After Obama’s Visit, We Ask God for Safety

Since the era when U.S. President Dwight D. Eisenhower forced Israel to withdraw its troops from the Sinai and Gaza following their capture by Egypt in 1956, Arabs remain convinced that the one who sits in the White House can make war or peace between Arabs and Israelis. The eras of President Nixon and the Separation of Forces Agreement in the Sinai and Golan Heights after the war of 1973; Carter and the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel; Bush and the Madrid Conference of 1991; and Clinton and the Oslo Accords and Wadi Araba Treaty further confirmed this conviction.

The role of American presidents changed in the era of George W. Bush, who wore the armor of war in the Middle East, not only limiting himself to wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, but also giving the green light to Sharon at their 2002 White House meeting to fight a proxy war against the Palestinian people under the guise of fighting terror.

Did the Arab regime not realize that this affected everyone, including the Palestinians who cling to the fantasy that American presidents will bring them a Palestinian state and the Golan Heights on a golden platter? When Obama became president, he announced his distaste for war at the beginning of his first term in his famous Cairo University speech, which he used as a pretext to make the world depend on the White House to resolve the Palestinian issue. However, facing the arrogance and stubbornness of Netanyahu and Israel’s friends in Congress, Obama proved that he was no Eisenhower, Carter or Clinton and would bow to Israeli pressure and waste one opportunity after another toward a two-state solution.

Obama does not appear to be strong except in supporting the end of settlements — under the banner of protecting their security. Settlement expansion has now turned into a cancer that devours the land and impedes the two-state solution to the point that talk of a peace process is nothing but a joke. This man, on the basis of his policies, will not plan any more visits to Tel Aviv and Ramallah. On the contrary, fears continue to increase that the visit will only give Netanyahu and his lying ruling party the right to demand peace and negotiate with the Palestinians — though not with Hamas or Abbas!

The other fear is that Obama is visiting to attempt to rally Arabs behind the Israeli-U.S. plan to strike Iran and expand the cycle of war and crisis in the region.

The U.S. has turned the situation in the Middle East into a game Washington and Tel Aviv play as they attempt peace with the Palestinians only to start a new war.

Is the ultimate goal of Obama’s visit to prevent Israel from striking Iran and building new settlements? Or do we have another spectacle at hand, in which Netanyahu acts as if he is eager to move forward with peace negotiations with the Palestinians so as to rally Arabs behind his plans to attack Iran and its reactors?

In either case, we should pray to God for safety and refuge rather than place hope in Obama’s visit.