Obama's inconsistent Middle East policy
Jonathan Schanzer argues that the Obama administration should be relating to the 'Palestinian Authority' - led by 'moderate' 'Palestinian' President President Barack Obama's administration has loudly touted its efforts to protect peaceful activists across the globe from regimes that would oppress them. On April 26, the White House issued an executive order to stop technology companies from helping Iran and Syria commit human rights abuses. The two countries have become what members of Congress have called "zones of electronic repression," where the regimes use modern technologies to crush those seeking democratic reforms.But Obama's lack of interest in rights of free expression for 'Palestinians' is completely consistent with his supposed interest in rights of free expression for Iranian and Syrian opponents of their respective regimes. Obama was dragged kicking and screaming into taking actions to oppose Assad and Ahmadinejad, and whatever actions he has taken have been minimal compared to what could and should have been done. Obama has done nothing to topple either of those regimes, and he has done nothing to topple Abu Mazen. Nor will he. In each case, it's 'just' Muslims killing Muslims, and so long as any revolution is seen as having a less than overwhelming chance of success, Obama will not jump on its bandwagon.
But amid all this, Obama is missing an opportunity to promote positive change in a government over which the United States has much more leverage: Mahmoud Abbas's increasingly repressive fiefdom in the West Bank.On the same day as the White House issued its executive order, the Palestinian Ma'an News Agency reported an explosive story detailing how Palestinian officials have "quietly instructed Internet providers to block access to news websites whose reporting is critical of President Mahmoud Abbas."
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Obama's new executive order, which is designed to prevent human rights violations involving technology, may provide Palestinians with their best recourse for combating Abbas's attempts to dominate the political space in the West Bank. But the president has so far failed to live up to his lofty rhetoric. Just days after the scandal erupted, the president signed a waiver releasing $192 million in aid for the Palestinians that had been frozen by Congress on the grounds that it was "important for the security interests of the United States."
The president, however, issued the waver without first demanding that Abbas take measures to guarantee free speech in the West Bank. This was a lost opportunity. Only direct intervention by the United States will ensure greater freedom of expression for Palestinians engaged in this important struggle.
In Egypt, on the other hand, Obama jumped on the bandwagon because the army had decided to stand up to Mubarak, and Mubarak's fate was therefore sealed. As much as Obama's insistence on Mubarak's resignation was harmful to American interests and a betrayal of an ally, even if Obama had not called for Mubarak's resignation, Mubarak was gone. The same goes for Gadhafi's Libya, although there, the fact that the Europeans also wanted Gadhafi out, and were willing to lead the way, made it easier for Obama to go along.
Abu Mazen is the darling of the Europeans - because his enemy is Israel. No one is going to push Obama to do the morally 'right thing' when it comes to the 'Palestinian Authority,' and therefore Obama won't do it. Of course, if Israel were blocking those websites, he'd be all over us. But not because it's morally wrong. Rather because it would be carrying out the will of the 'international community' to whom Obama is enslaved.
Read the whole thing.
Labels: Abu Mazen, Barack Hussein Obama, freedom of the press, Palestinian Authority
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 10:39 AM
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