Obama in Cairo: Committed and Consistent

President Obama's speech in Cairo today laid out his administration's approach to the Middle East-commitment and consistency. The president's speech did not give the details of a grand plan for Middle East peace, but it did enumerate the issues that the administration is focusing on, including:
 
Violent Extremism

"It is my first duty as president to protect the American people," President Obama said. He went on to explain that while, "we do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan," America will continue to fight against Al Qaeda terrorists as well as other extremists in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, or anywhere else. The president went even further in his interview with Tom Friedman yesterday, "as somebody who ordered an additional 17,000 troops into Afghanistan . . . you would be hard pressed to suggest that what we are doing is not backed up by hard power."

Israelis, Palestinians, and the Arab World

But fighting terror alone will not eradicate extremism according to President Obama. After he unequivocally affirmed America's bond with Israel and rejected anti-Semitic and anti-Israel hate, he acknowledged Palestinian suffering from occupation and statelessness:

"The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable," he said. "America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own."

How to get there? Israel, the Palestinians, and the Arab states must each fulfill past commitments and work for two-states-Israel and Palestine-both recognized by the Arab states.

For now, the first necessary components to advance a two-state process are already in place-the Roadmap and the Arab Peace Initiative.

President Obama endorsed the Bush administration's Roadmap for Middle East peace and said that Palestinians must "abandon violence" and "focus on what they can build." This statement not only hearkens back to Obama's inaugural speech ("know that your people will judge you on what you can build, not what you destroy"), but also gives a silent nod both to Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's work on West Bank economic development and governance, as well as to Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's offer to take steps that allow Palestinian government institutions and commerce to function more freely.

But if Obama acknowledged Netanyahu's efforts in the West Bank, he also called on him to publicly accept the two-state solution: "Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's."

Acknowledging the rights of the other is not enough, however. "Israel must also live up to its obligations," the president said and explained that doing this entails stopping settlements, whose legitimacy "the United States does not accept," easing restrictions in the West Bank, and ending the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which "does not serve Israel's security."

The Arab states will also have to be active partners. President Obama's message to them could be summed up as a call to "step up." "The Arab states must recognize that the Arab Peace Initiative was an important beginning, but not the end of their responsibilities." He called on Arab states to stop using the Palestinian cause to "distract the peoples of Arab nations from their own problems" and instead to "help the Palestinians develop the institutions that will sustain their state" (i.e., give the funds they previously pledged to the Palestinian Authority).

Iran     

President Obama reiterated his hope to put an end to American-Iranian tensions when he said, "we are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect." However, he also made it clear that Iran's pursuit of nuclear weapons is unacceptable. "When it comes to nuclear weapons, we have reached a decisive point. . . . It is about preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that could lead this region and the world down a dangerous path."

President Obama even addressed-with great nuance-the question of Israel's nuclear capability. "I understand those who protest that some countries have weapons that others do not. No single nation should pick up and choose which nations hold nuclear weapons. That is why I strongly reaffirmed America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons. . . . And any nation-including Iran-should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty."

The American Commitment

Again, President Obama made clear that his administration has one standard for the Middle East and the world, and pledged that his government would be committed to and consistent in the values it espouses. "We have a responsibility to join together on behalf of the world we seek-a world where extremists no longer threaten our people, and American troops have come home; a world where Israelis and Palestinians are each secure in a state of their own, and nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes. . . . Those are mutual interests. That is the world we seek. But we can only achieve it together."

What's to be done to get there? The initial blueprints are in place. Now it's time for the Middle Eastern parties to move. And, after that, expect the president to follow up and follow through.