Subscribe to Print Edition | Thu., July 09, 2009 Tamuz 17, 5769 | | Israel Time: 11:31 (EST+7)
Haaretz israel news English
web haaretz.com
Haaretz Toolbar
Diplomacy
Defense Jewish World Opinion National
Print Edition
Car Rental
Books Haaretz Magazine Business Real Estate Focus U.S.A. Travel Week's End Anglo File
Comments:  25
Share |
Last update - 00:00 04/06/2009
Obama in Riyadh: Saudi Arabia, U.S. can make progress together
By The Associated Press
Tags: Israel news, Obama 

U.S. President Barack Obama began his latest bid to repair ties with the Muslim world on Wednesday by seeking the counsel of King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, home to Islam's two holiest sites in Mecca and Medina.

"The United States and Saudi Arabia have a long history of friendship. We have a strategic relationship," Obama said as he visited the monarch's desert horse farm.

The U.S. president called Abdullah wise and gracious, adding: "I am confident that working together, the United States and Saudi Arabia can make progress on a whole host of issues of mutual interest."
Advertisement

In turn, Abdullah expressed his best wishes to the "friendly American people who are represented by a distinguished man who deserves to be in this position."

Earlier, the king greeted Obama at Riyadh's main airport with a ceremony when the new U.S. president arrived after an overnight flight from Washington. A band played each country's national anthem, the Saudi national guard was on hand and there was a 21-gun salute.

Obama and Abdullah then sat together in gilded chairs, sipped cardamom-flavored Arabic coffee from small cups and chatted briefly in public before retreating to hold private talks on a range of issues.

Saudi Arabia is a stopover en route to Cairo, where Obama is set to deliver a speech that he's been promising since last year's election campaign - aiming to set a new tone in America's often-strained dealings with the world's 1.5 billion Muslims.

With Abdullah alongside him, Obama told reporters: "I thought it was very important to come to the place where Islam began and to seek his majesty's counsel and to discuss with him many of the issues that we confront here in the Middle East."

In a pre-trip interview with the BBC, Obama set the tone for his swing through the Middle East, saying: What we want to do is open a dialogue.

"You know, there are misapprehensions about the West, on the part of the Muslim world. And, obviously, there are some big misapprehensions about the Muslim world when it comes to those of us in the West," Obama said.

Many of those Muslims still smolder over Iraq, Guantanamo and unflinching U.S. support of Israel, but they are hoping the son of a Kenyan Muslim who lived part of his childhood in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, can help chart a new course.

Aides cautioned that Obama was not out to break new policy ground in his Cairo speech, which follows visits to Turkey and Iraq in April and a series of outreach efforts including a Persian New Year video and a student town hall in Istanbul. And they said the president is not expecting quick results, even though the speech will be distributed as widely as possible.

"We don't expect that everything will change after one speech," White House spokesman Robert Gibbs said Tuesday. "I think it will take a sustained effort and that's what the president is in for."

Officials said Obama also wouldn't shy away from difficult topics, whether it's the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts, the goal of a Palestinian state or democracy and human rights. Obama has been criticized for setting the address in Egypt, where President Hosni Mubarak has jailed dissidents and clung to power for nearly three decades.

In Riyadh, the president was talking to Abdullah about a host of thorny problems, from Arab-Israeli peace efforts to Iran's nuclear program. The Saudis have voiced growing concern in private that an Iranian bomb could unleash a nuclear arms race in the region.

The surge in oil prices also was on the agenda. Crude topped $68 a barrel this week, sparking fears that a fresh jump in energy costs could snuff out early sparks of a recovery from a deep global slump.

Obama likely will be looking for help from Saudi Arabia on what to do with some 100 Yemeni detainees locked up in the Guantanamo Bay prison. Discussions over where to send the Yemeni detainees have complicated Obama's plan to close the prison. The U.S. has been hesitant to send them home because of Yemen's history of either releasing extremists or allowing them to escape from prison.

Instead, the Obama administration has been negotiating with Saudi Arabia and Yemen for months to send them to Saudi terrorist rehabilitation centers.

The president was to stay overnight at the king's farm outside Riyadh. Abdullah, who hosted then-President George W. Bush at the ranch in January of last year, keeps some 260 Arabian horses on its sprawling grounds in air-conditioned comfort.

In any effort to court Muslims, the Saudis will be key - not just for their oil wealth, but by virtue of the authority they wield at the center of Arab history and culture.

Obama's meeting with the 84-year-old Abdullah was his second in three months. The two saw each other at the G-20 summit in London, a meeting both sides called friendly and productive. Perhaps a bit too friendly: Critics accused Obama of bowing to the Saudi monarch during a photo-op. The White House maintained he was merely bending to shake hands with a shorter man.

Related articles:
  • WATCH: Did Barack Obama bow to Saudi King Abdullah?
  • ANALYSIS / Obama plans to teach Netanyahu tough love
  • GM as parable, and Israel's sudden choice: Obama or Kahane
    • PROMOTION: Mamilla Hotel
    Bookmark to del.icio.us  
     
    Attack in West Bank
    WATCH: Settler attacks Peace Now activists documenting settlement construction
    Blaming the Jews
    Formula One Chief reportedly accuses Jews of complicity in financial crisis
      1.   Obama´s Good Steps to bring peace to the ME 18:00  |  Antonio da Silva 03/06/09
      2.   Its the Muslim world that must repair ties with the western world 18:12  |  Joseph.E 03/06/09
      3.   Obama`s apology to the Arab world after 9/11 18:19  |  Nora Tel Aviv 03/06/09
      4.   The Saudi king is so "wise" he won`t let women drive! 18:53  |  IW 03/06/09
      5.   Obama is stating,he will be discussing a whole host 19:34  |  Sarah 03/06/09
      6.   joe e.? after yrs of colonization and misuse by the west 19:52  |  huh? 03/06/09
      7.   He should tell the king to abdicate 19:57  |  Heat Heath 03/06/09
      8.   What came first 20:09  |  Abdu 03/06/09
      9.   Rahm Emanuel 20:48  |  Mr 03/06/09
      10.   #6 Heat Heath - Don`t make me laugh! 20:52  |  Yonatan 03/06/09
      11.   THE USA AND NEAR EAST 20:58  |  Rigoletto 03/06/09
      12.   # 6 heat 20:59  |  Axel 03/06/09
      13.   Saudi Arabia and democracy to no 6 20:59  |  Rigoletto 03/06/09
      14.   Obama and the Saudis 21:37  |  Brod 03/06/09
      15.   i am worried about obama on israel, but impressed nonetheless! 21:38  |  michelle 03/06/09
      16.   What is the "polite" way, Michelle? 22:00  |  Linichka 03/06/09
      17.   #11 Axel 22:05  |  Heat Heath 03/06/09
      18.   when Bush had saudi king for dinner--where were the 22:34  |  Labhras 03/06/09
      19.   So they all bow down to oil... surprise! 22:45  |  Mike 03/06/09
      20.   borrow my prayer rug 01:30  |  Mark 04/06/09
      21.   Let`s Try His Way 01:40  |  Jane 04/06/09
      22.   Correction....the US is NOT a Muslim country 02:02  |  Lynn 04/06/09
      23.   Cardamom Coffee is the best thing Saudi Royalti does 02:19  |  Fortuna Benmayor 04/06/09
      24.   "Saudi Terrorist Rehabilitation Centers" 04:06  |  Jeff Northridge 04/06/09
      25.   Obama in Riyadh: Saudi Arabia, U.S. can make progress together 20:55  |  Yonni Bar Davi 07/07/09
    Special Offers
    Advertisement
    hotel Jerusalem
    David Citadel Hotel, come stay at the finest of Jerusalem hotels.
    ISRAEL ARMY SURPLUS STORE
    IDF insignia,Uniforms, Paladium Boots Watches, Israel Army T-shirts & Collectibles
    Dead Sea Skin Care
    Quality cosmetics from the Dead Sea. Coupon code HAARETZ for 12% off!
    Eldan Rent a Car
    Israel's leading car rental company offers you a 20% discount on online reservations
    Junkyard
    Junk a car - get free towing nationwide and a tax-deductible receipt
    More Headlines
    11:30 G8 gives Iran 2-month deadline for nuclear talks
    06:35 Netanyahu aide laments Israel's 'abominable' past failure on Iran
    03:56 EU official: No chance of settlements deal with Israel
    03:02 Netanyahu's 'weakness' is good for Israel
    11:16 Palestinian suspects: We killed cabbie because he was a Jew
    09:50 Israel rabbi proposes 'virtual' kosher supervision - via video cameras
    08:40 Palestinians reject Netanyahu's 'economic peace' plan
    22:16 WATCH: Daily news round-up from Israel
    04:21 Suspected Lebanese spy believed to have fled to Israel
    06:23 U.S. denies reaching deal with Israel on settlement building
    01:35 U.K. cracks down on neo-Nazis, fearing mega-terror attack
    06:08 Shalit deal stalled by freeze in Hamas-Fatah reconciliation talks
    06:13 MKs warn of 'terrible injustice' to children in roundup of migrants
    Home | TV | Print Edition | Diplomacy | Opinion | Arts & Leisure | Sports | Jewish World | Site rules |
    | Israel 2009 election results | Makom: Engaging on Israel
    | Search engine marketing
    Haaretz.com, the online edition of Haaretz Newspaper in Israel, offers real-time breaking news, opinions and analysis from Israel and the Middle East. Haaretz.com provides extensive and in-depth coverage of Israel, the Jewish World and the Middle East, including defense, diplomacy, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the peace process, Israeli politics, Jerusalem affairs, international relations, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, the Palestinian Authority, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, the Israeli business world and Jewish life in Israel and the Diaspora.
    © Copyright  Haaretz. All rights reserved