Obama and His Hawk
Published in Al Arab Al Yawm
(Lebanon) on 10 July 2010
by Muhammad Kawash (link to original)
When President Barack Obama made his television appearance on Israel’s Channel 2, he presented two messages. The first, and most important, was directed toward Israelis. The second message — a fantasy — was directed toward Palestinians and Arabs.
In his first message, Obama wanted to defend himself in front of the Jewish people, restore his alliance and special relationship with Israel, and confirm his country’s commitment to Israel’s security and peace. He tried justifying his past efforts at extending a friendly hand to the Muslim world by saying that he worked toward one particular aim, which was to “to reduce the antagonism and the dangers posed by a hostile Muslim world to Israel and to the West.”
The second message was directed toward Palestinians and Arabs. Obama tried to introduce Netanyahu anew, presenting him as a man of peace and capable of attaining an agreement with the Palestinians. The U.S. President stated that he (Obama) is capable of achieving a peace agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis before the end of his term!
President Obama wants to sell us a fantasy once again, ignoring all Israeli measures, from Jewish settlements to house seizures and destruction of buildings. Obama tells us that Netanyahu — the “conservative hawk” — is able to achieve peace with the Palestinians and calls for direct negotiations to resume, despite the fact that Netanyahu has refused to agree to any preconditions for Israel. Nonetheless, Netanyahu wants Palestinian participants in the negotiations to agree on Israeli conditions — delaying talks on the subjects of settlements, Jerusalem and water until the final stages!
Some leaders, and some Arabs, took Obama’s statements and Netanyahu’s call for resuming direct negotiations and tried to spread a spirit of optimism, even putting forth the notion that a solution is imminent before the end of Obama’s first term!
But what is happening on the ground — including recent Israeli actions, continued American bias toward Israeli interests and Israeli threats of a new military attack on Lebanon or surprise strike on Iranian nuclear sites — leads us to conclude the opposite. It increases both our pessimism and concern, and it makes us confident that Israel is maneuvering, double-crossing and able to lead the region to the edge of the abyss at any moment.
In his first message, Obama wanted to defend himself in front of the Jewish people, restore his alliance and special relationship with Israel, and confirm his country’s commitment to Israel’s security and peace. He tried justifying his past efforts at extending a friendly hand to the Muslim world by saying that he worked toward one particular aim, which was to “to reduce the antagonism and the dangers posed by a hostile Muslim world to Israel and to the West.”
The second message was directed toward Palestinians and Arabs. Obama tried to introduce Netanyahu anew, presenting him as a man of peace and capable of attaining an agreement with the Palestinians. The U.S. President stated that he (Obama) is capable of achieving a peace agreement between the Palestinians and the Israelis before the end of his term!
President Obama wants to sell us a fantasy once again, ignoring all Israeli measures, from Jewish settlements to house seizures and destruction of buildings. Obama tells us that Netanyahu — the “conservative hawk” — is able to achieve peace with the Palestinians and calls for direct negotiations to resume, despite the fact that Netanyahu has refused to agree to any preconditions for Israel. Nonetheless, Netanyahu wants Palestinian participants in the negotiations to agree on Israeli conditions — delaying talks on the subjects of settlements, Jerusalem and water until the final stages!
Some leaders, and some Arabs, took Obama’s statements and Netanyahu’s call for resuming direct negotiations and tried to spread a spirit of optimism, even putting forth the notion that a solution is imminent before the end of Obama’s first term!
But what is happening on the ground — including recent Israeli actions, continued American bias toward Israeli interests and Israeli threats of a new military attack on Lebanon or surprise strike on Iranian nuclear sites — leads us to conclude the opposite. It increases both our pessimism and concern, and it makes us confident that Israel is maneuvering, double-crossing and able to lead the region to the edge of the abyss at any moment.