How Should We Respond to Obama?

For a moment it seemed as if Obama’s call to open a new page with Muslims had been lost in space, as if no one had heard it. Or perhaps those who heard his greeting let it pass by without appropriately responding, seizing the opportunity, and sending the ball back onto the White House lawn.

Regardless, Obama’s declaration that America is not the enemy of Islam and is ready to respectfully listen and respectfully disagree with the Muslim world is an important development, worthy of an official, calculated response from the Arab and Islamic worlds. Despite the pessimism of the cynics and the questions of the skeptics, the worst thing we could do is bury our heads in the sand and wait for a change of fate.

This month King Abdullah II will be the first Arab leader to visit Washington and meet with Obama. The Hashemite king is the most capable of all the Arab leaders to respond to the greeting and and keep the lines of communication with the American president open, putting the power of the White House behind the current serious challenges. The king represents an enlightened generation of Arab leaders, one that is open to the world, aware of the dangers facing the region, looking to the future and its prospects, and able to provide advice to the new U.S. administration in order to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past.

If President Obama really wants to open a new page with our world and our people, he must listen to what King Abdullah II says. If the former U.S. administration failed the moderates and increased the camps of the fanatics so they could kidnap the region and push it into a dead end, then the king’s visit could usher in the beginning of a positive phase in the relationship between Washington and the Arab world.

President Obama is aware that the Middle East poses the greatest challenge to his policies. We recognize, too, that the United States is the only country that can change the state of things, especially with regard to the Arab-Israeli conflict. But good intentions are not enough for Obama because what is required is the end of America’s bias towards Israel and the recognition of the failure of the previous policies. Obama should not wait long to announce a new approach in American policies toward the region. Today, it is not sufficient to confirm the necessity of a two-state solution, as Netanyahu’s right-wing government will not settle its accounts and is proceeding with determination in its projects of “Judaization” and partition.

There are those who believe that Obama may be the right president for America but that he was dealt some bad luck, arriving in the midst of the worst economic crisis experienced by the world. And there are those who think that Obama may succeed in changing the direction of America and many of its policies, except in regards to Israel. There are those who are betting on the success of the American president in the face of Israel’s arrogance and intransigence and the fact that it forces the world to submit to what it wants. Whatever the case, it is the duty of the Arab leaders to speak and take advantage of Obama’s openness and his call to influence America’s position on the region.

The financial crisis, America’s involvement in failed wars and its dependence on its allies and friends to deal with the world crises, have all led to a radical change in Washington’s position on Israel’s continued occupation of Palestine. A fair solution to the Palestinian issue will release the United States from future crises and achieve the required balance in its relationship with the Islamic and Arab worlds.