Barack Obama has won cautious praise from Muslim leaders and Israel for a landmark speech crafted to repair America�s tainted image in the Islamic world.

John Bynorth

Barack Obama has won cautious praise from Muslim leaders and Israel for a landmark speech crafted to repair America's tainted image in the Islamic world.

The president's call for a "new beginning", peppered with references to the Koran and reconciliation, struck a chord with many who heard it at Cairo University yesterday.

But some said they had heard nothing new regarding specific policies, especially on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict that symbolises injustice for many Muslims around the world.

President Obama said: "I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect."

He called for an end to the "cycle of suspicion and discord" between the west and Muslims, which he said was rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate and the al Qaeda-inspired 9/11 terrorist attacks.

"The continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to American and Western countries, but also to human rights. This has bred more fear and mistrust.

"So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who so hatred rather than peace, and who promote conflict rather than the co-operation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity.

"9/11 was an enormous trauma to our country. The fear and anger that it provoked was understandable, but in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our ideals."

President Obama urged people to listen, learn and respect one another and seek common ground. He referred to his Kenyan Muslim roots and Indonesian boyhood at work as a young man in Chicago's Muslim communities, where he said he found "dignity and peace" with the faith.

He spoke about how American Muslims had enriched the US, fought in wars, served in government and stood for the civil rights movement, set up businesses and taught at universities, achieved sport and won Nobel Prizes and "lit the Olympic Torch" at the Olympics.

Saudi political analyst Khalid al Dakhil said Mr Obama's message was one of "reconciliation and new beginnings" that would be well received in the Arab world.

"Whether it will be successful in bridging the gap, that will take time."

Islamic radicals reacted in hostile fashion. "The Islamic world does not need moral or political sermons," said Hassan Fadlallah, a lawmaker from Lebanon's Iranian-backed Shi'ite Hizbollah group.

"It needs a fundamental change in American policy, beginning with a halt to complete support for Israeli aggression against the region, especially against Lebanese and Palestinians, an American withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan, and a stop to its interference in the affairs of Islamic countries.

Mohammad Marandi, head of North American Studies at Tehran University, acknowledged that Mr Obama's tone on Iran was "significantly more positive" than under former US President George W Bush, but said talking was not enough.

"He can make a few more speeches, but people are starting to ask: what are you going to change?"

Bashir Maan, convener of the Muslim Council of Scotland, described Mr Obama's speech as very comprehensive and the most open an admission by a US president since the terrorist attacks that the way the Muslim faith had been portrayed had that the US had "gone too far".

However, Mr Maan said: "Although it is promising, every US president or politicians tries to say they must face these tensions, but of course, who created the tensions? It will take decades to repair the damage, but somebody has got to try and he might put it in motion."

Osama Saeed, chief executive of the Scottish-Islamic Foundation, said: "Resetting' a relationship with history, and a violent history at that, is never easy. President Obama has used the right words. Those words need to be met with action. He needs to be given space and time to do the right things, which means ending occupations and building democracies."

Mr Obama's call for a halt to Israeli settlement building won a cautious welcome from Palestinians, with a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas describing it as a "good start" towards a new US policy in the Middle East.

The Israeli government responded 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.

Ezra Golombok, director of the Glasgow-based Israel Information Office in Scotland, said: "Everyone with a family commitment in Israel will welcome Mr Obama's pressure for a halt to conflict and especially to and end to terror. Israel's security remains paramount."