CAIRO — "Assalamu aleikum,” the president of the United States said.
"We love you,” cried the crowd, sounding like partisans at a campaign rally in Chicago.
In such small ways, on a day rich with symbolism built from small things, President Barack Obama achieved a cultural communion between America and Islam that he wants to see writ large in the world.
His greeting of "assalamu aleikum” — peace be upon you — set the tone of a 55-minute speech at Cairo University on Thursday in which he invoked his middle name, Hussein, quoted from the Quran and spoke of his country’s common purpose with a religion he said Americans will never engage in war.
The reaction from typically antagonistic quarters was largely respectful. Some Islamic and Arab figures spoke of the change they are seeing.
But they’re not convinced it’s change they can believe in.
"There is a change between the language of President Obama and ... George Bush,” said Fawzi Barhoum, a spokesman for Hamas. But "all we can say is that there is a difference in the statements, and the statements of today did not include a mechanism that can translate his ... views into actions.”
Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in advance of the speech that any statements by Obama were just "words, speech and slogan” that would leave in place sanctions designed to persuade the nation to stop its nuclear program.
But Mohammad Ali Abtahi, a cleric who was vice president under reformist President Mohammad Khatami, called the speech "compensation” for a hostile environment created by Bush.
"This can be an initial step for removing misconceptions,” he said.
Obama’s speech was designed to reset relations after Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and the U.S.-led war in Iraq. Yet he also called sternly for Israelis and Palestinians to live up to their obligations in seeking peace, demanded Iran bow to international demands to halt its nuclear weapons program and bid Muslim countries help in eradicating the threat of fundamentalist’ violence across the globe.
The Israeli government issued a statement saying it, too, hoped for a new era. But it skirted any reference to Obama’s calls for a settlement freeze in the West Bank and the creation of a Palestinian state.
Obama addressed the Israeli-Palestinian dispute pointedly in his address, knowing it goes to the heart of Muslim anger toward the West.
"It is time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true,” he said. "Too many tears have flowed. Too much blood has been shed.”
by the associated press
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