By Seth Colter Walls
Back during campaign season, more than a few liberal talking heads predicted that Barack Obama’s international heritage could change America’s image abroad, were he to become president. This week’s insta-reaction from the Arab press suggests that the honeymoon might already be over where it is needed most urgently: in the Arab Middle East.
President Obama did what he could on his first day in office to try and shore up those conciliatory bona fides by placing a call to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abaas. But one look at the Arab press on Thursday morning revealed how thoroughly the recent Israel-Gaza conflict may have scuttled any potential ameliorating effect of an Obama presidency on anti-U.S. sentiment.
For example, the lead editorial in Thursday’s edition of Saudi Arabia’s pro-government Al-Watan daily was headlined “Obama’s intention to reconcile with the Islamic world is at stake.”
“Many observers maintain some hope of seeing the new master of the White House keeping his promises, even though we are aware of the pressures exerted by the Zionist conservative and left wing to uphold chaos and instability in the Middle East and around the world,” the paper wrote in an unsigned editorial. If that sounds a touch strident for an editorial greeting a new American president on his second full day in office, the next sentence doesn't let up: “The world will be unable to cooperate with Washington if it upholds the policy of the strong lord raising his club against all those who disagree with him or do not serve his interests.”
Keep in mind this is a Saudi daily, not a Syrian or Iranian one. In the regional proxy war between Iran and the U.S. for Arab hearts and minds, Saudi Arabia is doing whatever it can to shore up the Western-supported Fatah party led by Abbas in the West Bank, as he competes against the more militant strain of Palestinian politics represented by the Iran-backed Hamas party that rules Gaza. At this week’s Arab League summit, it was also Saudi Arabia that objected to a stronger denouncement of Israel’s actions in Gaza, while also staking out the relatively lonely position that its 2002-era peace plan—which calls for full recognition of Israel by Arab countries—is still on the table. (Though not for long, King Abdullah was forced to admit on Monday.)
That pessimism regarding Obama’s ability to bridge the Arab-Israeli divide was echoed in London’s Palestinian-owned Al-Quds al-Arabi on Thursday. In an opinion piece, the paper’s chief editor wrote that while Obama’s stated intention of building better relations with the Muslim world was a positive sign, such an outcome could only be secured by “lifting American military and diplomatic protection from the Israeli massacres and imposing Israeli respect of international pacts and UN resolutions.”
Indeed, if there’s one thing that Arabs and Israelis might be able to agree on today, it’s that skepticism is the proper attitude in response to any notion that an Obama presidency will perforce induce any positive developments in the Middle East. “I can tell you, anecdotally, from talking to regular people and working closely with the political leaders, there is a good deal of skepticism,” saidDahlia Scheindlin, a pollster and political
strategist who is currently consulting for the small, left-wing Meretz
party.“Regular people are worried he’ll look weak before the dreaded enemy of the Islamic world. Commentators wonder why he didn’t mention either Israel or Iran in his [recent] speeches. ... While people are generally pleased by Obama for America’s sake, the mood here is so dour regarding chances for peace, so cynical regarding our own politicians and so certain that there will be a resurgence of violence here sooner or later, that they can’t exactly remember to be excited about Obama for Israel’s sake. If you ask a regular Israeli whether Obama can change anything, he’s likely to say ‘we hope so,’ and roll his eyes wistfully,” she added. “They’ll be watching closely, but phone a call to Abbas doesn’t mean Abbas will magically regain the credibility among Palestinians to lead the Palestinian people to a peace accord. And Israelis are pragmatists—bordering on pessimists.” (Find out how the West Bank thinks of Obama in Newsweek Katie Paul's interview with Fatah advisor Diana Buttu.)
Still, pragmatism aside, a Kuwaiti editorial page noted on Thursday that there’s no specific cost associated with being optimistic, even as hopes for regional peace appear greatly diminished. “We do not have high hopes of Obama or his administration, especially when it comes to stopping the aggression of the Zionist entity on Palestine,” wrote a columnist in Thursday’s edition of the independent newspaper Al-Rai al-Aam, in an article headlined “We won’t lose anything if we feel optimistic.”
Left unanswered, however, is the implicit question regarding what, precisely, there is to be gained from unearned optimism. Any chance President Obama has for an Arab street honeymoon may depend on his ability to convince all parties involved to hope just a little bit longer as he settles into the job.
