The Moment of Truth?

On June 4th, Barack Obama will give an eagerly anticipated speech in Cairo where he will address the Muslim world. After this speech, the skeptical Arab world will judge the new president by his acts, but they must be aware that they too must act themselves and assume their responsibilities. The Arab and Muslim worlds are at a crossroads. The positions of American, European and world public opinion are starting to change. The Palestinian cause is considered just and the flagrant excesses of Israeli politics are understood as not only dangerous for world stability, but also unsustainable considering the “democratic” Western principles. Aided by the world crisis of savage liberalism, this is an opportunity to try and favor just solutions and multilateralism. The world powers can’t protect an Israeli regime that flouts the values they continuously advocate. The contradictions of archaic Arabic regimes, blind reactions in view of the occupation, the instrumentalization of religions and bad communication halt any transformative efforts. Intelligent resistance allied with a strategic message is vital; it concerns humanity’s future, not only those of the Palestinians.

A New Dynamic May Come Underway

Through danger and torment, change and salvation are possible. This wake up call is needed before it is too late. Barack Obama and the current administration now know that the Israeli-Palestinian problem inhibits any movement towards a new and coherent world order and fuels the globalization of insecurity. At this point, the effective creation of a Palestinian state is the top priority upon which Obama’s first term will be judged. It isn’t just philanthropy where Barack Obama can contribute to the settlement of this central question concerning the world’s future, but he must also reasonably takes into account the otherwise objective interest that the USA demands of him. His margin of error isn’t very wide considering the prejudices, blindness and influence of the powerful lobbies that defend their narrow interests. But if the Arabs can reassure divided Europeans, reform itself and get out of its rut, a new dynamic may come underway that cannot be stopped. The conditions for change are practically there; if they only knew how to seize the opportunity. Barack Obama signaled his intention to settle this problem with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, a politician of the worst kind, who he received at the White House on May 18th.

In his noteworthy Egyptian debut in June, the American president is certainly going to want to assume the arbiter role and inform the Arabs of not only their rights, but also their duties. He is right to hope that the Arabs shift from their wait-and-see policy in which they are boxed in a form of victimization and where they never effectively remove themselves from political and economic underdevelopment. The American push for dialogue and its push to remove the Arab world from its torpor is laudable. This is because the Arab world has rejected every proposal and idea for the last twenty years, without presenting an alternative themselves, under the pretense of refusing interference and the priority of “stability.” The Palestinian question will only move forward if the Arab world moves toward increased legitimacy and credibility. The Palestinian cause seems to be in a tragic impasse, but it is Israel that practices avoidance before suicidal extremism. The protagonists of this conflict seem incapable of reaching a settlement due to the deep difficulties involving Israel’s warmongering, but the Palestinians must act now in spite of Israel’s destructive actions. In the case that this conflict with the Palestinians and the Arabs ends, Israel might implode without the necessary enemy to survive. It is this mindset that has to change, especially if law is to become stronger and hate is destine to fail. A synergism of the USA, the EU and the Arab world can settle the problem in the interest of the Israelis and the Palestinians. If not tomorrow, then eventually the price to pay will be so high that no one can imagine what will happen.

The Poor Conscience of the Europeans

The Palestinian situation is the moment of truth for the West. More than sixty years after the end of the Second World War, will the poor conscience of the Europeans, with its endless back-and-forth look at reality, say and practice the law instead of supporting the unjustifiable? More than any country in modern times, as it faces its responsibilities, Europe has built itself up on the principals of law, justice and democracy. Will it know how to rise above its past, its subjectivity and its colored lens, which shatters its credibility, in order to get Israel to stop colonizing and accept the borders of a Palestinian state, guaranteeing the security of each? The Arabs must once again learn how to communicate in order to get the Europeans and the Israeli citizens, who are traumatized themselves, to listen and to help Barack Obama. This alone will not be able to achieve what a larger majority of world opinion hopes; the creation of a Palestinian state. As younger citizens devoted to justice arrive, the consensus of American support of Israel crumbles throughout American public opinion. According to an American poll published at the time of Netanyahu and Obama’s meeting, the majority of Americans are in favor of pressuring Israel to facilitate the establishment of a Palestinian state; 80% of those who voted for Barack Obama think that it’s time to put pressure on Israel and, of the electors polled, 45% are in favor of real pressure.

If disagreement over the Israeli-Palestinian conflict exists not only between Democrats and Republicans, but also among experts, then a consensus begins to take shape within the new administration. Each wants to see how Barack Obama is going to try to impose his point of view. Everyone knows that after Clinton’s failure and Bush’s blindness, Obama doesn’t have the right to make a mistake. This is where it is important to help him resolve any divisions. The deception and forgotten promises have pushed some young Palestinians to extremism and other regional powers have entered into play. Western statements have lost all credibility, contradicted by the politics of two pounds, two measures. Since the division of fixed land in 1948 and the brutal flouting of international law in 1967 with the annexation of the Arab lands of El Qods Charif and Jerusalem by Israeli soldiers, Israelis have been on top of Palestinians each day. Political viability, territorial and economical, is wiped away, leaving apartheid and some Bantustans. Few policies are sure, yet taking into account the stakes, it is insane to cross one’s arms and wait for miracles to happen as the future of liberty and co-existence are teetering. For the moment, Barack Obama speaks clearly; he affirmed that the engagements taken by earlier Israeli governments should be respected and that settlements should be stopped.

For now, Israel illegally possesses hundreds of nuclear bombs. While nothing can prevent a country from possessing civil nuclear energy, it is worrisome that the American president has retreated to the subject of Iran. He has affirmed that by the end of the year he will reexamine his strategy on the matter, even though he has specified that this issue isn’t a priority. Israel brought this question up as a diversion and to prepare public opinion for an eventual preventative war. Be afraid, for escalation is an old Israeli tactic used to paralyze its partners.

The Pursuit of Colonization and the Impunity of the Israelis

In an attempt to try and marginalize the Palestinian question, Netanyahu is certainly going to propose negotiations with Syria and pretend that he’s going to make Obama’s job in the region easier. Has the moment of truth come? Former Clinton negotiator, Robert Malley, was recently dismissed from his duties because he had the courage to meet with certain elements of the popularly-elected Hamas, but responded in the negative when an interview was televised in America. The pursuit of colonization and the impunity of the Israelis will continue until Arabs assume their responsibilities and work to win over American, European and Israeli public opinion constructively.

It is about counteracting the shortcuts of those who spread fear, advocating shock through demonizing Muslims to perpetuate colonization. Islamophobes keep the existing warped views between the West and East from evolving, clarifying none of the causes for these problems. These individuals plow through aggressive situations and refuse any right to contest and oppose oppression and injustice. If too many inhumane acts are committed by those who usurp Islam’s name without a visible opposition, it is easy to forget 15 centuries of history and lump the entire Muslim world together. Misrepresentations and confusion flood the accusations of those who invent a new enemy for themselves, a slander that attempts to reason the criminal aggression in Gaza as a legitimate defensive act. The prevailing discourse sticks, leading to the assumption that Muslims deserve everything coming to them, where “fascism” only exists in the terrorism the weak commit and not in the savagery that the powerful exert. The debate has turned away from the cause of the problems that undermine the world. Can the Arab world understand that the time for change has come, or will it descend further into Hell?