I do not need to anticipate what President Barack Obama will say in Cairo on the fourth of next month, for the day draws near. Yet it is in my nature to worry and be overly skeptical. One particular phrase struck me from the president's chat with the press after his meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu: “The other Arab states have to be more supportive and be bolder in seeking potential normalisation with Israel”. President Obama is sincere in seeking a solution on the basis of two states living side by side in peace, and I believe what he says. However, his words also imply phased normalization with Israel before the Palestinian state is established. If Israel is opposed to the establishment of such a state when it is isolated in its own region, ostracized and hated around the world, then what will encourage it to seek peace with the Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims when it breaks such isolation and “normalizes” without a price? Is normalization not an indication that its policies are sound and should be maintained? I hope the US President pays heed to the bumps in the road he wants to take towards the Palestinian state, especially if this road should be marked by gradual Arab concessions to a government I insist on considering an extremist neo-Nazi and criminal government. Had President Obama been free of the influence of the lobby that serves Israel at the expense of the United States, and of the Congress that sold itself to the lobby (should I say for 30 pieces of silver, as Judas sold Christ?), perhaps he would have acted on the basis of recorded facts. The conclusion of such facts is that the previous US Administration refused to deal with the Palestinian national unity government until it accepted the road map, the two-state solution, the Quartet's conditions and the ratified security agreements. Today, there is an Israeli government that rejects the road map, the two-state solution, the Quartet's conditions and the security agreements, yet President Obama meets with the terrorist Netanyahu, and then seems as if requesting, or intending to request, of Arab countries concessions to encourage Israel. If the Arabs concede, and they are only good at conceding, they will encourage Israel to pursue its aggressive expansionist settlement policies, and will convince the Netanyahu government that it can obtain something – or many things – in exchange for nothing. What we need, your Excellency, President Obama, is an end game – not concessions after concessions to war criminals who should be received at the competent courts in The Hague, not at the White House. President Obama is too smart to be fooled. All he has to do is slowly read the words of Netanyahu the charlatan, who shows willingness to start direct negotiations with the Palestinians immediately, but rejects the two-state solution and continues to build and expand settlements, to the point that there is no water left for the people of the West Bank in what is left of their land. Netanyahu has shown the same insolence with Syria, as he wants to negotiate immediately, and without conditions again, while announcing that Israel would not withdraw from the Golan Heights. If that is not a condition, then I do not know what conditions are. Then there is the condition of recognizing Israel as a Jewish state, or to stop Iran's nuclear program before starting negotiations. These are two more conditions from the side that wants to negotiate without conditions. On top of all of this comes the insult of negotiating with the Palestinians over security, i.e. the security of Israel, and the economy, i.e. a bribe for food, and without a state. Under such circumstances, I as an Arab citizen can only wish that Iran is lying, and is actually working on a military nuclear program. I would then demand that every country in the region develop a similar military nuclear program, in response to the arsenals of Israel and Iran. Netanyahu asked Pope Benedict to condemn Iran's nuclear program, while Israel possesses an enormous nuclear arsenal, as well as the means to deliver the weapons to their targets. This is insolence (chutzpah) that must not pass, and passes only when Israel is behind it. We all want to help the new US President, and perhaps he will offer a comprehensive plan for a final all-inclusive solution, along with a timetable, so that we may walk with him gladly, and the plan be mutually and simultaneously implemented. I say this without expecting any solution with the government of war criminals in Israel, but duty requires us to help the Obama Administration so that we may help ourselves.
