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VOL. V NO. 3, January 16-January 29, 2009

Obama Reaching Out to the Arab World

President Barack Obama gave his first formal television interview as US president yesterday to Al-Arabiya, the Dubai-based satellite network, reports Time magazine. Expressing optimism about the prospect of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, he cautioned that a peace accord will take time and require new thinking about the problems of the Middle East as a whole.

President Obama also laid out a new approach towards the Arab world during his interview with Al-Arabiya."I do think that it is impossible for us to think only in terms of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and not think about what is happening with Syria, or Iran, or Lebanon, or Afghanistan and Pakistan," he commented. He also emphasized the numerous challenges ahead for peace in the region.

Even more significant is that the first interview granted by the president was to an Arab channel, signaling a will to listen and engage with the Arab world, comments Mark Lynch for Foreign Policy. "In his conversation with the estimable Hisham Milhem, Obama reached out directly to the Arab public via the Saudi TV station Al-Arabiya," remarks Lynch.

Noted as a new start with the Muslim world, the president stressed the importance of public diplomacy in presenting a new image to the Arab world, moving past the "clash of civilizations" and "war on terror" that characterized the Bush administration.

Although reactions to the interview were largely positive, reports the Los Angeles Times, Fawaz Traboulsi, columnist for the Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, disagrees. "It is strange to see [Obama] address the Arab world and not have a word to say about the plight of the people in Gaza or the embargo on the Gaza Strip," comments Traboulsi.

Referring to special envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, Traboulsi argues that his success in Northern Ireland rested mainly on listening to the demands of the Catholics in order to have the IRA disarm. Traboulsi suggests that the situation is similar with the Palestinians, "who want self-determination and to build their own state."

While some bloggers suggested that there was an opportunity for a turning point in US-Arab relations, others argued that if the Obama White House doesn't strongly support a Palestinian state it will be as ill-received as the Bush administration.

Mark Lynch points out that President Obama's choice of conducting the interview with Al-Arabiya is a clear message to the US government-owned channel Al-Hurra. Choosing Al-Arabiya "is as clear a statement as it is possible to make of Al-Hurra's failure," posits Lynch.

The former administration invested more than half a billion dollars in Al-Hurra, notes Pro-Publica. Al-Hurra, and its sister radio station Radio Sawa, were meant to showcase US foreign policy in the Middle East and compete with Al-Jazeera and other networks including Al-Arabiya.