Obama reaches out to Muslims, Middle East

• Article
• Comments ()
• Click-2-Listen
• Videos

By Dale Gavlack, THE WASHINGTON TIMES

"Maybe there will be a breakthrough with Iran," he said, "but to what degree do you think Israel will permit an opening with the Islamic Republic?"

At the Husn Palestinian refugee camp in northern Jordan, pessimism was also the rule.

"Yes, the president has changed, but U.S. policy in the Mideast will remain the same," said camp resident Salim Shuifat, following a fiery rally in support of Gaza on Tuesday in which hundreds burned Israeli flags to protest the deaths of more than 1,200 Palestinians.

The U.S. "has blindly supported Israel and has permitted massive death and destruction on helpless victims in Gaza," he said.

In Israel, media outlets pushed aside coverage of the fragile cease-fire with Hamas to follow the U.S. inauguration.

Political analysts debated what the Obama Mideast policy would be and said it was not coincidence that Israel ended the Gaza offensive two days before Mr. Obama took office.

Avi Bar, 30, a political consultant, gathered with Israeli and American friends in a downtown Tel Aviv apartment to watch the inauguration over cupcakes, hotdogs and apple pie.

"We sat here, a bunch of 10 people and we thought, 'Good for America.' You know how on the West Wing the president is well spoken and well read? That's Obama. We feel America is going to be a good leader. And if America is strong, it's good for us." Asked if he was worried that Mr. Obama would keep his campaign promise and open a dialogue with Iran, Mr. Bar said, "It's good trying to talk to your enemies. He will talk first, and when the time comes to take action, he'll take it."

In Tehran, for the first time since the 1979 Islamic revolution, Iranian state-run TV broadcast a U.S. presidential inauguration and interviewed Iranians after the Obama speech.

A middle-aged man wearing a simple jacket said he was not surprised that Mr. Obama had not specifically mentioned the Israeli offensive against Gaza.