Arabs equally to blame for peace failure — scholars

Doha: Arabs share equal blame for Obama's Middle East peace failure, according to the US and Arab scholars who participated in the Brookings discussion on Evaluating Obama's Foreign Policy One Year On: The View from Doha and Washington, that took place last week.

The discussion was led by Martin Indyk, Director of Foreign Policy and Vice-President at the Brookings Institution, who participated through video conferencing and Kenneth Pollack, Director of the Saban Centre for Middle East Policy at Brookings. Among the participants were Hadi Amr, Brookings Doha Centre Director, Ebrahim Hilal, Editorial Development Director, the Al Jazeera Network and Ahmad Moussalli, Professor of Political Science at the American University of Beirut.

Pollack and Indyk argued the US president had good intentions, however with the financial crisis and limited cooperation from Arab countries, it was hard to achieve a lot.

According to Pollack, it was too early to write off Obama as a non-performer because this was his first year in office and most of his time was spent struggling with the issue of the economic crisis facing the US. He said it was very hard for the US to resolve conflicts between countries and groups while the latter sat, especially in the presence of the financial crisis. "There is increasing pressure from the left wing in the Obama government to concentrate on domestic affairs rather than try to resolve international issues, such as the Israel-Palestinian issue, the Iraq issue and the Iran and Afghanistan issues in the wake of the current financial crisis. In the present circumstances, the US at best can be a partner in resolving the conflicts," he said.

Indyk said: "President Obama made his positive intentions clear right at the beginning of his term. In his Cairo speech, he made it absolutely clear that he intended to facilitate constructive dialogue between Israel and the Palestinian authorities on the issue of the occupation of Palestinian land by Israel. He also announced his intention to withdraw troops from Iraq and help the country rebuild itself. But, unfortunately, the Arab world failed to respond to it positively."

Hilal said the Bush regime was better than Obama's, as things were clearer during his tenure. According to him the Arab world contributed largely to Obama's failure in finding a solution to the problems facing it, because it remained largely sceptical of his efforts.

The speakers concluded it was for the best Obama does not treat Hamas in the same manner as it did Al Qaida, which according to them is an isolated group of terrorists.

- The writer is a journalist based in Qatar.