From Chinese Press

A change and not a change in U.S. Middle East policy

(People's Daily Online)
Updated: 2010-07-15 13:55
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U.S. President Barack Obama met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House on July 6, or last Tuesday, and they met at the same Oval office on March 23. The Obama administration's treatment of Netanyahu at the first meeting created the impression of a deep crisis in American-Israel relations.

The meeting last Tuesday, however, repaired the damage and lifted the mood music after recent tensions. During their latest meeting, President Obama radically amended his attitude and discussed "unbreakable" bonds with Israel. Then, why the U.S.-Israel relations have undergone such an intriguing "change of face" at an interval of merely three and a half months?

Obama came to power shouting the slogan of "change", whereas his predecessor, George W. Bush, had gone all out for unilateralism in the Middle East region and pushed the entire Muslim world in precisely the opposite direction as his legacy. Working to capitalize on the momentum created by his new administration, President Barack Obama visited Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Turkey during his first year in office with an aim to have "dialogue between America and the Muslim World." In a high anticipated speech at elite Cairo University, Obama urged Muslims to enter with the United States into a "new beginning" to jointly press ahead the bilateral relationship.

Former President George W. Bush shelved or put aside the issue of the Palestinian-Israel conflict. On the contrary, President Obama has taken the Palestinian-Israel issue as absolutely central after coming to power and focused on restarting the Middle East peace negotiations. Indirect peace talks between the Palestinians and Israel have begun after more than one year of shuttle diplomacy. Obama urged Palestinians and Israel to resume direct peace talks by September this year and Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu promised "concrete steps" to clear the way.

Moreover, with the use of its "smart power", the United States apparently resorts to the "carrot and stick" tactical approach. For Iran's continued nuclear enrichment program, America has kept offering an Olive Branch to Iran. In the 2009 Iranian presidential election, however, the United States capitalized on new media technologies, like television, to increase public opinions so as to bring down the Iranian government in power then. After its attempt failed, the U.S. returned to its harsh sanction against the central Asian Muslim nation.

On the case for war in Iraq, the Obama administration set a timetable for a troop withdrawal, and repeatedly promised to withdraw its troops as scheduled. But when the new Iraqi government was deadlocked and Iraqi Kurds in the north intensified contradictions with the central government, the United States stopped claiming and turned to suggest taking on United Nations peacekeepers as a supplement force if the US forces had to withdrawn in time.

In spite of varied changes, the sole purpose of the United States remains the same, namely, to retain its strategic interests in the Middle East region and guide to the Mideast peace process. The Obama administration, proceeding from the U.S. strategic interests and taking the Palestinian-Israel conflict as the breaking point, has exerted its utmost to advance the Mideast peace process.

Nevertheless, the Obama administration's approach across the Muslim world has hardly materialized in the past year or so, as it has so far scored very limited "achievements" on the issue of Palestinian-Israel conflict; the U.S. eventually returns to the starting point of "unbreakable bonds" and, to clear obstacles for restarting the Palestinian-Israel talks, it pressures Israel on the construction freeze in the West Bank and in the East Jerusalem settlements.

Jewish loyalty to the US Democratic Party is traditional and legendary. With the imminent Midterm elections only three or four months away, the U.S. government will be constrained due to pressure from Jewish lobby.

In the extremely complex Middle East situation today, the Obama government still cannot find sound approaches to address some "deadlock," thorny problems, and the issue relating to Hamas is a case in point. The Israeli raid on a flotilla of cargo ships and passenger boats on June 1 has sparked mass protests and demonstrations worldwide and damaged Israel's international reputations. This raid has once again proven that it is impossible to settle the Palestinian-Israel conflict without the participation of Hamas. In such impasse circumstances, the U.S. Mideast policy is now facing "a change" and "not a change" in coping with an objective changing reality in the region.