The Success of the King’s Visit to Washington: Some Are Troubled and America Asks Four Questions to the Brotherhood

America has not changed her position; the Islamists have ended the boycott and are seeking mutual understanding.

No concern is evident within the American administration about the Islamists closing in on various areas of power in some of the countries involved in what has been termed the “Arab spring.” However, this does not mean that America is happy with everything that’s going on. The American mind is trying to adapt to the new developments in the Arab arenas by way of communication based on recognizing the new reality.

In more than one capital city, specifically Egypt and Tunisia, the Islamists wasted no time in taking the initiative and sending reassuring messages. These gave rise to the direct communication between the Islamists and the Obama administration, which wasted no time in contemplation and grief.

In-depth dialogues were held between the American administration and the brotherhood of Egypt; other indirect dialogues took place with the Jordanian brotherhood, even though some parties are talking about direct ones. A few days ago, the leader of the Shura council announced that there was nothing standing in the way of any dialogue with America or Europe, a statement which may have come after communications which some elements of the media have been reporting the existence of and which can neither be proved or disproved, even though the context does lead us to believe they did occur.

Notably, America has not changed; her policy which prevented a free American television microphone from appearing in front of any leader of a brotherhood remains the same in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan, and America has not apologized for any of the policies undertaken. Instead, what have changed are the Islamists’ interests, which have caused them to completely forget about their previous positions and the unchanging nature of America’s policy. Due to the fact that some of the Islamists have become part of the power or believe they are coming from other places, they rush to establish a relationship with the American administration and to issue reassuring responses to important questions posed by the American administration about certain Islamists and other questions which will be asked about others amongst them as a platform for mutual understanding and agreement.

America’s central questions focused on the Islamists’ position on minorities and their rights, and whether or not the Islamists would respect the ballot boxes regardless of who was victorious. Additionally, they asked if the Islamists would be implementing Sharia and turning the systems of governance into religious systems. The last question was about the peace treaty with Israel; this was directed mainly at Jordan and Egypt.

In Egypt, the American administration received reassuring responses on issues such as the peace treaty; this is what many elements of the media have been discussing. However, there are responses which can only be tested by experience, so the theoretical answers open the doors to mutual understanding. The Muslim brotherhood are certainly concerned with providing goodwill gestures to the American administration, such as the documents adopting them as part of the regime of governance. This is because the Islamists, along with other groups, believe that the American administration played a role in assisting the Arab spring’s success by supporting the popular revolutions and abandoning a regime which had been one of Washington’s closest allies.

The American administration believes it has the right to convincing answers to these questions from the Egyptian Muslim brotherhood because it is the main economic and military “supporter” of the Egyptian state. It therefore believes it that it has the right to be able to trust the regime which it is supporting economically and militarily because this support is not free but is instead given in exchange for interests in the region, the most important of which is Israel.

As for Jordan, there, the Islamists recognize that a relationship with America has become essential; the success of the king’s visit to Washington was worrying and disturbing for some people within the Islamists’ ranks. They had been expecting the visit to include both pressure from America and criticism about political reform, perhaps some were also hoping for American “help” in putting pressure on the state. For this reason it was an unpleasant surprise for some that the visit was extremely successful and entirely free of criticism and pressure.

These “some people” will now have to re-assess because the American administration has lost some of its enthusiasm for the Arab spring; it began to see some trends which bore worrying political and economic consequences. For this reason the American administration is tending to move very slowly on areas in which the Arab spring has not run its full course.

Finally, one of the results of the Arab spring is the breaking of the ban the Islamic movement in Jordan had been imposing on relations with America. This was despite the fact that America remained strong on her positions which the movement had been using to justify its boycott of all things American, including American restaurants. Today the boycott war has ended despite the fact that America remains the same with respect to the issues of the Arab world in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan and has not announced her abandonment of her biggest ally, Israel.