Obama pledges to work for Middle East peace
Barack Obama is promising to search for peace in the Middle East "starting from the minute I'm sworn into office".
This is a break from the usual US practice of leaving the Israel-Palestine dispute until your second term in office, or the George Bush approach of calling for a state of Palestine and then being so unbelievably pro-Israeli that you make a state of Palestine impossible to achieve. Even going as far as to declare the illegal Israeli settlements "facts on the ground".
Obama offers a break from all of that, which is to be greatly welcomed.
Obama offers to bring a much more even handed approach to solving this conflict and has pointed out that being "pro-Israel" doesn't mean a refusal to oppose Israeli actions. For too long now supporting Israel has meant supporting Likud policies. Obama offers a break with that and it won't come a moment too soon.Before what may prove the toughest and – in a political sense – hazard-strewn visit of his high-octane world tour, Mr Obama implied he wanted to break with the presidential habit of leaving the Israeli-Palestinian issue to a second term.
Having secured Iraqi government backing for his plans for US military withdrawals, signalled his intention to persuade Nato to focus greater military resources on Afghanistan and edged the US administration into more diplomatic contacts with Iran – Israel's No 1 external preoccupation – Mr Obama arrives on a foreign policy roll.
And while he was careful to say in Amman that it was "unrealistic" to expect a US president "to snap his fingers and bring about peace in this region", he indicated he would have to take into account Palestinian hardship as well Israeli security concerns.
Mr Obama said the close alliance with Israel "would not change" but added: "What I think can change is the ability of the United States government and a United States president to be actively engaged with the peace process and to be concerned and recognise the legitimate difficulties that the Palestinian people are experiencing right now."
The last eight years have been an utter waste of time when it comes to solving a dispute which is at the heart of Muslim anger towards the west. Indeed, Bush's decision to back any Israeli action, no matter how severe, has possibly caused even more hatred to be directed towards the west.
Obama, having shored up his pro-Israeli credentials, is now openly speaking of his understanding of Palestinian suffering. This comes close on the heels of Gordon Brown telling the Knesset that the road to peace lies through UN resolution 242.
I've often argued that Bush's policies made him a very bad friend of Israel, by telling the Israelis only what they wanted to hear. Brown, despite a lot of the nonsense he spoke at the Knesset, did have the courage to say what they didn't want to hear; that international law applies to this dispute and that 242 offers the only way out of this mess.
Obama is offering more of the same. A sincere wish to end this dispute in a way which is fair to both parties. This represents an amazing break with the Bush policy of "tilting towards Israel" which, in reality, manifested itself in sitting idly by as Sharon razed Jenin and actively encouraging Israel to attack Beirut.
Bush's idea of friendship towards Israel was akin to that of an enabler. He was like the kind uncle offering the obese child more chocolate.
Obama appears to be offering a much more useful friendship, one that tells his friend what he actually needs to hear.
This is long, long, overdue.
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