damage Israel’s security. Both men agreed on the “primacy” of preventing Iran from becoming a nuclear power.

Obama was due later to see President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who could be forced out of office by a corruption probe.

“I will share some of my ideas. The most important idea for me to reaffirm is the historic and special relationship between the United States and Israel — one that cannot be broken,” Obama said on arrival on Tuesday night.

Obama, who faces Republican John McCain in the November election, is struggling to overcome wariness among some Israelis and some Jewish voters in the United States about the strength of his commitment to Israel.

Obama also dismayed Palestinian leaders when he said last month that Jerusalem should be Israel’s “undivided” capital.

Palestinians want Arab East Jerusalem, captured by Israel in 1967, as the capital of a future state. Obama later said he used “poor phrasing” when he made the remarks.

The Democratic candidate, an Illinois senator, will visit the occupied West Bank to meet Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Prime Minister Salam Fayyad.