Bravo, Mr. President!
By
Max J. Castro Read Spanish Version
majcastro@gmail.com
Transparency
and the rule of law will be the touchstones of this presidency.
—
Barack Obama
What
a difference a week makes! Talk about hitting the ground at full
gallop!
With
a few strokes of the pen, President Barack Obama began to undo the
shame and horror instituted by the last administration and to restore
this country to the community of civilized nations.
He
banned torture and other abusive interrogation techniques. He ordered
the closure of the Guantánamo detention camp within one year. He
signaled that diplomacy would be his first recourse in the conduct of
foreign policy. And that was just for starters.
One
of the new administration’s most significant turns in the foreign
policy arena relates to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Bush’s
policy alternated between long periods of malign neglect and brief
moments of intense attention signifying nothing. In the end, Bush’s
policy amounted to a constant green light for the Israelis to do
almost whatever they pleased. Indeed, the United States under Bush
therefore bears some of the responsibility for the extent of the
carnage and wanton destruction in Lebanon and the Gaza strip.
Obama,
in contrast, began by signaling his personal engagement, in several
ways. His first telephone call as head of state was to Palestinian
president Mahmud Abbas, followed by a call to Ehud Olmert, the prime
minister of Israel. Last week, he also tapped former Senator George
Mitchell, an experienced hand who helped establish peace in Ireland,
as a special envoy to the Middle East.
More
hopeful still, the new president’s actions and words hint at an end
to the blank check policy of the Bush administration. In a major
foreign policy speech delivered only two days after his inauguration,
Obama urged the Israelis to open their border with Gaza. “As part
of a lasting ceasefire, Gaza’s border crossings must be open to
allow the flow of aid and commerce, with an appropriate monitoring
regime, with the international community and the Palestinian
Authority participating,” Obama said.
It
is high time for a new administration to assume a fresh approach
toward the festering Israeli-Palestinian conflict. A Washington
Post report
on the aftermath of the Israeli attack on Gaza found that Hamas is
still in complete control of the territory and continues to count
with significant popular support, in some cases more fervent than
ever. So what was accomplished by this war enabled by the United
States and executed by Israel other than the deaths of 1,300
Palestinians, (including hundreds of noncombatant men, women, and
children) and 13 Israelis (only 3 of them civilians)? Two things: a)
In preparation for the upcoming Israeli election, the Gaza operation
allowed the candidates from the Labor and Kadima parties to look just
as tough on the Palestinians and just as defiant of world opinion as
Likud’s extremely hard-line leader Benjamin
Netanyahu;
and b) it helped to sow more hatred for Israel and the United States
among Palestinians and Muslims all over the world.
When
it comes to peace in the Middle East, the stakes are high for the
United States. In an opinion article in the Financial
Times
published last Friday, Prince Turki al-Faisal, former Saudi
intelligence chief and former ambassador to Washington, warned that
for the United States to continue to play a leadership role in the
Middle East and maintain its strategic alliance with Saudi Arabia, it
must “drastically revise its policies vis-à-vis Israel and
Palestine.” He stated that while Saudi Arabia had resisted joining
in a jihad against Israel, “eventually the kingdom will not be able
to prevent its citizens from joining the worldwide revolt against
Israel.” Al-Faisal said the United States should condemn Israeli
“atrocities” against Palestinians and not only the firing of
rockets into Israel by Palestinian fighters.
As
in the Middle East, in order to reestablish its leadership in Latin
America and the Caribbean, the United States needs to drastically
revise its policies, and especially its approach to Cuba. Many Latin
American governments and people regard U.S. policy toward Cuba as an
emblem of the level of respect that the United States has — or does
not have — for the sovereignty of the other nations of this
hemisphere.
A
radical reform in U.S. Cuba policy can begin with a series of modest,
unilateral steps that eliminate measures that are plain
counterproductive and stupid. The list is almost endless, but it
should begin with ending all travel and remittance restrictions for
Cuban Americans, liberalizing the rules on agricultural sales, and
shutting down TV Martí, which costs millions of dollars and can’t
be seen in Cuba. These initiatives should be followed by the end of
travel restrictions for all Americans and the dismantling of those
aspects of the embargo not subject to Congressional approval. The
final step would be high level discussions between the two
governments, the repeal of the Helms-Burton and Torricelli laws, and
the reestablishment of full diplomatic relations.
Few
things could do more to rehabilitate the dismal standing of the
United States — in the world and in its own backyard — than a
radical rethinking of its approach to the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict and to its own fifty-year-long dispute with Cuba.
