Layalina Productions, Inc. | The Layalina Review: "The Muslim World Awakens to Obama"

The Layalina Review

VOL. V NO. 14, June 19-July 02, 2009

The Muslim World Awakes to Obama

In his recent speech to Cairo, President Barack Obama demonstrated his intent to shift the Middle East debate away from conflict towards cooperation and partnerships, comments author and Middle East expert Fawas Gerges in Daily Times.

“Obama’s speech in Cairo offered a powerful contrarian paradigm to that of Bin Laden,” argues Gerges, noting that the US President emphasized centuries of cooperation between Muslims and Christians rather than the religious wars they shared.

Gerges insists that unlike his predecessor, Obama understands that the raging battle between the US and Al-Qaeda’s transnational jihadis cannot be won on the battlefield alone. “In the eyes of the world, particularly Islam, America lost its moral compass and the world’s hearts and minds,” when it went to war with Iraq under President Bush, he adds.

However, this current moment of glory may not be enough to sway people across the Arab world in favor of America's cause. Gerges explains that like Muslims, 78 percent of Egyptians say they have an unfavorable view of America, an alarming finding given that Egypt is the second largest [Middle Eastern?] recipient of US foreign aid after Israel.

Gerges continues to explain that Obama is the only US president that has linked the construction of a Palestinian state so closely to America’s strategic interests, suggesting a new paradigm for US foreign policy. An Arab critic commented that “Obama was full of humanity. He spoke power with humility.” Even some senior former jihadis (and associates of bin Laden and Zawahiri) praised Obama’s speech.

His approach to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was perceived as a window of hope by members of the Arab League, reports Reuters. But the League likens negotiating with Israel, whose settlements continue to expand, as tantamount to surrendering on "matters over which we [Arabs] cannot surrender."

The Arab League said in a resolution on Wednesday that Arab states were "ready to deal positively with Obama's proposal to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict," and to take the necessary steps to support US efforts in achieving peace.

"Settlements destroy peace and prevent negotiations. If settlement does not stop, there will be a big catastrophe in the peace (process)," Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told journalists after a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo.

People are now waiting to see if the President will deliver on his promises. “Obama must deliver because he has raised expectations among Muslims of a new era of relations with America, of a breakthrough on Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking,” says Gerges for the Daily Times. A failure to follow through with the proposals from his speech could be enough to revive Bin Laden’s war and spark further conflicts in the region.

According to the magazine Foreign Policy in Focus, the outcome and success of his policies towards the Arab and Muslim worlds will be decided by another public, namely, the American citizenry.

Although anti-American sentiment in the Muslim and Arab worlds is a relatively recent phenomenon stemming from the misguided approach of the Bush administration's "War on Terror," the news site notes that the negative image of Islam and Arabs among Americans has been entrenched for several decades.

The central problem with America's outreach efforts in the Arab and Islamic worlds is the tendency for the US to think only of its image and interests, while neglecting the image challenges facing a widely-stigmatized population of Arabs and Muslims. “For the United States to focus only on improving its image, as it has in the years since September 2001, is to see only half of the picture,” comments the Foreign Policy in Focus.

Obama appears cognizant of the two-sided nature of America's image problem and its subsequent impact on US-Muslim and –Arab relations. His emphasis on reciprocity in "mutual interests and mutual respect" should not go unnoticed by both the domestic and international communities.

If Obama's speech and policies reduce American prejudice against Arabs and Muslims, then his Cairo address will truly mark a new beginning for US-Muslim relations.

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