The Doha Debate April 26 2010
TIM SEBASTIAN
Ladies and gentlemen, a very good evening to you and welcome to the latest in our series of Doha debates, coming to you from the Gulf State of Qatar and sponsored by The Qatar Foundation. We've seen decades of American engagement in the Middle East, and when Barack Obama took over The White House a surge of hope, that this youthful, dynamic new leader, might succeed where his predecessors had failed. Last June, with the world still enthralled by him, he told an audience in Cairo that Israel's settlements had to stop, and that the situation for Palestinians was intolerable. Since then Israel has rejected his call, the building work in the settlements goes on and it's the talking that's come to a halt. So, did Mr. Obama dangerously overestimate his powers of persuasion? Or has he had too many other crises, both foreign and domestic, that have blunted his focus on the Middle East? Our motion tonight examines the state of his authority: ‘This house believes that Barack Obama is too weak to make peace in the Middle East'. Your decision, as ever, but before you make it we have an influential panel who will speak on the issue from very different standpoints. Speaking for the motion, Ahmad Moussalli, he's professor at the Department of Political Studies and Public Administration at the American University of Beirut. He specialises in contemporary Islamic movements, political Islam and East-West relations. Also for the motion, Philip Weiss, an investigative reporter who has worked for many years in mainstream US journalism, he's also founder of the website MondoWeiss, that focuses on Israel, Palestine and on Jewish identity issues. Against the motion, Roger Cohen, best known as a columnist for The New York Times and an author. He joined the paper 20 years ago, and since then has been both a correspondent and foreign editor. And with him Sami Abu Roza, a former political advisor in the office of the Palestinian President. He was involved in presenting the Palestinian case against the West Bank barrier to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Ladies and gentlemen, our panel. So now let me first call on Ahmad Moussalli to speak for the motion.
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