Israel cautiously applauded US President Barack Obama's sweeping speech in Cairo Thursday, even as it was gearing up for tough negotiations with the Americans in the coming days over how to transform some of the rhetoric into a program.
During the 56-minute address to some 3,000 invited guests at Cairo University, Obama reconfirmed and pledged continued US support for Israel, but was uncompromising in his demand for the establishment of a Palestinian state, and called for a "stop to settlements."
"For decades, there has been a stalemate: two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive," Obama said, adding that it is "easy to point fingers."
"But if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth: the only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security," he said.
Regarding the settlements, Obama - to perhaps the loudest applause he received during his address - said, "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop."
In a speech whose primary goal was reconciliation with the Muslim world, Obama quoted from the Koran for emphasis, and called for a "new beginning between the United States and Muslims."
He said that together, Americans and Muslims could confront violent extremism across the globe and advance the search for peace in the Middle East.
"This cycle of suspicion and discord must end," he said. "And I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear."
However, he said, "change cannot happen overnight."
Obama's remarks were broadcast on all radio and television outlets in Israel, and with Arabic voice-over translations by satellite stations Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera, Egyptian TV and Hizbullah's Al-Manar. The speech was not shown in Iran, where the government jammed signals to block satellite owners from watching.
Senior Israeli government sources said Thursday evening that they had been apprised beforehand of what Obama was going to say both about two states and about the settlements. Negotiations with the Americans over this issue will continue on Tuesday with the arrival of US special Middle East envoy George Mitchell.
While the officials did not criticize the president for his comments on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, they did say Jerusalem had expected Obama to take a stronger stand regarding Iran's nuclear program, at least saying what he has already said in the past - that the American engagement with Teheran would not be unlimited in time, but would be reassessed by the end of the year, and that the US was not taking any option off the table in dealing with Iran.
"It is clear to all concerned that when it comes to nuclear weapons, we have reached a decisive point," he said of Iran. "This is not simply about America's interests. It is about preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that could lead this region and the world down a hugely dangerous path."
Obama also said he felt that any nation, including Iran, "should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That commitment is at the core of the treaty, and it must be kept for all who fully abide by it."
Some four hours after the speech, the Prime Minister's Office issued a statement saying the government "expresses hope that President Obama's important speech in Cairo will lead to a new period of reconciliation between the Arab and Muslim world, and Israel."
"We share Obama's hope that the American efforts will signal the opening of a new era that will bring about an end to the conflict, and [lead] to pan-Arab recognition of Israel as the Jewish state living in peace and security in the Middle East," the statement read. "Israel is obligated to peace and will do as much as possible to help expand the circle of peace, while taking into consideration its national interests, the foremost of which is security."
The somewhat low-key response was crafted after Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu consulted with the members of the inner cabinet who are currently in the country: ministers Dan Meridor, Moshe Ya'alon and Bennie Begin, all from the Likud. The two other members, Defense Minister Ehud Barak (Labor) and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman (Israel Beiteinu), are currently abroad, but also issued statements praising the speech.
Obama, during his long-awaited speech on relations between the US and the Muslim world, placed "the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world" as the second major source of tension between the US and the Muslim world.
"America's strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties," he said. He also spoke of the history of the Jewish people and their pursuit of a Jewish homeland.
"Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust," Obama said. "Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed - more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today.
"Denying that fact is baseless, ignorant, and hateful," he told the Arab and Muslim world, in which Holocaust denial is rampant. "Threatening Israel with destruction - or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews - is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.
"On the other hand," Obama went on, "it is also undeniable that the Palestinians... have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years, they have endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead.
