Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, August 2009, page 60

Waging Peace

Middle East Journalists Discuss “New Beginning”

	Dr. Nabil Al Khatib (r) greets journalists (Staff photo D. Hanley).

INTERNEWS Network hosted a June 2 luncheon at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, DC in honor of Dr. Nabil Al Khatib (r), executive editor of Al Arabiya. The international news station, based in Dubai Media City, is partly owned by the Saudi-controlled broadcaster Middle East Broadcasting Center (MBC). Press officers from Middle East embassies and reporters from a variety of publications discussed recent and upcoming political events at the informal gathering.

Al Khatib accurately predicted the message and impact of the president’s upcoming June 4 “New Beginning”speech in Cairo. “Don’t expect a specific peace offer,”he told the gathering. “This speech will be about reconciliation. Expect to hear a message that Americans are not at war with Islam.”

Al Arabiya’s Washington bureau chief, Hisham Melhem (the first network to interview President Barack Obama on Jan. 29, 2009), agreed. “He will formulate his new Arab/Israeli peace policy after he talks with major players in the area,” Melhem predicted. On this trip the president will “line up support to protect his flank.” Obama won’t use messianic language like his predecessor, Melhem continued. “He won’t use provocative language or say ‘war on terrorism.’”

Al-Khatib went on to describe an Arab media “flourishing in all directions,” with 600 satellite stations. He also described the challenges Middle East news channels face in attracting trained professionals as well as funding, because advertisers still prefer placing ads on entertainment programs or in newspapers.

—Delinda C. Hanley