Obama makes good start on Middle East

President Obama has sent two positive messages to the Arab world in one week, and for that we should be glad.

One is his interview with the Al Arabiya TV network.

This is the first interview he’s granted since becoming president — a fact that hasn’t been lost on Arabs and Muslims.

And his tone during the interview was refreshing. He told the popular network that he had Muslim family members, and that he had lived in the most populous Muslim nation in the world, Indonesia.

He also said, “All too often the United States starts by dictating — in the past on some of these issues — and we don’t always know all the factors that are involved.” His approach, he said, was going to be, “Let’s listen.” And he added, “The language we use has to be a language of respect.”

This approach couldn’t be more different than the bullying one that President Bush too often used.

Second, Obama’s choice of George Mitchell as U.S. envoy to the Middle East also demonstrates seriousness.

Mitchell’s stature, Lebanese roots, role in resolving the Irish conflict and magical touch with hard-liners make him the promised man for the Promised Land.

For too long, America has equated closeness to Israel with distance from Palestinians. This zero-sum paradigm is faulty because Israel needs a secure and viable Palestinian state as an immediate neighbor and a future partner. Similarly, a viable Palestinian state needs Israel to thrive.

Foreign policy expert Walter Russell Mead argues for this new approach in the latest issue of Foreign Affairs magazine. Palestinians who live under Israeli rule have assimilated various elements of Jewish culture, including the Hebrew language. When peace comes, Palestinians may be natural mediators for Israelis with Arabs of other nations.

Obama and Mitchell need to apply evenhandedness to broker a lasting peace. For too long, Washington has not been an honest broker. It has repeatedly sided with Israel, whether during the Palestinian Intifadas or the raid on Yasser Arafat’s compound in Ramallah in 2002 or the Lebanese war in 2006 or most recently Israel’s brutal operation in Gaza. And while Obama displayed some compassion toward the people of Gaza, his portrayal of Hamas as the only villain fit this old pattern.

Obama and Mitchell must also hold Israel accountable: for its disproportionate assault on Gaza, for its expansion of illegal settlements and for continuing to hold on to the West Bank.

The following five elements, then, would make turn America into an honest broker: U.S. reconciliation with Islam, a win-win approach to Israel and Palestine, a consistent commitment to peace, a sensitive approach to Arab perspectives and firmness with Israel.

With his Al Arabiya interview and his Mitchell appointment, Obama has started down the right path.

Ghassan Michel Rubeiz, a social scientist and political commentator on the Middle East, is the former secretary of the Middle East for the Geneva-based World Council of Churches. He can be reached at pmproj@progressive.org.

Copyright Ghassan Michel Rubeiz