By Faisal Al Rfouh
US President Barack Obama’s visit to Saudi Arabia and a major long-awaited address in Cairo this week are likely to be followed closely by millions of Arabs and Muslims looking for fresh signals about US policy.
Having recently hosted Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House, as part of his ongoing effort to jumpstart the stalled Middle East peace process, Obama is visiting Saudi Arabia just before the much-anticipated speech in Egypt.
The stopover in Riyadh, where the president will have no public events, has been a late addition to an overseas trip that will also take the US president to Germany and France.
According to the White House, Obama’s agenda for talks with the Saudi king includes Middle East peace, Iran and she so-called “terrorism”.
However, the focal point of Obama’s visit is expected to be the speech in an Arab-Muslim country - Egypt - that he promised during his presidential campaign as part of a broader programme to improve America’s standing with the Muslims.
The American president previewed his themes in an early April speech in Turkey, where he declared that the United States “is not at war with Islam” and discussed sharing the goal of opposing extremism.
According to White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Obama’s upcoming speech would be broader, entailing America’s relationship with Arabs and Muslims around the world. However, Gibbs ruled out the possibility of having a detailed, comprehensive Mideast peace plan mentioned in the speech.
Obama’s efforts to reach out to Muslims and facilitate a workable peace plan for Israel and the Palestinians would also help Washington manage wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as neutralise the threat of Iran’s nuclear programme. In his meeting with Obama, the Saudi king is expected to convey his worries about the festering Arab-Israeli conflict and rising Iranian influence. Saudi Arabia wants Washington to get tough with Israel, which has balked at Palestinian statehood, and Obama’s stern line against any expansion of Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank tallies with Saudi line.
The Arab countries, in general, and Saudi Arabia, in particular, cannot be expected to make concessions beyond the 2002 Arab peace plan piloted by the Saudi king, offering Israel recognition in return for withdrawal from Arab lands occupied in 1967 and a just solution to the Palestinian refugees.
It is widely felt in Arab capitals that the failure of Middle East peacemaking efforts has provided Iran the leverage to expand its regional reach, a worrisome development for both the US and the Arab world.
Saudis, like other Arabs, have no clear strategy on how to tackle nuclear Iran and as such, they can only rely on the United States.
Obama’s upcoming visit to the Middle East and his message could hold the key to these basic issues.
The writer, former minister of culture, professor and chairman of the Political Science Department, University of Jordan, is president of the Orient Centre for Studies and Cultural Dialogue. alrfouh@hotmail.com. He contributed this article to The Jordan Times.
