Obama makes Mideast peace pledge

Obama makes Mideast peace pledge
By Edward Luce and Delphine Strauss in Ankara
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
Published: April 6 2009 16:13 | Last updated: April 6 2009 17:50
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/0b0ecff2-22b8-11de-9c99-00144feabdc0.html


Barack Obama on Monday offered his clearest pledge since taking office to pursue a two-state solution between Israel and the Palestinians and urged the two sides not to “give in to pessimism and mistrust.”

Calling on Israel and Palestine to “live up to the commitments they have made”, Mr Obama’s comments were his first on the Middle East conflict since Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition government was formed last month.

Mr Obama’s remarks came in an address to the Turkish parliament in Ankara on the closing leg of a whirlwind eight-day tour of Europe – his first overseas trip as president - in which he sought to put US relations with the rest of the world back onto a multilateral footing after the rancour of the Bush years.

The US president, who concludes his tour on Tuesday in Istanbul with a “town hall” event, where he will take questions from ordinary Muslims, on Monday also sought Turkey’s help in pursuing a two-state solution and in brokering successful talks between Israel and Syria.

Mr Obama’s remarks are likely to be taken as a rebuke to the new Israeli government, which has distanced itself from the two-state peace process. Although Mr Obama did not offer any radical new policies, his language was studiously even-handed.

“Let me be clear: the United States strongly supports the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security,” he said. “Both Israelis and Palestinians must take the steps that are necessary to build confidence. Both must live up to the commitments they have made. Both must overcome longstanding passions and the politics of the moment to make progress toward a secure and lasting peace.”

Monday’s address was also the opening overture in Mr Obama’s attempts to reach out to the Muslim world. Earlier the US president said he had chosen Turkey, which is a secular democracy, as the last leg of his tour partly to make a symbolic statement about the need to bridge the divide between East and West following the “mistrust” of the Bush years. Mr Obama portrayed America’s relations with Turkey as a model for how the US should conduct bilateral ties with other Muslim-majority countries.

“Let me say this as clearly as I can: the United States is not at war with Islam,” he said. “I also want to be clear that America’s relationship with the Muslim work cannot and will not be based on opposition to al-Qaeda. Far from it. We seek broad engagement based upon mutual interests and mutual respect. We will listen carefully, bridge misunderstanding, and seek common ground.”

As part of this drive, Mr Obama reiterated Washington’s support for Turkey’s membership of the European Union in spite of having earlier been rebuked by Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, who said that the decision was up to the EU, not the US. Mr Obama also mentioned the 1915 massacres of Armenians by Ottoman forces without using the word “genocide” – an issue of acute sensitivity to Mr Obama’s hosts.

“This guy stood up in the Turkish parliament and talked about the events of 1915 – that takes some courage,” said Hakan Altinay, head of the Open Society Institute in Istanbul. “And he was still applauded when he was going out.”