(4 Jun 2009) For part 2 see – x06997a
US President Barack Obama called for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims" in Cairo on Thursday and said together, they could confront violent extremism across the globe and advance the timeless search for peace in the Middle East.
"This cycle of suspicion and discord must end," Obama said in a widely anticipated speech in one of the world’s largest Muslim countries.
Obama spoke at Cairo University after meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on the second stop of a four-nation trip to the Middle East and Europe.
"There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other, to learn from each other, to respect one another and to seek common ground," he urged, reminded those assembled of the quotation from the Quran: "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth."
The US President said that he shared that conviction and noted that while he is a Christian, his father had come from a Kenyan family that included generations of Muslims.
The speech was the centrepiece of his journey, and while its tone was conciliatory, the president also covered the Middle East peace conflict, relations with Iran, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and the violent struggle waged by al-Qaida.
Obama said Israelis and Palestinians must find a way to live side by side, peacefully as two independent states, arguing that this solution ultimately is the only way to end bloodshed and violence.
The president called for the establishment of an independent Palestinian alongside Israel _ a position Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has refused to support.
"America will not turn our backs on a legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity and a state of their own," he said.
"We are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect," he added.
In his speech, Obama called on Israel to halt all construction in West Bank settlements as a step toward reaching peace with the Palestinians.
"At the same time, Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements" on the West Bank and outskirts of Jerusalem, he said. "It is time for these settlements to stop," he said.
The US president also appealed to Iran’s leaders that "rather than remain trapped in the past", " "the question now is not what Iran is against but rather what future it wants to build."
"I recognise all be hard to overcome decades of mistrust but we will proceed which courage, rectitude and resolve," Obama added.
He assured the Muslims that the U.S. would pull all it troops out of Iraq by 2012 and promised no permanent U.S. presence in Afghanistan.
Obama treaded lightly on one issue that President George W. Bush had made a centerpiece of his second term – the spread of democracy.
The president said he has a commitment to governments "that reflect the will of the people." And yet, he said, "No system of government can or should be imposed upon one nation by any other."
Obama arrived in the Middle East on Wednesday, greeted by a new and threatening message from al-Qaida’s leader, Osama bin Laden.
In an audio recording, the al-Qaida leader said the president inflamed the Muslim world by ordering Pakistan to crack down on militants in Swat Valley and block Islamic law there.
The White House said Obama’s speech contained no new policy proposals on the Middle East, and he issued an even handed call to Israel and Palestinians alike to live up to their international obligations.
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