Obama stoer naar Israel, lief voor Moslimleiders

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Cairo University preps for Obama's big speech to the Muslim world

By Liam Stack

CAIRO – Cairo University is prepping for its close-up.

Water the grass? Check.

Paint the broken concrete curb a shiny new black? Check.

Polish the giant dome? Check.

More police check points? Check.

On Thursday, President Barack Obama will take the stage at Cairo University to deliver a long-awaited address to the Muslim world in which he is will attempt to smooth relations after years of tension.

There are high hopes in the Arab world, in particular, that the American leader will unveil a new Palestinian-Israeli peace proposal. Some Arab leaders – such as Jordan’s King Abdullah II – see this US administration as offering a new window of opportunity.

Initially, both the US and the Egyptian government had planned for Mr. Obama to speak at Al Azhar, a 1,000-year-old mosque and university that claims to be the world’s oldest. Thousands of students come here from around the Muslim world to attend Al Azhar.

But, reportedly for security reasons, a site on the other side of the Nile was chosen: Cairo University.

The university is one of the oldest secular institutions of higher learning in the Arab world. With 200,000 students, it is also the largest university in Egypt. And its often the site of pro-democracy demonstrations.

“I think it’s a great choice,” says Abeer Soliman, a feminist blogger and former newspaper columnist, who is also a Cairo University alumna. “It is a secular place where you go to learn and study science, and he is a secular guy.”

At first, Cairo University wasn’t considered a viable option because its students are in the midst of final exams. But to the consternation of some, President Obama’s historic address to the Islamic world has pulled rank on the academic calendar: Exams have been postponed.

“This will screw up our whole work schedule for days,” says Leila Soueif, a math professor who called the security preparations “unforgivably annoying.”

News of the decision leaked to Egypt’s largest independent Arabic-language daily, Al Masry Al Youm, long before an official announcement was made.

By last week, an army of workmen and security agents had been deployed to turn it into a campus fit – and secure – for a president.

Laborers in plastic sandals climbed the sides of the giant dome that sits atop the university administration building, polishing it with rags and buckets of soapy water. Far beneath them, plainclothes police officers stalked the grounds and soldiers in white summer uniforms manned the gates, meticulously checking IDs as clusters of irritated students waited their turn.

No one seems to have told them, though, that Obama’s visit here was supposed to stay a secret.

“You here Obama visit?” asks one soldier, in broken English, looking up from a handful of student IDs.

“Ah, yes, sir.” But when I identify myself as a reporter, I am quickly escorted off campus.

Bron

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Obama's Outreach to Muslim World Carries High Political Stakes

President Obama makes the most important trip of his fledgling presidency this week, a face-to-face encounter with the Muslim world, culminating with a long-promised speech on U.S. relations with the Muslims.

President Obama backed Iran's claim that it has a right to nuclear energy -- but only if the country proves by the end of the year that its aspirations are peaceful.

Obama told the BBC in an interview broadcast Tuesday that he believes "Iran has legitimate energy concerns, legitimate aspirations," adding that the international community also "has a very real interest" in preventing a nuclear arms race.

The interview comes on the heels of Obama's most important trip of his fledgling presidency, a face-to-face encounter with the Muslim world. Obama's five-day pilgrimage to Egypt this week culminates with a long-promised speech on U.S. relations with the Muslim world.

With that, some speculation is swirling that the U.S. effort to reach Muslims is accompanied by its distancing itself from Israel, which is under pressure by the Obama administration to freeze its settlements in the West Bank.

Obama's speech aims to help repair a strained relationship between the United States and the Muslim world that is critical to pressuring Iran to halt its uranium enrichment program, which the international community fears is a cover for building a nuclear bomb.

The Bush administration had insisted that Iran scrap enrichment before diplomatic talks could begin. But Iran repeatedly rejected the demand and expanded its enrichment activities, triggering three sets of U.N. Security Council sanctions.

Obama will deliver the speech at Cairo University, that White House officials call a bastion of secular Muslim thinking that reflects the side of Islam that the U.S. is appealing to in its case for a strategic partnership.

"Egypt is not only a strategic ally of the United States, but it, like the rest of the Muslim world, is a young country which obviously presents the United States with a terrific opportunity to deepen this cooperation that has really developed over the course of the last several decades, but to deepen that and to press it forward here into the future," Denis McDonough, deputy national security advisor said.

"So the message the president wants to send is not different, frankly, than the one he's been sending since he was inaugurated, namely that we believe that this is an opportunity for us in the United States, who frankly, have arrived at a place here based on many of the advances that come out of the Muslim world, be it science out of Baghdad, be it math and technology out of Al-Andalus (University) or otherwise," he continued.

In his efforts to engage the Muslim world, Obama said during his inaugural speech that the United States "will extend a hand if you are willing to unclench your fist. He also declared earlier this spring in Turkey that the United States "is not and never will be at war with Islam."

Obama has granted interviews to Arabic-language networks, telephoned friendly Arab leaders and sent special envoy George J. Mitchell to the Middle East on a "listening tour."

Obama has rejected the notion that efforts to engage the Arab world comes at the sacrifice of Israel, telling National Public Radio that the U.S. must "retain a constant belief in the possibilities of negotiations that will lead to peace."

"And that's going to require, from my view, a two-state solution that is going to require that each side -- the Israelis and Palestinians -- meet their obligations," he said.

Obama explained those obligations include Israelis freezing settlements and Palestinians continuing to make security gains and ending incitement that worries Israel.

"So the key is to just believe that the process can move forward and that all sides are going to have to give," he added. "And it's not going to be an easy path, but one that I think we can achieve."

But foreign policy experts say achieving a successful peace plan faces long odds, particularly considering that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already rejected Obama's call to freeze settlements, setting up a potential confrontation.

Bron

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Arab, Muslim Americans Have High Hopes for Obama's Cairo Speech

By Kane Farabaugh
Dearborn, Michigan

U.S. President Barack Obama is to deliver a long awaited speech to the world's Muslims from Egypt on June 4. The speech is widely seen as an opportunity for President Obama to set a new course in U.S. foreign policy. Arab and Muslim Americans around the United States will be watching closely to understand if Mr. Obama plans to bring a permanent and lasting peace to the Middle East.

Michigan has largest US Arab community

The southeastern part of the midwestern state of Michigan, with 300,000 Arab Americans, is home to one the largest Muslim communities in the United States. In Dearborn, a suburb of Detroit, one-third of the population is Arab American, many of them are Muslim.

Fay Saad of the Arab American National Museum says "We call it Little Beirut. There are of course other ethnic backgrounds, like Iraqis, Palestinians, and Yemenis. It's a very close knit community. We all come together when times are tough, and we all come together when times are good."

2006 was tough for Saad. An Israeli bomb destroyed a family home in Beirut, killing her grandmother and aunt.

Sense of fairness

Saad hopes President Obama will restore what she considers a sense of fairness in dealing with the Palestinians and with Lebanon.

"Our American bombs killed my grandmother. They were American made bombs," she said. "And if America continues to give our bombs and our ammunition to Israel to continue demolishing Arab countries, it's just not fair."

Anan Ameri, a Palestinian-American, and director of the museum, hopes President Obama's speech is a first step in establishing permanent peace between "Israel and Palestine" - her word for the Palestinian territories.

"This is a problem that has been in existence for a very long time, and it's not going to be solved overnight," Ameri said. "But at least the intentions or the messages we are getting is that the Middle East is an important issue and it should be resolved fairly, and that Palestinians should have a fair resolution to their problems."

Local newspaper talks about speech

The Arab American community in Dearborn has its own newspaper. Many recent articles have dealt with Mr. Obama's upcoming speech.

Osama Siblani is the publisher. He says the president should look within the United States for help in launching a peace initiative.

"I think he has two of the biggest assets actually right within his reach," Siblani said. "One of them is President Jimmy Carter, and the other is Arab Americans."

Great expectations

Some of those Arab Americans live in California.

Khaled Soliman works for the city of Los Angeles. He has great expectations for President Obama's speech.

"What I expect from him in Cairo, that he will deliver a message of hope and also show that the United States is sincere in dealing with the Muslim world and really change the image of the last eight years," Soliman said. "And of course, whatever he says, it should be followed by action."

On the east coast of the United States, Malika Rushdan says one speech won't determine whether or not President Obama can improve relations with Muslims.

"I wouldn't want to be in his position because he has a heavy, heavy load to bear and a long road to travel, I think, as far as healing US-Muslim relations throughout the world, and thusfar, I think the verdict is still out," Rushdan said.

Wait and see

The prospects for Arab-Israeli peace efforts, and therefore improved relations with Muslims, will become clearer a few months after the speech, says University of Michigan Professor and author Juan Cole.

"There will be new Palestinian elections in January, set them up right, and you get a government you might be able to negotiate with," Cole said. "So these are challenges for Obama, but they are not insuperable challenges."

Many in the Arab and Muslim American community relate to Mr. Obama's personal narrative as the son of an African Muslim who also lived for a time in Indonesia, the largest Muslim country in the world.

But many also question whether he can use his background and international goodwill to grapple with the foreign policy challenges posed by the Middle East.

Bron

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Indonesia a better choice for Obama's speech to Muslim world: Analyst

Lilian Budianto , The Jakarta Post

Indonesia would be a better choice than Egypt for US President Barak Obama to deliver his speech to the Muslim world, says an analyst.

Obama is scheduled to deliver a major foreign policy speech in Egypt to reach out to Muslims worldwide on Thursday in a movement aimed at mending hostile ties with its Arab adversaries.

“It is true that Indonesia would be more appropriate for Obama’s major speech because it is a democracy with a moderate Muslim majority,” Azyumardi Azra, a history professor at the State Islamic University of Syarif Hidayatullah, said.

“However, Obama's decision might rest on the fact that Egypt is one of the most important American allies in the Middle East, second only to Israel. Obama hopes that Egypt will fully support the US peace plan between Palestine and Israel,” he said.

Bron

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Op dinsdag 2 juni 2009 21:52 schreef DirkZz het volgende:
samenvatting?

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Op dinsdag 2 juni 2009 21:53 schreef Tizitl het volgende:

[..]

Obama gaat de moslimwereld toespreken

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Zawahiri To Obama: "You Are Not Welcome in Egypt"

Al Qaeda No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri said in a new audiotape today that President Obama is not welcome in Egypt. Commenting on Obama's upcoming visit to Cairo, Zawahiri said that President Obama's message to the Muslim World has already been delivered.

"Obama's message to the Muslim World was delivered when he visited the Wailing wall, with the Jewish skullcap on his head…when he performed the Jewish prayers despite claiming that he is Christian," Zawahiri said, reminding his audience of Obama's pledge before the AIPAC conference to make Jerusalem the undivided capital of Israel.

The al Qaeda deputy chief accused Obama of approving the "Zionist aggression on Gaza," of sending more troops to Afghanistan and continuing to bomb tribal areas of Pakistan, and of leading the "brutal campaign" against Muslims in the Swat valley. He said the Obama administration's message to the Muslim world can be seen in the continued use of secret prisons and the breach of the Geneva conventions regarding terror detainees.

"Obama's bloodied messages have reached and are still reaching Muslims, and they shall not be masked by the PR campaigns, the theatrical visits and the courteous words," Zawahiri said.

"As for his choice of Turkey and Egypt to be the places from which to address the Muslim world as he claims, well, this choice holds another indication that simply says that the kind of Muslims the Crusader Americans would be pleased with are those who abandon Islam and embrace secularism, those who acknowledge Israel, conclude security agreements with it, and take part in its military drills."

President Obama had visited Ankara last April and delivered a speech before the Turkish Parliament where he pledged to strengthen ties with the Muslim world.

Zawahiri directed part of his criticism at the Egyptian regime, accusing it of further tightening the blockade imposed on Palestinians in Gaza, and accusing Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak of grooming his elder son, Jamal, to succeed him as President," in order to maintain the corruption and the reliance on America, the Crusaders and the Jews."

Zawahiri, who previously called President Obama "a house negro" upon his election in December, said that only the corrupt "butchers and tyrants" of Egypt would welcome President Obama there, but not the sincere honest Egyptians. "The honorable people of Egypt despise Obama and consider him an international criminal, and an arriviste politician who serves the Zionist cause in order to get promoted to the highest levels of government."

He concluded his message by urging Egyptians not to welcome the US President in Egypt. "O’ free and honorable people of Egypt, O’ pious and Mujahids of Egypt, stand in one rank in the face of this criminal who came to try and obtain by ruse, what he failed to obtain in the battlefield, especially after the Mujahideens have foiled the American plots in Iraq, Afghanistan and Somalia."

Zawahiri’s statement runs over nearly 12 minutes, and is entitled: "Egypt’s Slayers and the Agents of America Welcome Obama."

Bron

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Op woensdag 3 juni 2009 08:56 schreef Chadi het volgende:
Egypte.. is dat niet dat land waar die wrede dictator al jaren zijn politieke tegenstanders opruimt en als er dan verzet is gelijk roept dat het terrorisme is?

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Op dinsdag 2 juni 2009 21:51 schreef FloydP het volgende:
Ich bin ein Berliner Muslim.

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In recent days, the president has been getting tough on Israel, pushing a two-state solution in meetings with a resistant Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

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Op woensdag 3 juni 2009 13:12 schreef KoosVogels het volgende:

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Op woensdag 3 juni 2009 13:17 schreef Klopkoek het volgende:

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Je moet de andere berichten eens lezen.

Was hij maar zo flink naar Saudi Arabië en die andere mongoloide autoritaire staten.

Nogmaals: ik heb niks met islambashers, niks met Wilders en niks met de Clash of Civilizationsgedachte maar je moet niet buigen voor dictators.

En als je echt respect wil tonen voor de Islam dan doe je dat beter op een andere manier.

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Op woensdag 3 juni 2009 13:17 schreef Klopkoek het volgende:

[..]

Je moet de andere berichten eens lezen.

Was hij maar zo flink naar Saudi Arabië en die andere mongoloide autoritaire staten.

Nogmaals: ik heb niks met islambashers, niks met Wilders en niks met de Clash of Civilizationsgedachte maar je moet niet buigen voor dictators.

En als je echt respect wil tonen voor de Islam dan doe je dat beter op een andere manier.

Barack Obama Bows To Saudi King Abdullah