AMMAN - Leaders across the Middle East congratulated Barack Obama on his historic election victory as the 44th president of the United States, as many anticipated that his administration would usher in a fresh new policy and approach that would bring peace to a region plunged into great turbulence during the past eight years of the George W. Bush presidency.
Some Arab leaders, who are traditionally allied with Washington, welcomed Obama's victory, just as they were expected to do if Republican candidate John McCain had won.
But on an unofficial level, there was a sense of relief - albeit cautious - that the White House will, for the next four years, host an African-American president whose 22-month campaign showed him as an advocate of peace and dialogue with a will to resolve conflicts.
Obama's words in his victory speech gave a significant push to the optimists who set high hopes that he would look more favorably toward the rest of the world and perhaps Arab causes.
These Obama supporters have in recent months come under criticism by the many skeptical Arab talking heads who believed Obama would not bring change to what they say is a deeply-rooted U.S. Middle East policy leaning toward Israel.
Obama's relevant assuring words to the world: "All those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces, to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world: our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared. A new dawn of American leadership is at hand."
From the early hours of Tuesday in the region, people were glued to their television sets as popular Arab news channels offered live coverage from the moment the polls opened until the two American candidates gave their victory and concession speeches.
Critics say the interest in this U.S. election was unprecedented, thanks to what they say is the unparalleled damage that the George W. Bush administration brought to the region in the name of the "war on terror" and even frightening its Arab allies into submitting to his unpopular militaristic policies.
In their messages of congratulations to Obama, some Arab leaders said they hope the Democratic president-elect would engage positively in bringing a peaceful solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak said: "We await your constructive participation toward a solution to the Palestinian question and the realization of a just and comprehensive peace, which is the main condition for security and stability in the Middle East."
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has been stumbling through peace negotiations with Israel since Bush re-launched them at Annapolis a year ago, almost echoed Mubarak's words to Obama. Abbas said he hoped the new president would "speed up efforts to achieve peace, particularly since a resolution of the Palestinian problem and the Arab-Israeli conflict is key to world peace."
Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa was more vocal. Addressing the European Parliament's foreign affairs committee in Brussels, Moussa congratulated Obama, saying that his message for change "is what we expect from the new leader of the United States."
He insisted that the Arabs "very strongly feel we need change in the American approach" and called for a U.S. policy "based on honest brokership" in seeking a two-state solution to the Palestinian-Israeli question.
"How can we get a Palestinian state while the occupied territories are littered with [Jewish] settlements?" Moussa asked. "We need a new, strong intervention by the strongest country in the world, the United States, to stop the building of settlements immediately."
Israel seemed more confident that an Obama administration would not change U.S. policy and apply pressure on the Jewish state to make peace with the Palestinians by stopping the settlement activities, removing roadblocks and ultimately withdrawing from the West Bank.
Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he expected U.S.-Israeli ties to become stronger, because of the "special relationship" between the two countries.
Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist movement that rules the Gaza Strip and is on the U.S. "terrorist list," said it hopes Obama will "learn from the mistakes of the previous administrations, including that of Bush, which has destroyed Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine," according to Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum.
The Iraqi government, meanwhile, said it did not expect any policy change under Obama that would see a quick withdrawal of more than 140,000 U.S. troops from the country, invaded by U.S.-led forces in 2003 in a war that the newly-elected president had opposed from the outset.
But the anti-American Sadrists, led by Iranian-backed Shiite cleric Moqtada Sadr, saw in Obama's victory a "wish of the American public to withdraw forces from Iraq," in line with this group's demands.
Iranian politicians also welcomed Obama's election as a positive development, saying his win against McCain reflects an expression of the failures and defeats of Bush's foreign policies, hoping that the next administration would learn from the mistakes of the outgoing government in Washington.
On an official level, Tehran will wait and see if Obama's foreign policy will be different from Bush's hostile approach toward Iran.
But reports from Tehran indicated cautious optimism that Obama would make good on his call for dialogue with Iran to resolve the nuclear standoff with the West, and perhaps pave the way for restoring ties that have been severed between the two since the 1979 Islamic Revolution.
Syria, which the Bush administration had blacklisted as a "sponsor of terrorism," hoped Obama's election will "help change U.S. policy from one of wars and embargos to one of diplomacy and dialogue," according to Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal.
In Afghanistan, U.S.-installed President Hamid Karzai called on the next administration in Washington to change its strategy in the "war on terror," saying it "cannot be fought in Afghan villages ... but should be directed to its nests and training centers." Karzai urged Obama to end civilian casualties in Afghanistan, where 70,000 U.S.-led NATO forces have been unsuccessfully battling the Taliban and other armed insurgents.
By Sana Abdallah
© Middle East Times 2008
