Ayoon wa Azan (Obama 'sold us')

Yesterday, the Israelis chanted, “we are not alone,” as the US President Barack Obama promised them that they will always have the support of his country. I wonder: what about us? The Arab Street’s answer is: God is our support. My personal answer is: Obama, with the Jewish kippah on his head, gave an Israeli speech that annulled the speech he made in Cairo in 2009. Obama achieved the objective of his visit to Israel, since he gained the trust of Israelis’ and that of their prime minister. Yet, I still have one question: what is next? The American president smiled, spoke in an unofficial manner, made a touristic visit, and hugged Yair Lapid, the rising star of the Israeli politics and the chairman of the Yesh Atid Party. He even mentioned Yoni Netanyahu, Benjamin’s brother who was killed during the Operation Entebbe. Obama also described Sarah Netanyahu as “a rose between the thorns”, although she is a thorn herself. I once read in an Israeli newspaper that she hit her husband as they were waiting to take part in a TV show. This was quite an important visit. However, as I was following on it, I could not but recall some scenes from “Ocean 11.” The American president is trying to gain the Israelis’ support for his political positions concerning the Palestinians, Iran, Syria and others; and the thief members of the Israeli cabinet are trying to gain the president’s trust to carry out their looting process. After Palestine, these are now looting the West Bank on a daily basis. Then, they will be proceeding with the Arab neighbors. Despite the mutual hugs, Obama and Netanyahu clearly had different priorities. Indeed, the latter wants to confront the Iranian nuclear program and to use power now. He smilingly said that Israel will not be handing the responsibility of its security to anyone, not even to a great friend like the USA. He called for an American interference in Syria, in fear that the regime there might lose control over the chemical and biological weapons it has in stock. All that he said concerning the peace process was that he supports the two-state solution, but that he does not wish to negotiate that. Concerning Iran, the American president said that there is still enough time to reach a solution through diplomatic means. He added that all the options are still possible. Besides, he did not minimize the importance of the Syrian chemical and biological weapons, without however indicating that the situation might call for a direct military intervention. All in all, Obama launched a successful public relations campaign in order to return to the peace process. I read that Secretary of State John Kerry will be returning to Israel today in an attempt to revive the peace process. In other words, President Obama is trying to imply that he has not modified his first term’s objectives and that he only changed the means. Instead of clashing with Netanyahu and his cabinet, he is now trying to gain his trust. I believe that Obama will be failing in his second term just like he did with the first one, because he is confronting a bunch of thieves who are determined to steal away the remainder of Palestine. I remembered the movie, “Ocean 11”, because my wife and I, along with some friends, had visited Rome some years ago and stayed in a hotel near the Spanish Steps. We were surprised to the that the movie’s “heroes” were there. The police was trying to prevent some noisy teenagers from breaking into the hotel to meet with the actors. We saw George Clooney and Brad Pitt, the gang’s masters, in addition to a number of other actors. The film carried the name of Danny Ocean (Clooney) while the number 11 represented the how many member there were in the gang. They say that art copies life, or that life copies art. As I was following up on Obama’s visit, I felt I was watching two thieves, Benjamin Netanyahu and Avigdor Lieberman, in addition to a bunch of other thieves who have divided the roles among each others to steal an entire country, rather than just the Las Vegas casinos. I believe that Obama has started to lose the Palestinians, Arabs, and Muslims. The public relations will do him no good and he offered the Israelis compromises for nothing in return. I might be mistaken, but I do not remember Obama uttering a single word about the “settlements” during his visit to Israel. When he went to Ramallah and met with President Mahmoud Abbas, the term “settlements” did come up, but without being coupled with the epithet, “illegal,” which is the American official stand. The American president is asking us to acknowledge Israel as a Jewish state. He wants the Palestinians to participate in negotiations, while the building of the settlements is ongoing. What should the negotiations be about? They should revolve around obtaining migration tickets to leave Palestine? This generation of Arab peoples, including the Palestinians and their rulers from Fatah and Hamas, are responsible for the loss of Palestine, together with Jerusalem. --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.