Obama Rightfully Ignores "Greater Middle East"

After President Barack Obama came into office, the political movement of the Democrats of the new administration started to change little by little. The change is in favor of calm views and wisdom and diplomacy, in dealing with differences and tensions in the Middle East, particularly with regards to its flammable political location.

After the events of September 11, 2001, the former U.S. administration wanted to impose some political projects and agendas that were not consistent with the conventions of those nations. Some of these are called the “Greater Middle East project,” which has been talked about for several years, but has not seen the light of day.

It seems that the Obama administration took no notice of it for this reason. Truth be told, this is a wise and profound political and strategic move. Practicing coercion on other nations and cultures will not achieve any success.

The Orientalist Bernard Lewis was the first who called for a new mapping of the Middle East, saying that the collapse of the Soviet Union provided an atmosphere conducive to the replacement of political and geographic features in the Middle East. In Foreign Affairs Magazine he wrote a summary of his perceptions of the elements of the new regional order.

During his visits to Egypt in the early 1990s, Shimon Peres met with a number of Egyptian intellectuals and talked about the idea of the Middle Eastern market. He explained his idea, saying, “War and peace among peoples are not determined by what each other bear of love and hate. For instance: the British hate the French, the French hate the Germans, the Germans hate the French. But Europe can, however, build itself, as there are mechanisms that govern this construction. Mechanisms which have nothing to do with love and hate!” He added: “The past Arab-Israeli relations should not stand as an obstacle in the face of the opportunities available to them now, but more attention should be entirely given to the future.” [Editor’s note: These quotations are translated and could not be verified as original].

When the question of the Israeli membership in the Arab League came up, which some thought to be just a transient or a propagandistic maneuver, Isaac Rabin, the former Israeli prime minister, resolved the matter. He revealed the real intentions of Israel when he declared he would welcome Israeli membership in the Arab League, but on one condition: if it changed its name to the Middle East League(!!). This would mean practically giving up the Arab identity, along with the fact that it combines the association of this nation in unity and common aspirations. The objective of the Israeli officials and some American politicians is the abolition of Arab privacy and self-identity by absorption in the Israeli project: making Israel the economic center of the region.

Thus, the main objective of the “Greater Middle East” is the ending of any Arab bloc that has a special identity, and above that, aborting the Palestinian rights and keeping the situation as it is, so as to make the core issue of the Arab-Israeli conflict go into oblivion. But Arabs are the only ones to forget those dreams, not the Israelis, who are extending their occupation of Palestine and some parts of the Arab countries in the name of religious claims and concepts reflected in the settlement policy.

Now, the U.S. moves towards understanding, with the crystallization of a positive ground for the development of new relations. These relations move away from tension and fear and from imposing unpalatable drafts and agendas, to the peoples and countries of the region; this is a step forward to strong, fixed and permanent relations.