Obama's speech
Photo: AFP
US President Barrack Obama's recent speech in Cairo University was, on the whole, received positively by Muslims across the world. In his speech, he has said that he seeks a “new beginning” with Muslims around the world, based on “mutual interest and mutual respect.” He further said, “America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.” All this clearly indicates that Obama wants to remove the sense of hatred and mistrust that Muslims across the world had developed for the US administration, during George Bush's eight years, and find common ground between the US and Muslims. He has also said that the suffering of the Palestinians, over the years, is “intolerable.” While all these things can be fully condoned, there were other aspects of Obama's speech which had some contradictions. For instance, while Obama, in his speech, said that Iran should not have nuclear armament initiatives for the sake of peace in Middle East, he said nothing about Israel's nuclear warheads. In a reference to Hamas, Obama told that “Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and does not succeed,” but it was Israel that broke the negotiated ceasefire on November 4 last year, by attacking Gaza. Then only did the Palestinians retaliate and eventually had to face the gruesome massacre of Israel's Operation Cast Lead. As Obama mentioned in his speech that America's ties with Israel are “unbreakable,” it would be hard to expect Obama to promptly bring a positive solution to the “Israeli-Palestinian” conflict and also given the fact that there are strong Jewish lobby groups, it would also make Obama's task more difficult. In the final analysis, Obama's intention of adopting a more reconciliatory approach toward the Muslims and his aim of trying to break away from the belligerent and unilateral approach of the Bush administration is welcome. Let us now see whether he can go by his words.
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