Will Obama's Speech From Cairo Make Any Difference to The Muslims Of The World? Are Muslims and Arabs Ready To Trust America Yet? If Not? Why Not?

Without a doubt this was the most impressive speech by a US President in decades addressing Arabs and Muslims. However, bearing in mind that the speech is to serve US strategic interests with the objective of aligning 1.5 billion Muslims around the world to stand by the side of America in its fight against Al-Qaida and Islamic extremism, this is most definitely a good start, but only a start.

A lot remains to be proven and done for Muslims to trust and believe in the sincerity of a  US President or a US Administration if history taught them anything at all. I believe Obama "the man" is sincere. But is the US Administration sincere? Or is this a new way to deal with Muslims who are more often thinking with their passions rather than with their intellect.

So, will Obama be able to deliver on his commitments and his wonderful words?

Muslims and Arabs have been hearing “words” for 60 years. What they need to see is tangible US and Israeli changes supported by positive actions. Expecting trust and more concessions from Arabs and Muslims before anything happens is not the way forward. Netanyahu can't even say the words “two state solution".

President Obama also neglected to quote the Quraan where it says Muslims have the right to fight oppression and occupation of their lands. Arabs and Muslims have not forgotten that.

The French were called champions and freedom fighters for fighting against their Nazi German occupiers during WWII, and with whatever means available to them the world acknowledged. So did America against its colonial British masters two centuries ago, also, by any means available. Why are the occupied and oppressed Palestinians being seen and treated differently?

I believe that the death of any innocent child is a tragedy, regardless whether Jewish, Arab or Muslim. And while I go on the record stating that I don’t support the killing of innocent Israeli women and children, President Obama should also denounce the massacres of more than a thousand Palestinian woman and children in Gaza recently by the Israeli forces with American weapons during the last days of President Bush administration. Such actions also cannot be defended no matter what the excuses. Obama remained silent during the attacks. Muslims and Arabs did not forget that.

And did the President forget that the nuclear arms race in the Middle East already started many years ago caused when Israel obtained them with the help of the US. Did he forget that Israel refuses to be a signatory to the Nuclear Non Proliferation Treaty? Why does he not call for a nuclear free Zone Middle East, en route to a World without all Nuclear Weapons.

Also, what President Obama needed to explain in his speech is how he will reconcile the two opposing positions that are the real road blocks to peace.

On the one hand, there is the indisputable legitimate human right of Palestinians. Obama acknowledged this as well as their suffering for decades in his speech. But he did not acknowledge that to resist occupation and oppression against an occupiers is recognized the world over as a legitimate human right. It is also a religious duty of a Muslim to resist oppression and occupation.

On the other hand, Israel continues not to recognize that Palestinians are humans with human rights, and that they are people under its occupation. It labels any actions of resistance, a legitimate human right against occupation, be it military or civilian uprising, as terrorism with usual US unshakable support.

Israel responds to such claims that they withdrew from Gaza hence Gaza is not under occupation. As if the Palestinians in Gaza are free by any stretch of the imagination. Israel has locked them up in a virtual prison in the most inhumane way, and the world knows it. It controls all passages and all supplies to 1.5 million Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Israel then uses any resistance as a pretext for why Palestinians cannot be trusted followed by more Israeli military action or blockade to punish the occupied Palestinians into more pain, suffering, and submission, all in the name of self defense.

Muslims see this as a clear Israeli-US plan to make the Palestinians surrender any resistance to force them to agree to peace terms dictated by their over powering occupier helped and supported by the US. This has been going on for decades and continued despite the Oslo Peace Accord of the 90s.

To be positive, the speech is unique in many ways. I support his call for a stop to all acts of violence and terrorism. Time for the bloodshed to stop once and for all. But this should includes the bombing of Israeli civilian targets by Hamas as well as the Israeli government ceasing the oppression of all occupied Palestinians especially the more than 1.5 million Palestinians on the Gaza strip in a the most heavily populated piece of a few square miles on earth, both must stop immediately not Palestinian resistance alone.

Are these people who have been occupied for 60 years and who are without hope or choice expected to abandon their legitimate human right and the teaching of their religion to resist oppression and the occupation of their land, rights that France and America both invoked in their quest for freedom, just because of a great sounding speech? Only the day before Obama’s speech an Israeli minister blatantly challenged Obama that Israel will not stop building settlements on Palestinian occupied land in a clear rebuke and challenge to President Obama's call for all these settlement to stop immediately.

Palestinians have suffered for too long and have been lied to by too many, endured the indignity of occupation, destitution, and living in make shift shelters in refugee camps with tin roofs generation after generation need to see a lot more before they can trust. They have to be given more than just words to go on.

The truth is that all indicators show, as I believed, that the majority of Arabs and Muslims do like Obama as a man. They feel he is sincere, but they also believe he will not be able to pressure Israel or be able to stand up to the pressure by Israel and its lobby back in America.

This is Obama’s real challenge and his real opportunity to prove that “yes, he can”. If he can show he can make Israel change its thinking that Palestinians are also humans and deserve the same dignity and freedom as any Israeli than real long lasting peace has a chance at succeeding.