Egypt/US - Mideast

Positive reaction to Obama's speech

Article published on the 2009-06-04 Latest update 2009-06-04 15:06 TU

Palestinians in the Gaza Strip watch a television broadcast of US President Barack Obama's speech in Cairo on June 4, 2009
(Photo: Reuters/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

As Barack Obama arrived in Egypt, Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said that the US is still "deeply hated" in the Middle East. However, that was a rare negative tone struck by the world's leaders reacting to his keynote speech to the Muslim world in Cairo.

"The nations in the region hate the United States from the bottom of their hearts because they have seen violence, military intervention and discrimination," Khamenei said. 

"The new US government seeks to transform this image. I say firmly that this will not be achieved by talking, speech and slogans."

He was speaking on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the death of the Islamic republic's revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

On the contrary, the Palestinian authority hailed Obama's speech as a "good start.” Nabil Abou Rudeina, spokesperson for the Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas, described it as " clear and frank... an innovative political step."  Rudeina considered that the US president's support for a Palestinian state cannot be ignored by Israel.

Radical Palestinian militants Hamas, who are in power in Gaza, gave Obama’s speech a qualified welcome.

"It had many contradictions, all the while reflecting tangible change,"

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhum said.  "It is a speech that plays on sentiment and is filled with civilities, which leads us to believe that he aimed to embellish America's image in the world."

 

In his address, Obama had called on Hamas to recognise Israel’s right to exist and renounce violence.

 

Speaking from Brussels, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana was effusive in his praise.

 "It was a remarkable speech, a speech that without any doubt is

going to open a new page in the relation with the Arab-Muslim world

and I hope in the problems we have in so many theatres in the

region," he said.