US President Barack Obama arrives today in Cairo for a much anticipated visit that is expected to cover two main issues: the fate of Arab-Israeli peacemaking and relations between the US and Muslims and Arabs. Obama will discuss with President Hosni Mubarak ways to reactivate the Middle East peace process, but he will not reveal his plan to promote this peacemaking. What he will reveal in a historic speech to be delivered at Cairo University is his plan, or at least hopes, for reconciliation between the Muslim/Arab worlds and the US. American-Muslim relations have gone through particularly bad times during the past eight years, under former US president George W Bush. The attacks on New York's Twin Towers, the US-led war on Afghanistan and the invasion and occupation of Iraq, and the images of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo all eroded an already shaky bridge of communication between the US and the Muslim world. Today, Obama is calling for a détente. It is not clear yet how the rapprochement will be made. Muslims and Arabs are expecting Obama to express respect for Islam and the Muslim civilisation and to announce an end to the qualification of every Muslim/Arab as a potential terrorist. They also expect the US president to bring about an end to the grave injustices imposed on Muslims and Arabs, especially in Iraq and Palestine. Expectations are high. Obama, to judge by his advisors' accounts, is likely to express respect for Islam and its civilisation. However, there are no clear indications that Obama will or can deliver exactly what the Muslim and Arab masses want him to offer: help to rebuild a free Iraq and an independent and viable Palestinian state -- all within the four years of his term in office. Such daunting tasks require much more than the promises or good intentions of the US president. They require international and regional agreements and political will that is simply lacking. Obama, as some argue, has already offered his credentials to the Muslim world: opening up to Iran, a large Muslim country, and making Saudi Arabia and Egypt -- two influential Muslim/Arab capitals -- among his early overseas visits. Obama is signalling a will to reach out to Muslims and Arabs. What comes after this gesture remains to be seen.
