Obama’s Speech Welcomed by Arabs Who Want Now to See Action

Obama’s Speech Welcomed by Arabs Who Want Now to See Action





By Daniel Williams and Julianna Goldman

June 5 (Bloomberg) -- Arabs welcomed President Barack Obama’s call for a “new beginning” in relations with the Muslim world and called on the U.S. to match words with actions, while in Israel analysts said the speech would intensify pressure on their government to halt West Bank settlements.

In an address at the golden-domed Grand Hall of Cairo University yesterday, Obama said both societies must end the “cycle of suspicion and discord” that has defined the relationship. While saying the U.S. bond with Israel is “unbreakable,” he said the Israelis must halt expansion of settlements and recognize Palestinian aspirations for statehood.

“The symbolism was strong, the substance was thin,” said Rami Khoury, director of the Issam Fares Institute for Public Policy and International Affairs at the American University of Beirut. “Equating the Palestinians and the Israelis at the same level was very significant.”

The speech, with an audience of about 3,000 in the hall and millions more worldwide, was part of an effort by Obama to enhance U.S. standing with the Islamic world as he realigns U.S. policy in the battle against terrorism, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the confrontation with Iran over its nuclear development plans.

The president laced his 55-minute address with references to the Koran as well as the Bible and the Talmud. He talked about Islamic contributions to culture, U.S. history and his personal story.

‘Always the Truth’

Citing a verse in the Koran that tells Muslims to “speak always the truth,” Obama said that that to move forward, “we must say openly to each other the things we hold in our hearts, and that too often are said only behind closed doors.”

He outlined six friction points between the U.S. and Muslims: violent extremism “in all its forms”; Iran’s pursuit of nuclear arms; democracy in Muslim nations; religious freedom and the rights of women. Obama used some of his most direct language regarding the sixth flash-point, the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians and Muslim enmity toward the Jews.

He said Jews have been subject to centuries of persecution and statements that deny the fact of the deaths of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust at the hands of the Nazis are “ignorant” and “hateful.”

“Threatening Israel with destruction -- or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews -- is deeply wrong and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve,” he said.

Israeli Settlements

At the same time, he said, “Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine’s. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements.”

The Palestinian situation in the West Bank and Gaza is “intolerable,” he said. “The only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security.”

“It’s good to hear that kind of message that America is not going to turn its back on the Palestinians,” said Abdulkhaleq Abdullah, a professor of politics at United Arab Emirates University in Al Ain, U.A.E.

Adouri Mgrditchian, a 24-year-old student at American University of Beirut, said Obama’s trip is “a step in the right direction.”

“But will we see concrete steps?” he asked.

In the Gaza Strip, Sameh Abdallah, a Palestinian public employee agreed: “We heard very positive comments from him, but the judgment is subject to seeing actions on the ground.”

Pressure on Netanyahu

In Israel, Gerald Steinberg, a political science professor at Bar-Ilan University near Tel Aviv, said, “The timing and venue of this historic speech definitely ratchets up the pressure” on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has rejected freezing expansion of settlements.

Netanyahu’s office released a statement calling Obama’s speech “dramatic” and expressed hope that it “would lead to a new era of reconciliation between the Arab and Muslim world with Israel.” The statement didn’t mention settlements.

Netanyahu’s foreign policy adviser, Zalman Shoval, said: “I don’t think anything has improved because of the speech, but it hasn’t deteriorated either.”

‘Political Capital’

Mark Heller, political scientist at Tel Aviv University’s Institute for National Strategic Studies, said that Obama’s use of the word “Palestine” -- unusual for American presidents -- “may buy Obama a little bit of political capital in dealing with the Arab League and the Palestinians themselves.”

“When they get into tough issues, he’s going to be able to say, ‘you can’t accuse me of being fundamentally hostile,’” Heller said.

The president said that two of America’s founding fathers, Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, appreciated Islamic culture and society and that 7 million Muslims now live in U.S. He also reminded the audience that his father was from a Muslim family and he spent part of his childhood in Indonesia.

“That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn’t,” Obama said.

The crowd inside Cairo University’s main assembly hall interrupted with applause 36 times, including at each mention of the Koran. The most sustained applause occurred when he repeated his pledge to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay next year and his support for a Palestinian state.

The audience was silent when he defended the war in Afghanistan as a response to the Sept. 11, 2001, al-Qaeda attacks on New York and Washington. There also was no applause when he said that everyone would be safer if extremists in Muslim communities were isolated and made unwelcome.

Germany Arrival

Obama, who toured the Great Pyramids after his speech, left Cairo and arrived last night in Germany. Today he’ll meet with Chancellor Angela Merkel, tour the site of the Buchenwald concentration camp and meet with wounded U.S. military personnel at the Landstuhl Regional Medical Center.

Tonight he flies to Paris before tomorrow’s ceremonies commemorating the allied D-Day invasion at Normandy, which led to the end of World War II.

To contact the reporters on this story: Daniel Williams in Cairo at dwilliams41@bloomberg.net; Julianna Goldman in Cairo at jgoldman6@bloomberg.net;

Source :http://www.bloomberg.com