Obama Promises to Act Quickly in the Middle East

The President elect is trying to establish a dedicated team, which must be ready by Jan. 20.

Under pressure from those who are calling for him to reveal his intentions on the burning question of the Middle East, Barack Obama promised, on Sunday, to engage in the resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict starting on Jan. 20. However, he remained vague with regard to his diplomatic plan of action and strategic intentions.

“What I am currently trying to do is to put a team in place so that, from day one, we have the best possible people available” in order to “immediately engage in the Middle East peace process,” he said on Sunday in an interview with ABC news.

Obama made it clear that he doesn’t want to repeat the same mistakes made by the Bush and Clinton administrations, who took up the cause at the end of their respective terms of office – in other words, too late. This team “will work to put in place a strategic approach which will guarantee that the Israelis and Palestinians are able to fulfill their ambitions,” he said.

But the president-elect did not give any details as to how he intends to deal with the Islamic Palestinian movement Hamas, with whom the Bush Administration cut off all dialogue. During his campaign, Obama hinted at a possible change of strategy. An article in the Guardian, published on Thursday, asserted that certain members of the new team are advocating the use of informal contacts, confirming that there is hot debate about this topic within the president-elect’s circle.

A New Approach

During the interview he established a clear link between the question of the Middle East and the Iranian issue. Obama confirmed that he would call Iran to account, accusing them of “exporting terrorism” through the Palestinian movement Hamas and the radical Shiite movement Hezbollah. Several eminent experts such as Richard Haas, of the Foreign Affairs Committee, are calling for an interactive approach to the different regional issues from Gaza to Afghanistan, including nuclear weapons in Iran. Some highlight the fact that Iran and the U.S. have shared interests in Afghanistan, where they both want to see stability.

“We are preparing for that. We anticipate having to act quickly in this area,” assured Obama, suggesting that if Iran has nuclear weapons, it “could potentially unleash a nuclear arms race in the Middle East.”

Obama promised a ” new approach based on respect, willing dialogue but also transparency on exactly what it is that we want”. Obama nonetheless indicated that he would take into account the advice given by the current Vice President, Dick Cheney, not to reject purely on principle the Bush administration’s strategy. Israel has the right to defend its citizens, he reminded, as he did in July on the occasion of a visit to Sderot. These different declarations remain sufficiently vague to prevent anyone from drawing any definitive conclusions on the President- elect’s intentions.

Blessed, as his own personal story has shown, with a remarkable ability to take into account all aspects of the parties in conflict, Barack Obama is undoubtedly still going through a phase of careful reflection on what he should really do in the Middle East. The man he sees as a real source of inspiration, Abraham Lincoln, cherished pragmatism. A pragmatism that the president-elect might do well to show concerning the closure of the Guantanamo Bay detention center. He recognized Sunday that he would surely not be able to keep his promise to have it shut within 100 days following his investiture.