Last Tuesday in my column I warned you, Mr. Obama, of the necessity to save the peace process from disarray, leading to a state of permanent inertia. A few hours after the article was published, news began to flow about the dangerous consequences of your policy, which has given up on pushing for a process based on the land-for-peace principle and withdrawal from lands occupied in 1967. Last Thursday, Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas declared his intention not to run in the upcoming presidential elections, protesting against US bias towards Israel on the issue of freezing settlement construction and in compelling the Israeli side to resume negotiations from the point at which the Olmert government stopped. Abbas said, "the two-state solution is on the table, but is still facing major perils and we do not know where those will drive us". The next day, your State Department showed further partiality towards Israel and its expansionist aspirations when its spokesman, Ian Kelly, refused the notion of the US providing any guarantees for potential peace negotiations. Kelly was asked by a news reporter whether the US plans to respond to Egyptian and Arab demands for an independent state, based on 1967 borders. Kelly replied that this is contingent on the will of both parties to the conflict. Given the Israeli right's well known stance, the US is thus giving up its role of fair mediator and the goal of achieving a justice-based peace. America, with such an attitude, is instead giving the Israeli state chance to impose control over its victim through unfair negotiations. Mr. Obama, you must notice that, amid this negative atmosphere, which detracts from the feelings of optimism created by your Cairo University speech, a worrying incident has occurred, arousing fears on both Arab and American sides that feelings of hatred against the US and the West in general will be rekindled. We were alarmed by the news of an American soldier of Palestinian origin, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who fired on his fellow soldiers at the Fort Hood military base. We were also very sorry to learn of the deaths of some of those soldiers. But at the same time, the shooting was like a warning bell ringing in our region. We have explained, more than once, the psychological link between feelings of injustice felt by Arab and Muslim youth provoked by Palestinian suffering, ongoing US bias towards Israel, and the spread of feelings of resentment and hatred towards the US and the West.
This causal relationship, which prompts some Arabs to engage in violent action against the West, should be studied carefully so that the American Administration are persuaded of the truth of what we assert. We cannot deal with the shooting incident from the perspective of news reports which suggest that Hasan's action was premeditated and executed in cool temper. It is better to consider such an incident while taking into account the accumulation of experiences and motivation of the assailant as an individual, on one hand, and also such sentiments on a general level, influenced by feelings of optimism - inspired by your Cairo University address - that have later transformed into pessimism. This psychological condition is likely the outcome of an accumulation of frustrations which came to a head in the pessimism which caused the Palestinian president to announce his refusal to participate in the next elections. He no longer believes that political mobility and peaceful negotiation will secure the minimum standard of justice demanded by the Palestinians. Can you imagine, Mr. President, what it means when a Palestinian politician who used to denounce armed struggle loses hope in peaceful parlaying? Does your administration recognize the danger of Palestinian pessimism towards the peace process? Let us imagine together what will happen when such feelings are released, and let us consider the golden opportunity granted to extremists at such a time. I suggest that the US seeks a safe and reliable way to convince Arabs and Muslims that the peace process can achieve success, and is capable of achieving an independent Palestinian state established on all the territories in the West Bank and Gaza, including East Jerusalem. The US needs to persuade the Arabs that such a peaceful course involves American safeguards approved by the UNSC regarding a final settlement. This could be set out in a letter sent by the US president to his Palestinian counterpart, pledging that the negotiations facilitated by his country will end in the establishment of the state desired. Such a process could take the shape of an international conference that decides the form of final settlement, bringing the international community together to bear their share of responsibility for a state currently in despair, and all the hazards that such despair engenders. I think such a course is of great importance for US national security, given the alarm bell ringing in the wake of desperate Abu Mazen's declaration. Mr.Obama, let's browse some of the newspapers who write that Abbas is sensing a change in US policy, and even a change in the US president's own personal stance, which has led him to announce his intention not to run for presidency and his desire to quit politics in general. The papers quote some Palestinian officials as saying that Abbas sensed this shift in policy during his meeting with you on the margin of the UN's General Assembly meeting last September, and that on return home he told his colleagues that you are reneging, not only on your promises, but also on the pledges made by former president George Bush and his secretary of state Condoleezza Rice. According to those newspapers, Abbas told his officials that Mr. Obama had not asked him to resume negotiations with Israel, despite the ongoing building of Jewish settlements. He even told officials that Obama rebuffed a Palestinian request to announce international resolutions that define the Palestinian territories in Gaza and the West Bank as a reference for peace efforts. Abbas told his colleagues that the US president accepts such references behind the scenes, but rejects using them in general as Bush did. Mr. Obama, you have faced Abu Mazen with three bitter choices: the first is to abide by your demands, and thus take on the image of a leader who has forfeited the rights of his people. The second choice is to reject your demands and engage in an open stand-off with your country. The third choice is simply to retreat entirely from the political field. The Israeli press believe that Abbas' declaration not to stand in the presidential elections is a farce that will shortly come to an end, as soon as he returns to office. But I believe that the alarm bell has already been sounded. The issue is not whether Abbas nominates himself or is restored to his post, but rather it is about Western bias, which was the founding stone for Palestinian suffering from the very beginning, and which foretells the curtains of despair about to close on the political scene. I hope the US is aware of the dangers threatening its national security and the stability of the region, and I hope also that it will take the proper course for peace, with all the branching paths I described above.
