Congressional hearings on relations with the Muslim World
March 8, 2010, 10:00 am PST
On March 4, 2010, both the US Senate and House of Representatives held hearings addressing America’s deteriorating image in Muslim countries and the challenge of gaining the level of influence it once held in Middle Eastern politics.
The Senate hearings, titled “Middle East: Ground Truths, Challenges Ahead” specifically addressed the Palestinian-Israeli peace process. Senator John Kerry, Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, provided opening remarks, and testimonies were delivered by former ambassadors to Israel and heads of Washington-DC think tanks. The comments underscored Israel’s increasing fragility in the area, and the United States’ difficulty in controlling the Muslims of the region via a Palestinian proxy due to the Palestinian Authority’s rapidly crumbling authority.
Kerry provided the Israeli point of view, noting that the “demographics in Israel simply demand a two-state solution if it is to remain a Jewish democracy.” He also voiced the deterioration of Israel’s international image following the Gaza massacre, the Goldstone Report, and the Dubai assassination fiasco: “Israelis are troubled by what they see as growing efforts to delegitimize Israel around the world,” he commiserated.
Kerry praised Mahmoud Abbas’s decision to reenter into indirect talks with Israel, and re-affirmed US desire to remain as the ultimate peace broker for the region. “I still believe the Clinton parameters and the Arab Peace Initiative provide the only realistic basis for lasting peace and security,” Kerry declared.
Robert Malley, Director of the International Crisis Group’s Middle East Program, provided some additional insights. He described the fragmentation of the Palestinian Authority and Fatah political leadership, noting that Mahmoud Abbas has lost legitimacy with his people. Malley also remarked on the Palestinian’s critical loss of trust in the US.
In addition, US hegemony in the region is threatened by the fact that an increasing number of “foreign countries—Arab, Western and other—are wielding greater influence” in the region. The “other” is meant to inflect Iran, which has supported Hamas and Hezbollah resistance movements.
Finally, Malley discussed Israel’s own internal weaknesses caused by the rise of extreme right wing and conservative groups that are challenging the state’s masks of liberalism and democracy. “Endemic government weakness and instability as well as deepening social splits have combined with the rise of increasingly powerful settler and religious constituencies,” he declared, leading to a “fragmentation of its political landscape.”
The Congressional briefing delivered in the House of Representatives was titled, “Restoring America’s Reputation in the World: Why it Matters.” Testimonies were given by Andrew Kohut, President of the Pew Research Center; Harvard University Professor Joseph Nye; and J. Michael Walker, a Vice President in the Center for Security Policy. The briefing addressed loss of US prestige and “soft power” influence in the Muslim world.
Kohut discussed the surveys that the Pew Center conducted about perceptions of the US worldwide, and noted that even as opinion in Europe seemed to revive after Barack Obama’s election, public opinion in the Muslim world registered no change after the low ebbs of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. He noted that Obama’s much publicized “Cairo Speech” had little effect on perceptions towards US policies, and that most countries (including non-Muslim ones) continued to believe that Washington had a harmful effect on their economies and security.
Muslims in particular refuse to believe in rhetoric because they are able to see US partisanship in the Israeli-Palestinian situation, and the fact that the War on Terror is essentially a War on Islam.
As Kohut noted: “there will be little real progress until: 1) Muslims come to see the US as being more fair-minded in its handling of Israeli-Palestinian situation—and most do not believe Obama will be fair-minded; 2) Muslims no longer view American anti-terrorism efforts as anti-Muslim; 3) No American forces are at war in Muslim countries. The US will have to manage its image problems in the Muslim world. A likely cure seems far off.”
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