Words and Deeds

Words and Deeds
By Mark Dillen
Friday, June 5 10:37 am EST
Foreign Policy Association

Barack Obama’s Cairo speech was historic – that much is clear. It was the first time in our age, the age of conflict in the Middle East, that a U.S. President has gone to an Arab country to speak directly to the broader Muslim world. It came in the dramatic and dangerous context of intractable struggle between Israel and her neighbors, unconventional war between America and groups that employ terrorism, and deep divisions over who is to blame.

The speech was an appeal for tolerance and dialogue that has been repeated many times before. In that sense it was not new. What was different and unique was the manner in which the appeal was made, and the person making it. Therein lies its potential and risk. Barack Hussein Obama made his appeal by stating first something that has been obvious to the entire Muslim world for some time – that here was someone who understood their religion and culture:

I’m a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and at the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.As a student of history, I also know civilization’s debt to Islam...

The power of this respectful identification with his own family’s Muslim heritage is impossible to overestimate. Millions of Muslims around the world who otherwise would have refused to listen to an American president instead were prepared to consider what Obama had to say.

Media coverage of the speech in Muslim-majority nations around the world, and the reaction of political leaders, makes clear that they were listening in an extraordinarily attentive way. Many – not all – skeptics felt impelled to give this man a chance. He looked like he came from their world and clearly pronounced assalaamu alaykum knowing what the words meant.

This is not everything, but it is also no small matter. Those not delighted with the content of the “New Beginning” speech lauded its “beautiful theatrics,” a backhanded compliment. Like Reagan’s speech before the Berlin Wall (less original than Obama’s because of its conscious modeling after JFK’s own Berlin speech), the staging of the event was essential to getting its message across. An African-American, “almost” Muslim, young American president comes all the way to Cairo to pronounce assalaamu alaykum to the Muslim world. This is at once unimaginable and stirring.

Against this context Obama’s words themselves must be judged. No new initiatives were promised, just a New Beginning. Obama stated more forcefully than George Bush ever did U.S. opposition to new Israeli West Bank settlements. He used “Palestine” not just “Palestinian state,” a reference full of historical implications:

Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine’s. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. (Applause.) This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop. (Applause.)

And Israel must also live up to its obligation to ensure that Palestinians can live and work and develop their society. Just as it devastates Palestinian families, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serve Israel’s security; neither does the continuing lack of opportunity in the West Bank. Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be a critical part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress.

This is a stronger statement on behalf of Palestinian rights than any previously issued by a sitting U.S. president. It was of course balanced by America’s “unbreakable” bond with Israel and call on Palestinians to pursue their goals non-violently. The New York Times reported that these “blunt” words toward Israel “infuriated” some Israelis and American supporters of Israel. American conservative radio commentators yesterday were livid in attacking Obama. More Americans probably heard Rush Limbaugh’s attack on Obama’s speech than heard the speech itself, since it was delivered while most Americans were sleeping.

The words of the speech and the words of its critics are just that – words – and their credibility will rest on whether they are followed with deeds. But in the Muslim and Western worlds problem-solving requires cooperation, and cooperation requires trust. Obama’s speech may offer a “New Beginning” if it succeeds in making this American president’s message seem credible and thereby establish the trust needed for the United States and the Muslim world to cooperate.