The US is not on the side of reform if to be so collides with a core strategic interest
Editorial
The Guardian, Friday 20 May 2011
"It was billed as a big speech on the Middle East, the assumption being that if you are the president of the United States and you devote 45 minutes to the topic, the course you set will axiomatically influence events on the ground. This is even less the case than it ever was. Barack Obama promised a new beginning to the Arab world in a speech in Cairo two years ago. He called for a new relationship with the Arab world and for Israeli settlements to stop, and nothing happened. Millions of Egyptians and Tunisians rose up against their dictators, and something did.
It continued to happen on Sunday when thousands of Palestinians left their refugee camps in Lebanon and marched on the Israeli border. Yes, it suited the embattled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to play the Palestinian card by allowing a group of 200 to rush the barbed wire on the Golan Heights. But no, this was not merely manipulation. It turned out to be a commemoration of Nakba Day unlike any other, and one in which the barbed wire of the Israeli border temporarily lost its deterrent value. In Cairo thousands gathered outside the Israeli embassy to demand the expulsion of the ambassador, the first time this has happened in living memory. The era of speeches and summits may have passed. It is what happens on the ground that once again has the power to reshape the region.......
The leaders of Fatah and Hamas were obliged to reconcile by the forces stirring the Palestinian street. The negotiators of Fatah had stopped negotiating, and the fighters of Hamas had stopped fighting. Both had to respond to a simple idea: if one million Egyptians can fill Tahrir Square demanding Palestinian rights, why can't Palestinians, who taught the Arab world how to mount insurrections, and mounted two intifadas of their own? This will create its own reality as the months pass. Mr Obama was right to say that the status quo is untenable. He has yet to see how many aspects of his policy maintain it."
Editorial
The Guardian, Friday 20 May 2011
"It was billed as a big speech on the Middle East, the assumption being that if you are the president of the United States and you devote 45 minutes to the topic, the course you set will axiomatically influence events on the ground. This is even less the case than it ever was. Barack Obama promised a new beginning to the Arab world in a speech in Cairo two years ago. He called for a new relationship with the Arab world and for Israeli settlements to stop, and nothing happened. Millions of Egyptians and Tunisians rose up against their dictators, and something did.
It continued to happen on Sunday when thousands of Palestinians left their refugee camps in Lebanon and marched on the Israeli border. Yes, it suited the embattled Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad to play the Palestinian card by allowing a group of 200 to rush the barbed wire on the Golan Heights. But no, this was not merely manipulation. It turned out to be a commemoration of Nakba Day unlike any other, and one in which the barbed wire of the Israeli border temporarily lost its deterrent value. In Cairo thousands gathered outside the Israeli embassy to demand the expulsion of the ambassador, the first time this has happened in living memory. The era of speeches and summits may have passed. It is what happens on the ground that once again has the power to reshape the region.......
The leaders of Fatah and Hamas were obliged to reconcile by the forces stirring the Palestinian street. The negotiators of Fatah had stopped negotiating, and the fighters of Hamas had stopped fighting. Both had to respond to a simple idea: if one million Egyptians can fill Tahrir Square demanding Palestinian rights, why can't Palestinians, who taught the Arab world how to mount insurrections, and mounted two intifadas of their own? This will create its own reality as the months pass. Mr Obama was right to say that the status quo is untenable. He has yet to see how many aspects of his policy maintain it."
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