It is an encouraging and promising start for the American President to attempt in his first tour of the region to win the hearts of the Islamic and Arab world by affirming his seriousness in reaching a comprehensive settlement for the regional struggle. A fertile ground for extremism, this struggle has produced “generations” of terrorist cells which destabilize the Middle East and topple or “adapt” its legitimacies under the pretext of defeating Israel. It would be an exaggeration to say that Obama would challenge Benjamin Netanyahu's government even if at the detriment of the American-Israeli alliance. But oversimplifying the signals that Obama sent, by attributing them to his attempts to prepare the ground for his tour or reassure his hosts, is akin to downplaying his admission of the damage the Middle East turmoil has left on the US interests. Isn't the Israeli meandering between the priority of the settlements and the priority of the Iranian nuclear “bomb” a clear proof of the intense US pressures that annoy and confuse Netanyahu? It is an encouraging start for Obama to choose, on the eve of his speech to the Islamic world in Cairo today, to visit the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to meet King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz. In this meeting, Obama explained to King Abdullah what he means by “some American decisiveness” towards Israel to revive a “serious” peace process in the Middle East. This was especially promising because King Abdullah is, after all, the one who launched the Arab peace initiative when he was crown prince. Since Obama prepared an unprecedented confession for the Saudi-American summit when he said, hours before he arrived in Riyadh, that the former administration lacked sincerity in its efforts to push the peace process forward and to pressure Israel to accept the two-state solution to settle the struggle with the Palestinians, he sent an exceptional message to the Arabs, and especially the major countries involved in the peace process, like Saudi Arabia and Egypt. This exceptional message and the Saudi and Egyptian stops in Obama's tour bring back to mind the visit by former US President Bill Clinton to Gaza (1998). It is now certain that Obama has freed himself from the “guarantees” and understandings reached by the George Bush administration with the Hebrew state which allowed it to unleash its settlement campaign. The American administration's belief that establishing a Palestinian state is the only solution to protect “America's and Israel's interests” and its refusal to bargain with Netanyahu during his cold meeting with Obama can only mean that the US president is implementing his own concept of “partnership” with Israel, one that is not based on the concept of the “spoiled” ally who has only to ask to get whatever it wants. Perhaps the most telling expression of the Israeli disappointment, nay bitterness, caused by the new American behavior, which is trying to revive the Palestinian dream and fast, came from the minister of transportation in the extreme right government, Katz. The latter conferred upon Obama the “right” to compete with Al-Qaeda and Iran to “win the heart of the Islamic world” and achieve reconciliation with the Muslims. The minister also admitted that “disagreements were worsening” with Washington. At the same time, Netanyahu's deputy was throwing smoke bombs in the season of “Jewish” anger, by saying that the Palestinians are the ones who must take the initiative to resume negotiations! As for Lieberman, who threw the Iranian “bomb” in the court of the rest of the world, he sent a message to Obama saying that the priority given to Israel's refusal to bargain over the settlements and “sabotage the project of the nuclear bomb… is your concern.” Maybe Obama has settled his mind and decided to separate the Iranian course from the Arab-Israeli one without waiting for the results of the [Iranian presidential] elections in June and the dialogue with Iran. This sends out many signals that reassure the Arab moderate countries that warned the new American President that wasting this “last” chance presented by the Arab peace initiative will unleash extremism and inflict more damage on the US interests, breeding more failed countries-entities which nurture terrorism. In turn Israel feeds on this terrorism under the pretext of attacking it. This effort to win the hearts of the region has had a promising US start, as Obama candidly admitted that each region had its own culture and tongue. This is the first step towards restoring the diplomacy of dialogue, instead of starting wars to impose solutions. But, what will be Israel's response to its ally's new behavior?
