From Cairo with love

The Arabs applauded Bush's vision of a Palestinian state before the end of his term in office. Why expect anything better from Obama.

By Azmi Bishara
Al-Ahram Weekly

COMMENT: I posted the Arabic version of this article last Sunday (June 7).


"......Those Arabs who agreed with everything the last US president said will probably not care one way or another about what the new president says or about any analysis of it. They will agree with the US president regardless. It is not as if the US's Arab allies had any serious qualms about what Bush used to come up with, and they are now relieved at what the new president has to say. Whatever the US president says is good by definition from the point of view of these regimes, which take it as their duty to accept and justify what the US president says, and what the next US president says, even if it turns out that different US presidents are saying exactly opposite things. This is the only strategy they have to their name......

......Why should the Arabs hope for anything new from the new US president with regard to Palestine, having agreed so enthusiastically to Bush's roadmap and having fixed their demands on Israel's fulfilling its obligations under the plan after the Palestinians had carried out theirs? That they should not hope for much was clearly demonstrated during the war on Gaza. The Palestinian Authority (PA) on the West Bank not only repressed the resistance forces, but it also clamped down on peaceful demonstrations of solidarity with the people in Gaza. By so doing, the PA argued, the Palestinians would be in a position to insist that Israel meet its obligations under the roadmap because they were demonstrating their commitment to the destruction of terrorist infrastructure. The Arabs applauded Bush's vision, and today they are applauding Obama's. Bush envisioned a Palestinian state before the end of his term. Why expect anything from Obama, who has made exactly the same pledge?.....

In addition to adopting a tougher tone towards Israel, he has also pledged to pressure Israel into returning to the "peace process". The US and its Arab allies need this ongoing "process" as a kind of muzak, one that is essential to setting the mood for Arab moderation....."