“I’m Still Optimistic” – Anwar Ibrahim On Muslim World-U.S Relationship

From Gulf Times
By Ourouba Hussien

US President Barack Obama’s address in Cairo was an unsuccessful attempt to reinforce relationship with the Islamic world as it was governed by nothing but politics, a senior Palestinian official said in Doha yesterday.
Speaking at the second plenary of the seventh US-Islamic World Forum, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat slammed the US administration’s efforts to hold indirect negotiations between the Palestinians and Israelis.

“They are not meaningful, especially after 20 years of direct negotiations between both sides,” he said.
Questioning the reasons behind Obama’s non-recognition of a Palestinian state, Erekat noted it was time for the US to move in this direction if it wanted to confront the extremists in the region.
He said that the region did not need a war with Iran or anyone else, calling upon the US to promote democracy in the Arab world.

“It is wrong to consider Arabs not eligible for democracy,” he added.

Presenting a comparison between the last two US presidents, the Dean of the School of Public Affairs at the American University in Cairo, Nabil Fahmy, said that Bill Clinton obtained wide support after his address at the Palestinian parliament. However, George Bush’s policies contradicted with the Arabs’ aspirations.

Malaysia’s opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim said there was a big change in the tone of US comments regarding Islamic issues with the arrival of Obama in the White House.

“He seemed sincere, compassionate and expressing strong feelings towards the Muslim world,” he said, adding “especially that President Bush was a racist towards our world.”

Ibrahim explained that many thorny issues had affected the relationship between America and the Islamic world, especially during Bush’s term, including the war in Iraq and the civilian victims in Afghanistan. He stressed that Muslims had high expectations from Obama.

“I am still optimistic but I do not count much on him,” he added.

White House’s senior director for global engagement Pradeep Ramamurthy, said that Obama’s speech in Cairo had formed the basis for a new relationship between America and the Islamic world, after the previous framework consisted of war on terrorism.

“The new framework goes towards establishing a partnership in fields like health, education, research and others,” he said, “especially that the US administration wanted to reach a relationship which was not determined by political and security issues”.

Ramamurthy explained that the US was trying to formulate its policies with the Islamic world, while taking into account the differences.

Recalling the prevailing Arab frustration with Obama, Martin Indyk of Brookings Institution’s foreign policy studies explained that the situation had been difficult in the light of divisions among the Palestinians, a right-wing Israeli government that rejected negotiations and the global economic crisis as well as the weak support to the peace process from the region’s leaders.

He maintained that Washington understood this frustration and said that Obama had intentions not only to make progress in the peace process, but to realise a peace plan within two years.