Obama Tells Al Arabiya, 'Americans Are Not Your Enemy'

January 27, 2009 6:52 a.m. EST

Washington, D.C. (AHN) - After ordering Guantanamo closed and letting states set tougher auto emissions standards, President Barack Obama continued to move in marked contrast to his predecessor, telling Muslims in his first interview with Arabian TV, "Americans are not your enemy."

In an interview with Al Arabiya, the President said, "My job is to communicate to the American people that the Muslim world is filled with extraordinary people who simply want to live their lives and see their children live better lives. My job to the Muslim world is to communicate that the Americans are not your enemy."

"We sometimes make mistakes. We have not been perfect," he added. "But if you look at the track record, as you say, America was not born as a colonial power, and that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that."

The President also called for the resumption of peace negotiations between Israel and Palestine. "I think it is possible for us to see a Palestinian state - I'm not going to put a time frame on it - that is contiguous," he said.

He gave the interview the same day Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced the appointment of a new special envoy for Middle East Peace, George Mitchell, a former U.S. Senate Majority Leader who was special envoy to Northern Ireland during the Clinton administration.

Mitchell privately met with the President and Clinton at the White House on Monday after his appointment. Obama told reporters after the meeting, "We're fortunate to have such a talented and dedicated public servant who is willing to take on what everybody understands is gonna be a very tough job...The charge that Senator Mitchell has is to engage vigorously and consistently in order for us to achieve genuine progress. And when I say progress, not just photo-ops. But progress [that] is concretely felt by people on the ground."

The 75-year-old Mitchell shortly after left for the Middle East and Europe, according to a statement from the State Department. He will "meet with senior officials to discuss the peace process and the situation in Gaza" during the trip, which ends on Feb. 3.

During his interview with Al Arabiya on Monday, Obama also said, "The most important thing is for the United States to get engaged right away. And George Mitchell is somebody of enormous stature. He is one of the few people who have international experience brokering peace deals.

"Ultimately, we cannot tell either the Israelis or the Palestinians what's best for them," the President added. "It's going to be difficult, it's going to take time. I don't want to prejudge many of these issues, and I want to make sure that expectations are not raised so that we think that this is going to be resolved in a few months."