When President Obama delivered his precedent-breaking, prejudice-shattering appeal for peace and partnership to a billion and a half Muslims from Egypt, observers immediately looked East, to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan, where the issues are critical to Western interests but the outcome is uncertain in the face of harsh realities. Post-election news from Iran makes these realities all too clear.
Whether realist or idealist, pressure is certainly on US policymakers to translate the President’s eloquent words on shared values into substantive action on shared goals. But the best opportunity for his remarkable Cairo address to make, and not just become, history, may be in the other direction— by looking West to North Africa. There, resolving the forgotten 30-year dispute over Western Sahara could set the stage for a breakthrough in regional cooperation that builds a model for positive change and momentum for peace across the Muslim world.
The Obama Administration’s challenges in repairing relations with Muslim nations are daunting. But its opportunities are also great, and it has assembled an impressive foreign policy team up to the task: former chairman of the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee, Joe Biden; former First Lady, Senator, and global envoy, Hillary Clinton; former Senate Majority Leader and Ireland peace negotiator, George Mitchell; and, former presidential advisor, UN Ambassador, and Dayton peace envoy, Richard Holbrooke, among others.
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