Meshaal on Obama speech: Good, but–

A couple of hours ago I finished an hour-long, on-the-record interview here in Damascus with the head of Hamas’s political bureau, Khaled Meshaal.
I started, not surprisingly by asking his reactions to the Speech that Obama made in Cairo earlier in the afternoon.
He replied,

    Of course I listened to the speech. The words are different from those used by Bush. The speech was cleverly written in the way it addressed the Muslim world– using phrases from the Holy Kor’an, and referring to some historical events. And also, in the way it showed respect to the Muslim heritage.
    But I think it’s not enough!
    What’s needed are deeds, actions on the ground, and a change of policies.
    For example, if the Palestinians today don’t find a real change from the situation of siege in Gaza, there’s no point; the speech by itself doesn’t help them. What they’re looking for is an end to the siege and an end to occupation.
    We want to see practical steps by the United States such as ending Israel’s settlement activity, putting an end to Israel’s confiscation of Palestinian land and its campaign to Judaize Jerusalem; an end to its demolitions of Palestinian homes; and the removal of the 600 checkpoints that are stifling normal life in the West Bank.
    Rather than sweet words from President Obama on democratization, we’d rather see the United States start to respect the results of democratic elections that have already been held. And rather than talk about democratization and human rights in the Arab world, we’d rather see the removal of General Dayton, who’s building a police state there in the West Bank.
    In the speech, Obama talked about the Palestinian state, but not its borders. He didn’t mention whether it should comprise all the Palestinian land that was occupied in 1967, or just part of it, as Israel demands.
    He made no mention of Jerusalem or the Right of Return.
    Yes, he spoke of an end to settlement activity; but can he really get them to stop?
    Without addressing these issues, the speech remains rhetoric, not so very different from his predecessor’s.

Just for the record, Obama did mention Jerusalem, when he said he wanted to work for the day,

    when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer.

The Meshaal interview contained in-depth answers to numerous other questions I posed; but I wanted to get this answer published as soon as possible. The other answers ranged across a broad spectrum of issues related to ongoing political/diplomatic dilemmas.
One of his key answers that really stuck in my mind was this:

    We’ll work for the success of any project that ends the occupation, restores Palestinian rights, and achieves the right of Palestinians to self-determination.

I’ll publish a lot more from this interview, and from other interviews conducted here, including with Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem, over the days ahead.

21 thoughts on “Meshaal on Obama speech: Good, but–”

  1. Good for you! Your interview with Khaled Meshaal is something I’m looking forward to reading.
    I certainly agree that Obama is long on words and short on deeds.
    And that too many people focus on his words as though they were deeds.
    Obama may well go down in history as the all-time, big-time issuer of IOUs of every description.

  3. Really excellent work getting this interview at this time. Congratulations. Meshaal, and many others, are correct that words are not enough and that positive action is required. But I am coming more and more to believe that what Obama is really preparing the way for action by first reframing some of the issues to bring the American people along with him after many years of Israel Lobby propaganda. I wish I could say the same about his position on health care reform.

  5. A missed opportunity to ask Meshaal why his Iranian patrons jammed the satellite tranmissions so Obama could not be heard.
    So much for dialogue with Iran.

  6. Surely it is quite obvious why Iran would not want a US Presidential live broadcast in the country. The US made it almost impossible for the Iranian President to address Columbia University.

  7. I have no hope that the Israelis will ever stop expanding their settlements or dismantle their 600 guard posts. Slowly, they crush the life out of the Palestinians. They are guilty of ethnic cleansing while the world does nothing. What a deal

  8. Abe Foxman’s reaction to the speech is just unhinged. We are now officially dealing with a nut.
    http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-obama-domestic5-2009jun05,0,6200838.story
    Abraham H. Foxman, national director of the Anti- Defamation League and one of America’s most ardent Israel supporters, said Obama’s remark that Jewish aspirations for a homeland were “rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied” was incorrect and “legitimizes the Arabs who say Israel has no place there.”
    Foxman said that Obama’s views — among them seeing lessons for Palestinians in the struggles of oppressed blacks and others with a moral high ground — stem from his biography. “Every individual brings his own baggage,” Foxman said. “He’s an African American . . . and he has rediscovered his Islamic roots after two years. I don’t like it, but I understand it.”

  9. “A missed opportunity to ask Meshaal why his Iranian patrons jammed the satellite tranmissions so Obama could not be heard.”. Funny I listened the whole speech on PressTV!

  10. was incorrect and “legitimizes the Arabs who say Israel has no place there.”
    Is it incorrect? are you sure?
    Dear Lord Rothschild,

    I have much pleasure in conveying to you, on behalf of His Majesty’s Government, the following declaration of sympathy with Jewish Zionist aspirations which has been submitted to and approved by the Cabinet

    “His Majesty’s Government view with favour the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use their best endeavours to facilitate the achievement of this object. It being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country.”

    I should be grateful if you would bring this declaration to the knowledge of Zionist Federation.

    Bulfore, November 2nd 1917

  11. Obama has defined his mission but not accomplished it. The speech must now be followed up by policy proposals and everything that goes along with them — promises, deals and threats. And one can only hope that the day never comes when human lives must be lost in order to execute those threats. The road to peace has already led, many times, to war.

    Obama has delivered beautiful but unfinished words in Cairo. When the spotlight in the university auditorium goes dark, the President of the United States will still have to work hard to fulfil the potentially historic magnitude of his speech.

    Obama’s Unfinished Speech in Cairo

  12. Naom Chomsky’s take on Obama’s speech seems quite consistent with what Meshaal says here.
    Chomsky on the subject of settlements:
    (…)
    The strongest position so far enunciated by the Obama administration is that Israel should conform to Phase I of the 2003 Road Map, which states: ‘Israel freezes all settlement activity (including natural growth of settlements).’ All sides claim to accept the Road Map, overlooking the fact that Israel instantly added 14 reservations that render it inoperable.
    Overlooked in the debate over settlements is that even if Israel were to accept Phase I of the Road Map, that would leave in place the entire settlement project that has already been developed, with decisive U.S. support, to ensure that Israel will take over the valuable land within the illegal ‘separation wall’ (including the primary water supplies of the region) as well as the Jordan Valley, thus imprisoning what is left, which is being broken up into cantons by settlement/infrastructure salients extending far to the East.
    (…)
    It is also worth remembering that the Bush I administration went a bit beyond words in objecting to illegal Israeli settlement projects, namely, by withholding U.S. economic support for them. In contrast, Obama administration officials stated that such measures are ‘not under discussion’ and that any pressures on Israel to conform to the Road Map will be ‘largely symbolic,’ so the New York Times reported (Helene Cooper, June 1).
    The rest of Chomsky’s article about the Cairo speech can be found here

  13. Say Titus, what’s your source on the claim that Iran somehow blocked Obama’s speech into Iran?
    Utter nonsense. Even if they tried to block voa, there’s BBC & other easily accessible international broadcasts. And the speech is widely available on the net — in Persian too.
    About the same time, Iran’s Leader Khamenehi was giving a major speech at Khomeini’s shrine…. and it was broadcast live on state tv. (and he does spend a lot of time commenting on unspecified efforts to de-legitimize Iran’s present elections — something Ha’aretz reports on…. as actual israeli policy)

  14. It’s fine for Obama to call on Palestinians to forswear violence, and right, but he should also call on Israel to do so. This should be obvious. Why do we continue to accept a CrazyWorld where it’s ok to call on one side to stop violence, but not the other? Call on both sides to forswear violence. Stop ‘understanding’ Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’, while denying the same to Palestine.
    Furthermore, and perhaps even more obviously and crucially, how just, and even how sane, is it to call on the Palestinians to renounce violence, while denying them all other forms of political expression and action? Their elections are invalidated. Their protests and demonstrations are broken up. Their attempt to use Davos as a platform for expressing their grievances to the international community is subverted. Their voice is barely heard in American circles. Hamas is not allowed into negotiations. WHAT ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO DO? We tell them ‘don’t use violence’, but at the same time we take away all other political tools.
    Obama has taken a step towards previously unheard of candour and fairness. And that’s great. Really great. But it also opens up a huge can of worms, and if Obama’s next (all too predictable ) step is to just start jamming those worms back in the can, things will end up worse not better.

  15. It’s fine for Obama to call on Palestinians to forswear violence, and right, but he should also call on Israel to do so. This should be obvious. Why do we continue to accept a CrazyWorld where it’s ok to call on one side to stop violence, but not the other? Call on both sides to forswear violence. Stop ‘understanding’ Israel’s ‘right to defend itself’, while denying the same to Palestine.
    Furthermore, and perhaps even more obviously and crucially, how just, and even how sane, is it to call on the Palestinians to renounce violence, while denying them all other forms of political expression and action? Their elections are invalidated. Their protests and demonstrations are broken up. Their attempt to use Davos as a platform for expressing their grievances to the international community is subverted. Their voice is barely heard in American circles. Hamas is not allowed into negotiations. WHAT ARE THEY SUPPOSED TO DO? We tell them ‘don’t use violence’, but at the same time we take away all other political tools.
    Obama has taken a step towards previously unheard of candour and fairness. And that’s great. Really great. But it also opens up a huge can of worms, and if Obama’s next (all too predictable ) step is to just start jamming those worms back in the can, things will end up worse not better.

  16. I thought Obama’s speech was pretty good highwire walking for what he sought to accomplish.
    But I am with HC,Hamas and everyone else who says O.K., now what are you going to DO?
    As for I-P, everyone who has watched Israel for any length of time knows Obama has to use some sticks on Israel or nothing will happen.
    I am trying to pretend that Obama is using the parental approach to intractable obstacles to his plan… “This is for your own good”..as the correction or punishment is melted out.
    “We support Israel…BUT.
    “Iran has a right to nuclear energy..BUT.
    We will see ut he needs to do something fast. Not a year or six months from now.

  17. I thought Obama’s speech was pretty good highwire walking for what he sought to accomplish.
    But I am with HC,Hamas and everyone else who says O.K., now what are you going to DO?
    As for I-P, everyone who has watched Israel for any length of time knows Obama has to use some sticks on Israel or nothing will happen.
    I am trying to pretend that Obama is using the parental approach to intractable obstacles to his plan… “This is for your own good”..as the correction or punishment is melted out.
    “We support Israel…BUT.
    “Iran has a right to nuclear energy..BUT.
    We will see but he needs to do something fast. Not a year or six months from now.

  20. It’s a curious thing that a speech that recycled much of George Bush is being called “good”!
    Personally I think that Obama, Billary, Rahm etc are going to give the Palestinian state the very best shot they can. They are helped no end by having Tony Blair in situ. Also by having Mitchell and Dennis Ross on the team. All that experience from the Clinton era.
    It was very good to see and hear that Obama and Co have adopted the neo con/Bush democracy mantra. They are selling it in a different way, of course, but that what good cops do when they follow the bad cops! The goal remains the same: recognise Israel, renounce violence, abide by agreements. Doesn’t just apply to Hamas.

  21. Personally I think that Obama, Billary, Rahm etc are going to give the Palestinian state the very best shot they can.
    It’s very premature to say that. The words not necessarily achieved the goals, doesn’t matter either coming from GWB or Obama.
    The two stat solution plan stated before GW Bush leaving his office… then no gaols achieved by his promises /Words.
    Now obama time how much his words translated on the ground, let wait and see.

Comments are closed.