Obama and Jordan's comprehensive approach in Middle East

The United States' President Barack Obama looked cautious in the speech he delivered before the UN General Assembly in New York. He seemed confident of winning a second presidential tenure, yet he was keen on keeping his cards close to his chest regarding his future plans. Listening to his speech we can understand that he is convinced that there is no future for the Syrian regime and President Bashar al-Assad must step down. However, Obama will take no direct action on the Syrian issue except if this action is part of a comprehensive approach to deal will all the Middle East crises. The US President did not overlook the Iranian role in supporting Assad's oppression against his people; he condemned this role and called Iran to stop supporting the "Syrian dictator". It is clear that Obama prefers to avoid any direct interference of his country in Syria at the current stage, as he believes the Syrian regime will fall without the United States being forced to lose the life of a single soldier, in contradiction to what happened in Iraq and other countries in the past. There were some points which Obama did not refer to during his speech - apparently because he entered the final stages of the presidential race. These points, however, were highlighted by Jordan's Monarch, King Abdullah II, who stressed, in his speech, the need to put an end to "the tragic situation in Syria." King Abdullah called for an immediate cease of violence and to launch a peaceful process for power transfer through a political solution which shall stop blood shedding, bring security and stability back and protect Syria's geographic and demographic unity. President Obama looks to be sharing the vision of King Abdullah II to achieve a democratic transition in Syria, but the question is how he will succeed in achieving this vision and whether the next four years will be enough for him to achieve it? Obama at least has a clear vision for addressing the Syrian crisis, which is based on two points - a determination on getting rid of the ruling regime and making sure that the country will not fall into a state of turmoil where the extremist armed groups can prevail. He is eager to prevent all the regional powers, either Arab or foreign, from arming the extremist groups fighting against Bashar al-Assad in Syria. Fortunately we have two leaders in Washington and Amman who care for what will happen after the elimination of the Syrian regime and that care is based on a comprehensive approach in dealing with all the main issues of the region. King Abdullah's speech drew the world's attention to the Palestinian cause, which was completely overlooked in the speech of the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. He instead tried to put all the focus on what he called "the Iranian danger" in the expense of all the other major issues in the Middle East. King Abdullah reminded the world's leaders that the Palestinian cause is the core crisis in the region. He highlighted that the Arab Spring demanded dignity for all people and also called for an end to "exceptionalism" stressing that "no single issue causes greater anger than to tell an entire nation when it comes to global justice, they don’t count," and that "the Arab Spring can't give its full fruit, until the Palestinian-Israeli conflict ends, and ends with a just peace. A Palestinian state living side by side with a secure Israel at peace with the entire region." President Barack Obama, meanwhile, has also delivered a reasonable speech. He refused to follow the Israeli agenda regarding Iran, yet he insisted that his country will not allow the Iranians to obtain nuclear weapons. Should this give us a hope that the United States will apply a comprehensive approach for the Middle East issues in case Obama wins a second tenure? The recent blunders by the Republican candidate Mitt Romney, made Obama looks very likely to enjoy four more years in the White House and we don't expect the latter to be involved in a military intervention in Syria. He is more likely to keep supporting the Syrian uprising without committing the fault of funding the extremists and providing them with arms. The developments of the last few weeks shows that time is working for the favour of a more comprehensive strategy in the Middle East, a strategy almost typical to the one called for by Jordan. This strategy states that the Middle East will never enjoy stability as long as the Palestinian issue is not sorted out. Several fronts in and outside the Arab region plus some Israeli fronts are interested in keeping the Middle East far from reaching stability. Israel depends on extremism in the region. It tries to push this extremism to the highest level in order to justify its lack of commitment to peace. Commitment to peace should be represented in ending the occupation and allowing the Palestinians to obtain the minimum level of their legitimate rights. Extremism is also what Iran and other Arab fronts are depending on in order take the world's focus away from what is happening in Syria. The infamous anti-Islam film perfectly represents the kind of extremism Iran is depending on. We can say that the headlines of Obama's strategy in the Middle East during his second tenure are getting clearer. Regardless of whether he will be able to curb Netanyahu's plans, at least we can be sure that he will focus on achieving a peaceful power transfer in Syria, but the question is still on whether he will succeed in this. The Arab countries have to provide him with help through building a unified Arab stance towards Syria, which can prevent the Syrian regime from pushing the Arabs to a new disaster similar to the 1967 defeat, which the Syrians pushed late Egyptian Gamal Abdel Nasser to. Keeping a firm support to the Syrian uprising is essential, however we have to guarantee a peaceful power transfer in this country, taking into account how deep Iran's influence is ingrained there, as this influence can lead to a division in a country that will not be easy to control as it was since the 2000, the year when Bashar al-Assad took over.    --- The views expressed by the author do not necessarily represent or reflect the editorial policy of Arabstoday.