Reaction to Obama's speech to the Muslim world

Friday, June 5, 2009 at 3:28 AM Posted by Beijing News


Notable reaction to President Barack Obama's speech Thursday to the Muslim world:

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"President Obama is a brave president. ... We hope he will open a new chapter with the Islamic world and Arab nations in particular." — Mithwan Hussein, a Baghdad resident.

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"Bush and Clinton said the same about a Palestinian state, but they've done nothing, so why should we believe this guy?" — Ali Tottah, 82, a Palestinian refugee at the Baqaa refugee camp in Jordan.

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"There is a change between the speech of President Obama and previous speeches made by George Bush. But today's remarks at Cairo University were based on soft diplomacy to brighten the image of the United States." — Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman in Gaza.

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"Obama's speech is an attempt to mislead people and create more illusions to improve America's aggressive image in the Arab and Islamic world." — A joint statement by eight Damascus, Syria-based radical Palestinian factions, including Hamas.

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"We share President Obama's hope that the American effort will herald the beginning of the end of the conflict and a general Arab recognition of Israel as the state for the Jewish people living in security and peace in the Middle East." — an Israeli government statement.

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"Why did he not come here to Gaza, instead of going to Egypt? He is welcome to come and see, to inspect with his own eyes, to see the war crimes and the new Holocaust." — Mohammed Khader, 47, whose house in Gaza was leveled by Israeli troops during the offensive against Hamas.

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"It was actually better than we expected, but not as good as we hoped. ... His stance on democracy was very general, a bit weak, we hoped for more detail." — Ayman Nour, an Egyptian dissident recently released from prison.

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"I grew up as a Muslim, and some religious leaders told us to hate other people. So he was speaking directly at me, telling us to stop hating Israelis and Jews. He is the most powerful man in the world and millions of people around the Middle East will see hope in what he said." — Hani Ameer, an Iraqi immigrant in London.

"This is the first president we see in the United States that is talking about the Palestinian issue, resolving the Palestinian issue in the first six months of his presidency. Usually, it's in the last two months of the presidency." — Saad Hariri, leader of Lebanon's parliamentary majority.





People look at the moon at the Temple of Hercules at the Citadel in Amman. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

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