Lebanon, Syria, Iran and Israeli-Palestinian Peace are Interrelated
U.S. President Barack Obama has said Israel and the Palestinians should resume negotiations, and believed Lebanon and Syria should be part of peace efforts in the region.
"It is impossible for us to think only in terms of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and not think in terms of what”s happening with Syria or Iran or Lebanon or Afghanistan and Pakistan," Obama told the Dubai-based al-Arabiya TV network on Monday. "These things are interrelated."
"Israel is a strong ally of the United States. They will not stop being a strong ally of the United States. And I will continue to believe that Israel”s security is paramount. But I also believe that there are Israelis who recognize that it is important to achieve peace," Obama stressed.
The new U.S. president said he had begun to fulfill his campaign promises by naming former U.S. Sen. George Mitchell as Mideast peace envoy.
"Sending George Mitchell to the Middle East is fulfilling my campaign promise that we”re not going to wait until the end of my administration to deal with Palestinian and Israeli peace. We”re going to start now," Obama said.
He had earlier met Mitchell at the White House along with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, before sending him off on a mission to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, London and Paris.
Obama, in his first interview with Arab television since becoming U.S. president, said his administration would adopt a more comprehensive approach in its relations with the Muslim world.
"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," Obama said.
He praised Saudi King Abdullah for the peace initiative he put forward.
"I might not agree with every aspect of the proposal, but it took great courage to put forward something that is as significant as that," Obama, who took office last Tuesday, said. "I think that there are ideas across the region of how we might pursue peace."
He told the Muslim world that "Americans are not your enemy" and renewed his pledge to travel to make an address in the capital of a major Muslim nation.
"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," Obama said in the interview with al-Arabiya.
During the 2008 election campaign, Obama vowed to improve U.S. ties with the Muslim world and said he would travel to a major Islamic forum abroad to send that message.
"We”re going to follow through on our commitment for me to address the Muslim world from a Muslim capital," Obama told his interviewer.
"We are going to follow through on many of my commitments to do a more effective job of reaching out, listening as well as speaking to the Muslim world," he said.
He did not give a time, or a venue for his visit to a major Muslim capital.