Main focus of Friday, May 20, 2011

Obama's difficult Middle East policy

In his keynote speech on Middle East policy US President Barack Obama has committed to support the peoples of the region and called on Israel to return to the borders of 1967. The press sees the proposals in the speech as good news, but has doubts about whether they can be achieved.

De Morgen - Belgium

In his speech on the Arab Spring, US President Barack Obama outlined the new role of the US in the Middle East - in the eyes of the daily De Morgen a very promising one: "For over two decades Washington supported the regimes of Hosni Mubarak and Ben Ali. ... People in the Arab world won't just forget this and it will always influence their choice of allies. ... With a few well chosen words Obama strengthened the Middle East policy of the superpower. The long-term interests of the Americans, he said, would run parallel to the battle of Arab men and women for more political say, equality, human rights and economic opportunities. Washington's new role in the Middle East is to support the fight for emancipation with a political and economic Marshall Plan. A simple and brilliant move. The promise to help Arab men and women achieve their goals is tantamount to an offer to these people to embrace the US as a privileged partner once more." (20/05/2011)

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La Vanguardia - Spain

The principles formulated by US President Barack Obama for US involvement in the Middle East warrant cautious optimism for the upcoming peace negotiations, writes the daily La Vanguardi: "If peace is attained one day, it will be according to the parameters laid out by Bill Clinton. These have already been adequately negotiated. The borders would be those of 1967, with some modifications to protect the settlements Israel considers non-negotiable. Jerusalem would be shared by both states. Israel would have a demilitarised neighbour, and the Palestinian refugees would not return to Israel but receive financial compensation. However what is lacking for this settlement to be pushed through is the political will. That is where Obama's predecessor failed. Now it's his turn." (20/05/2011)

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More from the press review on the subject » International Relations, » Security Policy / Crises / War, » Middle East, » Israel

La Stampa - Italy

Barack Obama's sober words on US Middle East policy will hardly go down in the annals of history but they do correspond to reality, writes the liberal daily La Stampa: "The speech was too pedantic, too fastidious in listing the problems and too cautious with its solutions. This time around Obama lacked both the emotional charge and the political vision with which he ushered in a new era in relations between the US and the Islamic World two years ago in Cairo. ... In the end all that can be done is to recognise that the problems outweigh the solutions. That is the reality in the Middle East. And not even the most powerful man in the world can hope to change that. In that sense Obama's humble tone was the only possible or realistic - and the only commendable - thing in his speech." (20/05/2011)

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