What Arabs and Muslims want to hear

GN

Published: June 03, 2009, 23:36

Obama's speech in Cairo on Thursdaywill be watched by the Muslim and Arab world attentively and he is expected to offer a detailed programme for the Middle East, where the most important issue by far is Palestine, but he should also include Iraq and Iran in his regional review.

The following are specific hot topics that many have been waiting for the US president to address.

Israeli colonies

The Arabs will be watching to see how firm Obama will be on Benjamin Netanyahu's far-right government in Israel.

The real test of Obama's toughness will be how he plans to stop the Israelis building more Israeli colonies on the West Bank, and how he will enforce international and transparent monitoring of colony activity.

Without this, any talk of a two-state solution and Palestinian statehood will remain simple lip-service.

Hamas

Many will also be watching to see what he says about Hamas. If the Palestinians are ever to reunite and work together for their nation, the Americans will need to work with a government that includes Hamas.

It would be a very good move for Obama to make some sort of conciliatory comment about Hamas, which would then greatly strengthen the cause of a unified Palestinian government.

Iraq

Many will be watching to make sure that Washington will stick to Obama's deadline of August 31, 2010, by which time he has said that all US troops will have left Iraq.

Any variation on that date will mean deep doubts about what America's intentions are in Iraq.

Iran

Everyone is waiting for the results of the Iranian presidential elections, but both leading candidates have been clear that Iran should own the full uranium cycle for power plants, including enrichment.

Obama needs to make clear on what terms he will continue his policy of engagement, and how he will deal with lack of engagement from the Iranian side.

Global Muslim world

While he already addressed the Muslim world in Istanbul in March, it remains very important that Obama helps shift the global atmosphere from one of confrontation to one of seeking points of mutual agreement, and working to expand these with mutual respect.

Without this move from rhetoric to practical steps, the work of the moderate people and goodwill on both sides will be diminished, allowing more space to the extremists and men of violence, who have been allowed to set the agenda for far too long.

The US president is due to hold talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo before delivering his speech.
Obama arrives in Cairo

Agencies
Published: June 04, 2009, 10:28

Cairo: US President Barack Obama landed in Egypt aboard Air Force One on Thursday to deliver a speech from the Egyptian capital that aims to repair US relations with the Muslim world.

Obama arrived from Saudi Arabia where he held talks on issues including the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The US president is due to hold talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo before delivering his speech.

Obama visits Saudi king in bid to open Muslim dialogue

By Layelle Saad, GCC/Middle East Editor
Last updated: June 03, 2009, 16:15

Riyadh: President Barack Obama praised the United States' long strategic relationship with Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and said his visit was to seek King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz's advice before making his much-heralded speech to the Islamic world in Cairo.

"I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek His Majesty's counsel and discuss with him many of the issues that we confront here in the Middle East," Obama told reporters as he met with the king at a farm near Riyadh.

Obama praised the king's "wisdom and graciousness," noting that the two countries have a long history of friendship and a strategic relationship.

Abdullah thanked Obama and noted that close ties between the two countries go back to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt and King Abdullah.
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"I am confident that, working together, the United States and Saudi Arabia can make progress on a whole host of issues of mutual interest," Obama said.

The meetings between King Abdullah and Obama, which were expected to cover the Arab-Israeli conflict, US overtures to Iran and oil prices, came on the eve of the US leader's speech in Cairo.

Arab experts told Gulf News that Arabs and Muslims want actions and not words when US President Obama addresses them today at Cairo University.

"We hope to see concrete measures on the part of the American administration, such as real pressure against the Zionist enemy so that it lifts the Gaza blockade, puts an end to aggression and to colonies," Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.

Concrete measures against Israeli colony expansion, along with a US pullout from Iraq and overall respect for the Muslim world, are among the critical issues Arabs and Muslims want changed.

Many Arabs view America's repeated failure to hold Israel to its international obligations as a major sore point. Today's speech will not likely present a detailed vision of a Mideast peace deal.

Despite widespread cynicism toward US foreign policy by Arabs, recent polls have indicated a rise in popularity for Obama ahead of his visit.

Before leaving Washington, Obama met with Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak but ended the meeting at odds over Israel's refusal to halt colony expansion.

"I think Obama does have the respectful attention of the Arab world right now and that if he uses it wisely he will be able to restore the situation that existed prior to the Bush Administration," Nathan Brown, a non-resident scholar at the Washington-based Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, told Gulf News.

Some Arab governments will also be closely listening to Obama's Cairo speech, as the "moderate" pro-Western regimes of Egypt and Saudi Arabia are weary of US overtures to Iran and groups such as Hamas or Hezbollah.

With inputs from Reuters

Obama speech seeks to heal ‘breach’ with Islam
(AFP)

4 June 2009
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RIYADH - President Barack Obama will Thursday make a historic multimedia address from an ancient hub of Arab civilisation to the world’s 1.5 billion Muslims, seeking to narrow a chasm between America and Islam.

Obama will fly early Thursday from one center of Islam, Saudi Arabia, to another, Egypt, to give a long-awaited speech in Cairo crafted to temper antipathy towards the United States felt by many of the faithful.

‘There has been a breach, an undeniable breach between America and the Islamic world,’ said David Axelrod, Obama’s top political advisor, as the president launched his Middle East mission with talks with Saudi King Abdullah.

‘And that breach has been years in the making, it is not going to be reversed with one speech. It is not going to be reversed perhaps, in one administration.

‘But the president is a strong believer, in open, honest dialogue.’

At the venerable Cairo University, Obama will deploy his ultra-modern new media machine to push the speech on social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter and MySpace, aiming to take the message viral, and maximise its impact.

The State Department website is offering listeners the chance to register for text messages from the speech in Arabic, Persian, Urdu and English and Whitehouse.gov will stream it live.

Obama will target the well of distrust in the Muslim world towards the United States, which saw its image sullied by the Abu Ghraib abuse scandal, Guantanamo Bay, the stalled peace process and the Iraq war.

He must also address those Americans, still stung by the September 11 attacks in 2001, who view the religion through the prism of extremism.

Yet critics warn Obama’s hopes may founder, given that he has no intention of changing policies - like staunch backing of Israel - that make the United States unpopular.

Some question whether his trademark soaring rhetoric will conceal undercooked policies towards a region in tumult.

Others fault him for undercutting his message by speaking in Egypt where critics accuse President Hosni Mubarak, who Obama meets Thursday, of repression.

The shadow of extremism also looms: as soon as Obama arrived in Saudi Arabia on Wednesday, he was greeted by threats from Osama bin Laden, but his new tape was dismissed by the White House as a futile bid to steal the president’s moment.

Obama promised to address a major Islamic forum during his 2008 campaign, and expectations have mounted ever since, especially across the region where he is more popular than the nation he leads, polls show.

‘He feels it’s important to speak very openly and candidly about the very full range of issues that have caused some tensions between the United States and the Muslim world,’ said Obama speechwriter Ben Rhodes.

But hopes Obama will outline a major new plan to end the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict will likely be dashed.

Seeking to avoid a let-down, Axelrod and other aides were Wednesday argued that one event, albeit historic, pales into comparison with centuries of conflict and antagonism plaguing the Middle East.

In characteristic style, Obama will interweave his own story and personal ties to Islam with US foreign policy aspirations and the perilous state of a region frequently tipped into war.

Barack Hussein Obama, a Christian, has an Islamic family lineage in Kenya, and spent several years as a young boy growing up in Indonesia.

Aides said Obama would describe the divides and opportunities facing Islam and America, including US efforts to confront extremism, the Afghan and Pakistan war, Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

He was expected to mention Iran’s nuclear programme and will outline initiatives on healthcare, education and investment in the Muslim world.

Obama pushed for a new dialogue with Islam on taking office in January, vowing to rev up Middle East peace moves.

He quickly called Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, gave an interview to the Al Arabiya satellite network, made an unprecedented video address to Iranians and, in Turkey, reassured Muslims the United States was not at war with them.

Obama arrived in the Middle East after sparring publicly with new Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over West Bank settlements, an issue he sees as an impediment to resumed peace talks.

Aides said Obama had thrown himself into the speech, consulted Muslim Americans widely on its content, and was tinkering with the final draft ‘down to the wire’ Wednesday night.

Obama: Extremists exploit tension between Islam and the West

Staff Report
Published: June 04, 2009, 14:28

Cairo: US President Barack Obama told world Muslims on Thursday that violent extremists have exploited tensions between Muslims and the West, and that Islam was not part of the problem but part of promoting peace.

"Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. United States and Islam need not be in competition."

Obama said he would "personally pursue" a two-state solution as the only way to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

He also said any nation, including Iran, had the right to peaceful nuclear power "if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."

The crowd applauded as he quoted passage from Quran.

More follows...

Wiki Shabash

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Pakmusic Im Back:p

He made a good speech.

Honestly dont expect them to roll over and die. What he speaks is quite a contrast from hearing your local firebrand mullah give you jihadi lessons in the masjid.

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“Be careful what you wish for, you might actually get it.”

What did you guys think? I thought it was a brilliant speech. I loved how when he started talking about democracy, everyone at the University started applauding so strongly - a real slap in the face for Mubarak and his empire that he has going there. All in all, I thought it was a great speech. He was very respectful, and also as critical of Israel as a US president is allowed to be, and much more than any US leader has been in recent times. When it's uploaded to youtube, someone please post it on here.

Now let's see if we'll see some real change in US policy towards the muslim world.

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I was very pleased with his "Iran has a right to be a peaceful nuclear country, just like any other country". It was quite unexpected.

my bad i didn't realize wiki had started a thread on this already. maybe if the thread title was clearer....? mods can merge that thread to this one or vice versa.

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Don’t lecture us: Arabs tell Obama

CAIRO: “Obama is just a prettier face. I’m sure his intentions are in the right place but I don’t expect much from the man,” a Cairo electrician said on Wednesday as US President Barack Obama began his much-anticipated Middle East trip. Newspapers, analysts and ordinary Arabs warned Obama — whose election was hailed across the region — against emulating the policies of Bush by lecturing Muslims on democracy, and also urged him to be tough with Israel.

Obama began his tour in Saudi Arabia and will deliver a speech in Cairo on Thursday to the world’s 1.5 million Muslims, after eight years of fraught ties under his predecessor George W Bush. “Don’t be biased towards Israel, don’t interfere in countries’ internal affairs and don’t give lessons in democracy,” said an editorial in Egypt’s state-owned Rose el-Youssef newspaper. The chief editor of Egypt’s state-owned Al-Ahram, Ossama Saraya, said Obama faced demands from his team to “put pressure on the Muslim world under the pretext of democratisation and respect for human rights.

“There’s nothing more absurd than putting more pressure on the Arab-Muslim world,” Saraya said. Washington’s key Arab allies Egypt and Saudi Arabia have repeatedly come under criticism from international rights organisations for their poor human rights records.

“He can’t help the Palestinians because of the closeness of ties between Israel and America. He can’t improve the situation here (Egypt) because he’ll never convince the regime to change,” said taxi drive Mohammed Abdullah.”

In Amman, the Jordan Times hoped that Obama — whose electoral promise of change has grabbed hearts in the troubled Middle East — should deliver on his pledge. “If Obama fails in his mission of peace, the parties, and the world, might just as well prepare for more suffering and turmoil.”

In Lebanon, where Sunday’s parliamentary election will be monitored closely by Washington as it pits a Western-backed majority against a Hizbullah-led alliance backed by Syria and Iran, reactions were divided.

“The Americans are testing the waters,” said travel agent Moufeed Shbeir. “Obama is trying to take a different route than Bush, but we’ll have to wait and see the results: are they going to bomb Iran? Yes that’s what I want them to do.” Saudi Arabia’s Al-Riyadh newspaper warned Muslims against having high expectations.

“The Islamic world should not think that Obama is coming to be an ally or a supporter,” an editorial said. “Let’s realise that he will speak as a moderate American who understands the sensitivity of the region, as well as its wars and suffering caused by the US Machiavellian policy over the past five decades.”

Beirut-based analyst Paul Salem, who heads the Carnegie Middle East Centre, said he expected Arabs to be disappointed by Obama’s speech. “What they want him to say is more than what he’s going to say,” he said.

“They want him to say that he’s going to come down hard on the Israelis, that he’s going to confront the settlement policy and that he’s going to push the Israelis to withdraw from the West Bank. “Of course that is what every Arab would like to hear.”

On the streets of Cairo, which were getting a facelift ahead of Obama’s speech, citizens were more concerned about traffic jams than regional diplomacy.

“What’s he going to do for us? Lower the price of bread? If he does, then he’s welcome here,” said 38-year-old cafe worker Ahmed Abdel Salam.
Pakistan News PakTribune.Com

Let's see what he does...Actions speak louder than words.......

Like one analyst rightly pointed out, Obama is starting to become a Commander-in-Speech than a Commander-in-Chief. We should be looking for substance than his rhetoric. His deeds will tell us whether or not if he is serious.

actions speak louder than words, but that was a very humble and intellectual speech by the president of the US. i bet half the US didn't even understand most of the stuff he was talking about, because they have such a simplistic view of the region. it was a very good speech, and he's showing signs that he is serious about helping the muslim world. he was never going to come out and condemn israel, no american politician will ever do that. but here are some actions he should take:

1.) stop drone attacks in pakistan
2.) force israel to stop expanding settlements
3.) donate significant amount of money instantly to help IDPs in pakistan

these three actions would be a wonderful gesture from obama to the muslim world the supplement this speech and convey the message that he's serious about change.

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^^ Adding to the list, listen to our president who once again cried for "we want trade not aid". I think Obama should listen to Zardari's (Pakistanis) valid request.