Editor's Note:
Veteran journalist
Hisham Melham got a phone call from the White House Monday morning, according to Scott
MacLeod writing for
Time, asking if he would like to chat with President Obama later in the afternoon.
The
Al-Arabiya interview he had with Mr. Obama was the first since the President's inauguration last week and it set the marker for a new dialogue between the U.S. Government and the Arab world. He said, "..if we are looking at the region as a whole and communicating a message to the Arab world and the Muslim world, that we are ready to initiate a new partnership based on mutual respect and mutual interest, then I think that we can make significant progress." That message generated a flurry of reactions from the Arab and Muslim world and among analysts.
Today we provide a snapshot of reactions published yesterday and today and links to
a video of the interview as well as other related on-line material. We also invite you to visit a new SUSRIS special section
["President Barack Obama and the Middle
East'] that will be your resource for articles, interviews, videos, photos, links and more concerning the Obama Administration and America's relationship with Saudi Arabia and the Middle East region.
According to Time's MacLeod, "Obama's aides cut Melhem off before he could finish all his questions," and that, "As they concluded the interview and shook hands, Melhem recalls, Obama told him, 'There will be more.'" And so it will be on SUSRIS too.
Saudi hails Obama's stance towards Arab world - AFP/GoogleNews
"..Saudi Arabia, one of Washington's top allies in the Middle East, on Tuesday hailed new US President Barack Obama's desire to bolster ties with the Arab world. Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal praised Obama for "his desire to have a strong and fruitful relationship with the Arab world" and said his stance was a "positive development" in Washington's policy towards the Middle East.."
[Link
for more]
Obama Mideast Watch: The al-Arabiya Interview - Time
"President Obama is continuing what has become a dizzying reach-out to the Muslim world and the Middle East. Having used his inaugural speech to promise Muslims a �new way forward, based on mutual interest and mutual respect,� he gave his first television interview as president�on only his sixth full day in office�to an Arab channel, the Saudi-backed, Dubai-based al-Arabiya. The interview follows the appointment of an Arab-American, former Sen. George Mitchell, as the Obama administration's Middle East envoy. It's important for Americans as well as the people of the Middle East to understand how very significant Obama's early moves are. He's now made it clear that he has every intention of taking a new approach to the region.."
[Link
for more]
Obama to Arabs: "what you'll see is someone who is listening" - Marc Lynch - Foreign Policy
"..It's impossible to exaggerate the symbolic importance of Barack Obama choosing an Arabic satellite television station for his first formal interview as President -- and of taking that opportunity to talk frankly about a new relationship with the Muslim world based on mutual respect and emphasizing listening rather than dictating. His interview promises a genuinely fresh start in the way the United States interacts with the Arab world and a new dedication to public diplomacy.. ..In his conversation with the estimable Hisham Milhem (a good choice for an interlocutor), Obama reached out directly to the Arab public via the Saudi TV station al-Arabiya (which shrewdly posted the transcript immediately). It signals the importance of the Middle East to the new President, his commitment to engaging on Arab-Israeli peace, his genuinely fresh thinking and new start with the Muslim world, and his recognition of the importance of genuine public diplomacy.."
[Link
for more]
Obama, breaking with the past - Ali Younes - Al-Arabiya
"..For the Arab World, it looks like that President Barack Obama is determined to change our world that is the world as created by his predecessor George W. Bush. The relationship between the Middle East and America, in the past eight years has been based on mutual suspicion and mutual disrespect. That said, however, we must realize that the Arab World is actually two worlds. One in which the people live in, that is a world overwhelmingly poor, under-educated, under-served lacks the freedom of choice and the basic civil liberties denying them, as a result, their dignity as human beings. The Other Arab world, is the ever Happy World of rulers who, given the conditions of their citizens, seem to be living on Mars and clueless. President Obama, in his first ever interview with any network, including American stalwarts such as CNN and Fox News was with Arabic language news channel Al Arabiya. In it Obama told us that he understands the Muslim world, he has family members who are Muslims, and he had lived in the Muslim world, in Indonesia, before. This from an American perspective is a revolutionary evolution in American foreign policy considering George Bush�s utter contempt and neglect toward the Middle East, and the language he often used was for the most part contemptuous. Obama�s remarks during his inaugural address in which he addressed the Muslim World directly by placing emphasis on promoting a different kind of America, America that wants a relationship of mutual respect and mutual interests. Obama�s first ever phone call as a president to a foreign leader was to Mahmoud Abbas the Palestinian Authority president and his first ever interview was to an Arabic network. This shows the intensity and seriousness of how Obama�s Middle East policy will look like.
[Link
for more]
Positive approach says Saud - Saudi Gazette
"..Foreign Minister Prince Saudi Al-Faisal on Tuesday said Saudi Arabia welcomed US President Barack Obama�s �positive approach� in his interview with Al-Arabiya news channel, in which he showed �his serious desire to build strong and constructive relations with the Islamic world and his keenness to solve the crises of the region,� the Saudi Press Agency reported. �We believe the problem of the Middle East continues to be the core of the crises in the region and one of the reasons of instability,� Prince Saud said.."
[Link
for more]
Obama Extends Hand To Arabs and Muslims - He Says U.S. Has 'Not Been Perfect,' Gets a Generally Positive Response - Washington Post - Jan 28, 2009
"..President Obama has launched a determined effort to change the tone, if not yet the substance, of U.S. relations with the Arab and Muslim worlds, saying he is eager to listen to their concerns and acknowledging that Americans "have not been perfect" in their dealings with them. The early appointments of presidential emissaries to the Middle East and to Afghanistan and Pakistan; the announced closure of the military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba; the choice of Arab satellite network al-Arabiya for the first formal interview of his presidency; first-week National Security Council meetings on Iraq and Afghanistan; and telephone calls to regional leaders on his first full day in office were reflections both of the seriousness of the issues and a message to governments and the public, administration officials said.."
[Link
for more]
US is not enemy of Muslims: Obama - Barbara Ferguson | Arab News - Jan 28, 2009
"President Barack Obama chose an Arabic satellite TV network for his first formal television interview yesterday as president, part of his drive to repair relations with the Muslim world. �I have Muslim members of my family,� he said in an interview with Al-Arabiya, the Dubai-based Arab television channel. �I have lived in Muslim countries.� Although his Muslim background has been a subject he carefully avoided during his campaign (a pragmatic response to the attacks during his campaign that sought to exploit anti-Muslim sentiments), the president insisted �that the Americans are not your enemy.�.."
[Link
for more]
Obama tells Arabic network US is 'not your enemy' - AP - Jan 28, 2009
"..The president expressed an intention to engage the Middle East immediately and his new envoy to the region, former Sen. George J. Mitchell, was expected to arrived in Egypt on Tuesday for a visit that will also take him to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.. ..The new president said he felt it was important to "get engaged right away" in the Middle East and had directed Mitchell to talk to "all the major parties involved." His administration would craft an approach after that, he said in the interview.. .."What I told him is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating," Obama told the interviewer.."
[Link
for more]
How Al-Arabiya Got the Obama Interview
"..How did a journalist for an Arabic-language broadcaster score the first television interview granted by President Barack Obama? Well, at first, Hisham Melhem, the Washington Bureau Chief for al-Arabiya, a Saudi-backed channel headquartered in Dubai, thought he was getting something else. Not that he hadn't tried � like everyone else in Washington � to snag the historic first. When Melhem's bosses in Dubai got a feeler from the White House on Sunday, it seemed that al-Arabiya was about to get an exclusive interview not with Obama but with new Middle East envoy George Mitchell. The previous Friday, Melhem began pressing for an interview with Mitchell after learning from his sources that the former U.S. senator and Nothern Ireland peace negotiator was heading to the Middle East almost immediately. The White House told al-Arabiya execs to be ready for a major interview on Monday.."
[Link
for more]
On Arab TV, Obama makes overture to Muslims - IHT - Jan 27, 2008
"..In his first extensive interview since taking office, President Barack Obama has struck a conciliatory tone toward the Islamic world, saying he wanted to persuade Muslims that "the Americans are not your enemy." He spoke a day after sending a special envoy on a Middle East tour in pursuit of what Obama called "progress that is concrete." The president told an interviewer from the Al Arabiya network, based in Dubai, that "the moment is ripe for both sides" to negotiate in the Middle East.. ..Obama's remarks marked at least a stylistic shift from the Bush administration, which critics say engaged too slowly on Middle East peace; the new president offered a dialogue with Iran and what he depicted as a new readiness to listen rather than dictate. On his first full day in office he had taken time to phone several Middle Eastern leaders.."
[Link
for more]
Obama uses Arab TV to reach Muslims - Washington Times - Jan 28, 2009
"..President Obama's choice of an Arab news channel for his first sit-down television interview since taking office jolted the Muslim world Tuesday, with Saudi Arabia voicing approval and Iran offering a tepid wait-and-see assessment.. ..Mr. Obama's decision to give his first TV interview to the satellite news channel Al Arabiya was intended as an olive branch to the Middle East and to Muslims, the White House said. "The president believed that this was an opportunity to show the world that he would be personally involved and engaged in seeking long-lasting peace in the Middle East," said White House press secretary Robert Gibbs. A prominent Palestinian lawmaker, Hanan Ashrawi, said of the interview: "People are starting to feel this isn't just lip service." .."
[Link
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Obama launches effort to 'communicate' in Mideast - LA Times
"..Fronting charm on the airways and deploying diplomacy away from the camera's flash, the Obama administration has landed in the Middle East. Hours after an interview with President Obama was broadcast across the Arab world by satellite channel Al Arabiya, special U.S. envoy George J. Mitchell arrived in Cairo on Tuesday to discuss the fate of the Gaza Strip. It was a two-track choreography designed to inspire confidence among the region's political leaders and win over an Arab street long distrustful of Washington. "My job is to communicate the fact that the United States has a stake in the well-being of the Muslim world, that the language we use has to be a language of respect. I have Muslim members of my family. I have lived in Muslim countries," the president told Al Arabiya. "My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy. We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect." That is refreshing talk here, but the Middle East, where so many U.S. presidents have watched good intentions vanish in bloodshed, extremism and bickering over maps and borders, demands more than conciliatory remarks and eloquent assurances.."
[Link
for more]
Iranian leader demands US apology - BBC - Jan 28, 2009
"..Iran's president has responded to an overture by the new US president by demanding an apology for past US "crimes" committed against Iran. The US "stood against the Iranian people in the past 60 years," Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said during an address in the western region of Khermenshah. "Those who speak of change must apologise to the Iranian people and try to repair their past crimes," he said. President Obama has offered to extend a hand if Iran "unclenched its fist".
[Link
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