Arab governments, which hope for good relations with the new president, have generally avoided exerting pressure over the issue. But many ordinary Arabs are puzzled, and Arabic news outlets raise the issue regularly.
Hussein Ibish, of the Washington-based American Task Force on Palestine, said he took part in an interview with the Al Jazeera satellite TV news channel in which an anchor "basically berated me" about Obama's muted response.
Khaled Meshaal, Hamas' leader, pointed to the president-elect's silence Monday in declaring that the early stage of Obama's presidency "is not good."
And in a recording purportedly made by Al Qaeda's No. 2, Ayman Zawahiri faults Obama's inaction, saying the president-elect was falsely portrayed as "a rescuer who will change the policy of America."
In the United States, some of the liberals who strongly backed Obama's candidacy expressed unhappiness with his reticence. Blogs such as Huffington Post and Kabobfest carry regular calls for action. "Where is Obama, in the war for hearts and minds?" Philip Weiss of the Mondoweiss blog wrote Tuesday.
Even the Obama campaign's website, Change.gov, receives entreaties. "Are you going to remain silent on the inhumane war Israel is launching on the Palestinians?" one person, identifying himself as Omakan, wrote from New York.
Nevertheless, some leading Arab American activists expressed understanding for Obama's position.
Ziad Asali, president of the American Task Force on Palestine, said many in the Middle East have unrealistic expectations about what Obama can do. The current U.S. policy, with its emphasis on protecting Israeli security, "is more or less the policy of the American establishment" and is likely to continue, Asali said.
"People's expectations in the Middle East have been inflated, and can't possibly be met," he said.
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paul.richter@latimes.com
