Obama speaks to muslim world

Israel praises Obama, says its security paramount REuters — The Israeli government responded to U.S. President Barack Obama's speech to Muslims on Thursday by saying it shared his hopes for Middle East peace but Israel's security interests remained paramount. "We share President Obama's hope that the American effort heralds the opening of a new era that will bring an end to the conflict and to general Arab recognition of Israel as the nation of the Jewish people that lives in security and peace in the Middle East," an official statement said. click to read complete article

In speech to Muslims, Obama rejects Israeli settlements Miami Herald — President Barack Obama, courting Muslims internationally, said Thursday that the United States didn't accept the legitimacy of Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory and that "just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's." In a speech he conceived well before he was elected last November - aimed at repositioning U.S. standing in the Middle East in the wake of the Iraq war and drafted with the help of prominent Muslim-Americans - Obama told an audience at Cairo University that "I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world." click to read complete article

Al-Qaeda deputy denounces Obama BBC — A message attributed to the deputy leader of al-Qaeda has denounced Barack Obama as a "criminal" on the eve of the US president's Middle East trip. Ayman al-Zawahiri said Mr Obama's "bloody messages" would not be concealed by "polished words". click to read complete article