It is interesting to note the reaction to Barack Obama's election victory in the Middle East. Al Jazeera, the Arabic news service, reported that Iran and Syria were hopeful that the Obama Administration would no longer favor Israel over the Palestinians.
Al Jazeera also reported that Tzipi Livni, Israel's foreign minister and leader of the ruling Kadima party, said that "the people of Israel felt he [Obama] is a man who is deeply committed to Israel's security and peace." Livni flat out lied because all the polls have shown that the people of Israel did not trust Obama and were overwhelmingly in favor of John McCain.
All the reported rhetoric by the Israeli foreign ministry about a "bright future" for Israeli-US relations is purely wishful thinking.
Here is Al Jazeera's 11-5-08 report on the Palestinian and Israeli reactions to Obama's victory:
PALESTINIAN TERRITORIES
Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, congratulated Obama and urged him to speed up efforts to reach an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement.
"President Abbas congratulates US president-elect Barack Obama in his name and in the name of the Palestinian people and hopes he will speed up efforts to achieve peace, particularly since a resolution of the Palestinian problem and the Israeli-Arab conflict is key to world peace," Nabil Abu Rudeina, Abbas's spokesman, said.
"President Abbas hopes the new administration will continue to make the peace efforts one of its top priorities."
Meanwhile, Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, urged Obama to learn from the "mistakes" of previous US administrations in dealing with the Muslim and Arab worlds.
"He must learn from the mistakes of the previous administrations, including that of Bush which has destroyed Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon and Palestine," said Fawzi Barhum, a Hamas spokesman.
"He must improve US ties with the rest of the world rather than wave the big American stick.
"We want him to support the Palestinian cause or at least not to be biased towards the Israeli occupation. We have no problem establishing normal relations with the United States to explain our just cause."
Ahmed Youssef, a Hamas senior political member, hailed the vote as historic.
"We [Hamas] do believe that if America's political equilibrium is to be restored, this political election should be the turning point.
We hope that Obama will address the Palestinian issue in a fair and honest way. The Palestinian question is the mother of all issues in the region – it concerns 1.5 billion Muslims all over the world.
"During the political campaign in the US, people used a lot of rhetoric … Obama said a lot of things to please the Jewish community, looking for their votes and money. We understand that. But all that rhetoric will be changed because looking at the list of Obama's advisers, I believe that they have a better understanding of the conflict in the region."
ISRAEL
Israeli-US relations face "a bright future", Ygal Palmor, a spokesman for Israel's foreign ministry, said in reaction to Obama's election to the White House.
"Israelis congratulate the two great friends of Israel, John McCain for his great campaign, Barack Obama for his historic victory.
"We are certain that Israeli-American friendship faces a bright future."
Tzipi Livni, leader of the ruling Kadima party, recalled Obama's visit to Israel in July and said that "the people of Israel felt he [Obama] is a man who is deeply committed to Israel's security and peace".
"Israel hopes to pursue close strategic cooperation with the new administration and the new US president, and hopes to further tighten the unshakeable ties between our two countries," she said.
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