Worldmeets.us
April 11 2009

Stars, Stripes and the Muslim Crescent

"Despite the commitments to support Israel that are required of every
America chief executive, Israel may soon find itself on a collision
course with Barack Obama. Only in refusing to submit to Israel, as so
many of his predecessors have found themselves obliged to do, will
Obama have truly brought this region its fair share of change."

Source: L’Orient Le Jour, Lebanon
EDITORIAL By Issa Goraieb
Translated By Elise Nussbaum
April 9, 2009

Barack Obama’s recent visit to Turkey was symbolically loaded. It was
Turkey that played host to the last stage of the American President’s
specifically European tour: what more effective, concrete way could
there be of repeating that in the eyes of Washington (whether the
resistant and skeptical like it or not), this country is an integral
part of the Old Continent – and, consequently, that it has the right
to knock at the door of the European Union?

Beyond the jibes that he sportingly and even cordially exchanged with
the French, who are hostile to the idea of integrating Turkey, the
White House chief’s argument is of interest. Turkey occupies a unique
position in the world precisely because it has an overwhelmingly
Muslim population and yet is a member of the Atlantic Alliance; its
integration into Europe would make it a model to follow for that
portion of the Arab-Muslim world that has been plagued by
extremism. All of this, of course, depends on whether Ankara’s
government promotes reform, particularly with regard to religious
freedom, and that it shows a willingness to cooperate so that the
painful memory of the 1915 Armenian Genocide can finally be cleared
away. What the public discourse omits in so many words is that Turkey
must also – must importantly – provide all kinds of logistical help to
America in that country’s quest to extricate itself from Iraq and
Afghanistan with some dignity.

Though Obama has managed to clear the air of the Turkish-U.S. quarrel
that erupted under Bush, it is in regard to Islam that his approach
stands out most clearly from that of his Republican
predecessor. Immediately after the anti-American attack of September
11, 2001, George W. Bush, either through neoconservative dogmatism or
simple clumsiness, alienated much of the Arab-Muslim world by speaking
of a holy crusade against terrorism. His extreme – and extremely
deadly – invasion of Iraq, the unconditional support he accorded
Israel and the short shrift he gave to the Palestinian question
throughout most of his time in office didn’t help matters.

Posted by WORLDMEETS.US

President Barack Obama addresses the Turkey National
Assembly in Ankara, April 6. WATCH

Masterfully playing on his own multicultural roots, meeting
dignitaries of all persuasions in Istanbul, Bush’s successor offers,
in contrast, friendship and partnership. He found it necessary to
remind everyone that the United States is not and will never be at war
with Islam. Many Americans have Muslims in their families ¦ "I know
because I’m one of them," added Obama, to the ovations of Turkish
National Assembly members. Remarkable for its skillfulness – though
not surprising – is his approach to the Palestinian question, which he
outlined in Turkey: holding fast to the principles of the Annapolis
Conference, the roadmap and the principle of a two-state solution, but
also calling for the mutual concessions needed for a resolution of any
conflict this complex.

The trouble is that by doing so, Obama is preaching to the converted
on one side – the Arabs, who have long been resigned to making
concessions to stay afloat – and on the other side, he suffers the
affronts of Israeli irredentists. The destroyer of the Oslo Accords,
Benjamin Netenyahu continues to officially rule out any possibility of
a Palestinian state. "Annapolis is the past," shouted Israeli Foreign
Minister Avigdor Lieberman last week – to which another minister added
that Israel doesn’t take orders from the President of the United
States.

That is to say, despite the commitments to support Israel that are
required of every America chief executive, Israel may soon find
itself, whether it likes it or not, on a collision course with Barack
Obama. Only in refusing to submit to Israel, as so many of his
predecessors have found themselves obliged to do, will Obama have
truly brought this region its fair share of change.

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