When a high-ranking US official speaks publicly about the Middle East, people in the region listen. They listen of course but they do not necessarily agree. This is exactly the case with the recent comments from the Republican senator from Oregon, Gordon Smith. Smith has brazenly advised Arab leaders to focus on injustices in their own countries and reminded them that US policy is security for Israel first and justice for Palestinians “if possible.”
Speaking at the World Economic Forum conference on the Middle East, the senator did not stop with those words. “Until we have someone on the other side who is willing to say ‘Yes,’ we’re not going to continue to prostitute the American presidency to people who aren’t serious.” These statements are, to say the least, audacious. The United States, despite being the strongest military and economic power at present, has no business prying, meddling and interfering into the internal affairs of other countries. Iraq should have told them that they have no such a blank check.
The question that Smith asks — why Arab countries cannot work on their own countries before Palestine is fixed — is really neither a good question nor a mystery. Geopolitical realities confirm that nations big and small need to work together to achieve common goals for the good of all. The Arabs care very much what happens to Palestine and Palestinians because of a shared Arab and Islamic heritage. And if the Arabs show concern for stability in the region, so too does the United States. Stability is good for Israel and Palestine and also America. And all have reached the conclusion that a large measure of stability will come only when the Arab-Israeli conflict is resolved.
Of course, all understand that to mean that the problems must be resolved justly and fairly. That Israel’s security is Washington’s priority is a given but to state publicly that the United States will try to be just with the Palestinians is flatly rejected. The Palestinians demand a fair, just and comprehensive solution to their problem. Without such a solution the problem will not be solved. The word “just” has been included in almost every sentence written on the issue for decades; however Smith is apparently hearing it for the first time. And what does that say about the US-inspired road map? Is it not just for the Palestinians? Wouldn’t Smith’s remarks be an indictment of this American blueprint for peace if it eventually fell short of Palestinian rights?
The suggestion that the Palestinians are doing nothing for peace and the Israelis are doing everything is completely wrong. Since Mahmoud Abbas took office in January, there have been only very few attacks on Israelis and this small number has been thanks to sincere efforts by the president to reign in activists. Abbas has been so successful in this regard that he has a truce pledge from Hamas till the end of the year.
The senator’s statements will only inflame already heated passions in the Middle East in the wake of the Newsweek fiasco. America just doesn’t learn.
