Republican presidential nominee-in-waiting John McCain visited the Western Wall on Wednesday in Jerusalem, the holiest of Jewish sites, and then dropped by Sderot, an Israeli town just over the Gaza border that has been strafed with Hamas rockets.

During a selective round of talks on Iran and the Middle East with Israeli leaders, McCain met opposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu and flew with Defense Minister Ehud Barak to Sderot, where he condemned the attacks and reaffirmed Israel's right to exist.

Earlier during talks with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, McCain, referring to the heightened unrest and conflict between Israel and Hamas-controlled Gaza, said: "I know that the United States government is fully committed to trying to stop this violence, this cross border violence that is taking place."

Livni thanked the senator for his pro-Israel views on the Middle East, later noting, "I know that we share the same understanding of the nature of the crisis in the region."

"We all appreciate the fact that events in the Middle East are not disconnected and what happens in Iraq, what happens affects events in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza and even throughout the region," McCain said later, during talks with Netanyahu on the threat of a nuclear-armed Iran.

McCain was not scheduled to meet with any Palestinian leaders, a move seen as a snub by many. He did speak by phone Tuesday with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesperson in Gaza, said McCain believes "the road to the White House must pass through Tel Aviv."

Barhoum added that Hamas was saddened by the pro-Israel stance of American policy.

Ghassan Khatib, an Arab political analyst at Bir Zeit University on the West Bank, said he believed McCain's visit was not to help restore peace in the region, but to help gain support for his presidential campaign.

"Unfortunately, the competition between the different candidates to please the Jewish lobby and the right wing lobby in the United States has always been on the expense of the ability of the United States to play a constructive role in trying to solve the Palestinian problem" said Khatib.

On Tuesday McCain visited the holocaust museum Yad VaShem and met with the Israeli President Shimon Peres at his residence. McCain's weeklong trip will continue on to Britain for talks with Prime Minister Gordon Brown as well as to France for a meeting with the French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.