AS ISRAEL'S military assault on Gaza enters its 11th day, US president-elect Barack Obama is the subject of growing criticism from Arabs disappointed that he waited until yesterday to make his first cautious remarks on the crisis.Asked whether events in Gaza were distracting him, Mr Obama said: "Obviously, international affairs are of deep concern." He added that he was being briefed daily on the situation.
Mr Obama was holidaying in Hawaii when Israeli forces began their bombardment of Gaza.
Last week, Al-Jazeera, the hugely popular and influential Arabic language satellite TV channel, broadcast footage of Mr Obama wearing shorts and playing golf in Hawaii alongside graphic scenes of bloodshed and chaos in Gaza.
The report criticised what it called "the deafening silence from the Obama team". Several Arab commentators and bloggers have made the same point.
Some believe Mr Obama is in danger of losing the goodwill and enthusiasm his election victory prompted in the Middle East and wider Muslim world, arguing that his refusal to speak out on Gaza - where more than 500 people have died since Israel began its assault - suggested indifference to the suffering of Palestinians or complicity with Israel.
"Ordinary people were happy with Obama's election because they thought he would be different," says Diaa Rashwan, an analyst at the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. "But his silence, the fact he has not even commented on the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza, gives the impression that he is with Israel alone. It leaves many disillusioned that Obama's message of change does not seem to apply to the Middle East."
Yesterday Mr Obama said he would adhere to the principle of "one president at a time" in relation to foreign policy issues. "There are delicate negotiations taking place right now and we cant have two voices coming out of the United States when you have so much at stake," he added.
But several commentators in the Middle East have noted that Mr Obama was swift to issue a statement condemning the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai and he has given several press conferences to outline his views on the global economic crisis. They say his silence on the plight of Palestinian civilians caught up in the violence is particularly damning.
"People are disappointed and they cannot accept any excuse," says Oraib Al Rantawi, director of the Al-Quds Centre for Political Studies in Amman, Jordan.
"The optimism about this man, his background and his talk of reaching out to the rest of the world, has evaporated. There is real anger here over what is happening in Gaza and people will not forget Obama's silence."
Osama Hamdan, the Hamas representative in Lebanon, told a US newspaper at the weekend however that he understood Mr Obama's predicament in that anything the president-elect might say now would likely offend or inflame one side or the other.
"If he talks against the Palestinians he will lose any chance before he has even started," Mr Hamdan said, "and if he talks against the Israelis, this will not help him."