Last Saturday President Obama concluded his strategically important trip to the Middle East with a pleasant walk through the historic city of Petra. Although the president obviously enjoyed the ancient vistas, his trip was far from a vacation, as he travelled throughout the precarious region to take careful aim at a number of his foreign policy goals, most notably those involving Israel and Syria. While in these rival countries he spent a great deal of time conversing with the national leaders as well as delivering speeches directed at the populace. The trip, taken as a whole, is an apparent success. The president made the decision to accelerate a number of intensely important agenda items that he has appeared to be avoiding. Not only did he address some of the hot issues in the region, most notably the friction between Israel and Syria, but he reinitiated the process of one day possibly achieving peace in the region.
According to CNN, President Obama’s speech was focused towards the youth of the Jewish state. During this speech the president “urged” the Israeli youth to “pressure their leaders to seek peace with Palestinians.” In light of the recent turmoil between the Israelis and the Syrians/Palestinians, the president’s suggestion may seem extremely unlikely but it was still the right move by our Commander in Chief. It accomplishes a multitude of tasks: 1) It shows the international community that the U.S. is being proactive in addressing the violence between two international groups. 2) It focuses on the youth, where an impression and potential progress might be more likely and 3) it shows the Palestinian faction that America is not solely “out to get them.” Following the president’s speech, CNN reported enormous applause from the young Israeli crowd. These cheers reveal that although the elders of Israel may be dead set in their views towards the Palestinian population, the youth may be more forgiving and may one day be able to develop a more favorable relationship with them.
Aside from the foregoing speech and other positive accomplishments, the president may have made a serious misstep. According to CNN, the president stated that the Palestinians deserve “a future of hope” and a “state of their own.” Of course, the Palestinians, as well as the Israelis deserve peace. An end to this bloodshed is in both nation’s best interests, but stating that the Palestinians deserve their own national territory is both controversial and inflammatory. The definition of a “nation state” under international law requires three elements, and the most vital of those three is definable territory or land. In a perfect world, with unlimited land, the Palestinians would have the opportunity to have their own national territory. However, we do not live in a perfect world, and land is not without limit, especially in the ancient Middle East. In order to create a new “Palestinian-only” state, land would have to be procured from other states. Unfortunately, the tiny state of Israel, the only non-Arab state in the region is always the most likely state candidate to give up its precious acreage to the dream of a true Palestine. Perhaps, Syria might serve as the donor state for this purpose, and if so, the dream has a true future. In any case, this might not have been the best issue for our president to highlight. Only time will tell; I certainly hope he is right and I am wrong.
The troubles existing in this particular region of the world will not end overnight, or even over the span of years. As the past millennia has indicated, this will be an issue solved one way or another over generations–this is why Obama’s speech to the Israeli youth was such a vital move. If we are able to inspire the youth of the Middle East to seek peace, almost everything and almost anything is within their reach. I recently got into an argument with a man who asserted that in order to achieve a great thing it is “okay” to do a questionable thing. I rebutted him by asserting that great things can be achieved cleanly without ever straying from the morale path. I believe that the president is attempting to do this and this is why he has made the conversation public to the youth.
Richard J Whitaker can be reached at richard.whitaker@spartans.ut.edu