Jordan Islamists see Obama's speech in Turkey as milestone

Apr 7, 2009, 13:26 GMT

Amman - Jordanian Islamists Tuesday welcomed the overtures voiced in Turkey towards Muslims by US President Barack Obama, saying they were indicative of a promising 'new stage' in relations between Washington and the Arab and Islamic worlds.

'If President Obama really meant it, this could indicate that we are on the threshold of a new era that paves the ground for real dialogue, rather than conflict, among civilizations,' Zaki Bani Ershaid, Secretary General of the Islamic Action Front (IAF), told German Press Agency dpa.

'Obama has apparently conducted a deep revision of the US policies and drew benefits from the mistakes and sins committed by his predecessor, George Bush, who pushed America to an unprecedented isolation and won it hatred of the entire world by adopting policies based on arrogance of power,' he said.

Bani Ershaid was responding to Obama's declaration in Turkey that his country was not at war with Islam and that he supported the creation of a Palestinian state.

'Let me say this as clearly as I can: The United States is not, and will never be, at war with Islam,' Obama said in a speech to the Turkish parliament in the capital Ankara on Monday.

The IAF leader considered Obama's remarks as an 'indication that he has come to know the importance of the Islamic presence in the world'.

However, he said that the US president had to translate his words into 'tangible deeds on the ground'.

'First of all, Obama has to adopt an even-handed policy towards the Palestinian question by ending the complete US bias to the Zionist entity, a policy responsible for the worsening US image in the Arab world,' Bani Ershaid said.

'Israel, particularly after the takeover of an extremist government led by Benjamin Netanyahu, is increasingly proving that it is becoming a burden for the United States,' he added.

The IAF chief contended that any real change in the US policies in the region should involve the opening of dialogue between the US administration and Islamic movements, including the Palestinian Hamas group and Lebanon's Hezbollah party, saying 'they held the key for the region's future'.

'If the United States wants to open a new chapter with the Arab world, it has to quit the previous approach that considered certain groups, which wage a struggle for national liberation, as terrorist factions,' he said.