US President Barack Obama delivers a long anticipated speech on June 4, 2009 to the Muslim world during his visit to Egypt in Cairo University in Cairo, capital of Egypt, which is aimed at recovering US relations with Muslim countries. [Xinhua]

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Thursday welcomed US President Barack Obama's "encouraging" speech in Cairo, while main militant groups in Gaza slammed the speech as "beautification of the ugly US image."

Form ordinary Palestinians and intellectuals to politicians in both the Gaza Strip ruled by Hamas and the West Bank controlled by President Mahmoud Abbas followed the Obama speech on radio stations and television channels with great and deep concerns.

"We have been waiting to see Obama's plan to make peace in the region," said Suliman Obaid, a Palestinian civil servant. "We heard positive comments from Obama but the judgment is subject to actions on the ground."

"The Palestinians have always believed in peace, but the other side (Israel) doesn't," he added, referring to Israel's opposition to the halt of the settlement expansion in the Palestinian territories.

Obama, who is now on a Mideast-Europe tour, first visited Saudi Arabia on Wednesday and on Thursday delivered the long-awaited speech from Cairo University in Egypt after meeting with his Egyptian counterpart Hosni Mubarak.

In the outreach speech to the Muslim world, Obama said the United States seeks a new beginning of relations with Muslims based on mutual interests and respect.

Obama also stressed the need of a Palestinian statehood alongside Israel, renewed the US commitment to maintaining alliance with Israel and called on Hamas to renounce violence and recognize the Jewish state's right in existence.

Nabil Abu Rdineh, spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Xinhua by telephone, "the speech of President Obama isan encouraging beginning and a major and important step to establish just and comprehensive peace in the region."

"It is frank and clear, mainly when he talked about partnership, listening to the others, building confidence and confronting tensions. His talk about the Palestinians' suffering and the time to establish a Palestinian state is an essential step to build up a just and comprehensive peace in the region," said Abu Rdineh.

The PNA conditioned the resumption of the peace process with Israel with a complete cessation of settlement expansion in the West Bank and around Jerusalem and a clear Israeli acceptance of the US-backed vision of the two-state solution.

"We consider what Obama said must be seriously considered by Israel, mainly the call for stopping settlement expansion and establishing the Palestinian state," said Abu Rdineh.

He said the PNA would build on Obama's speech, and "we will be ready to go ahead in the peace process according to the Arab Peace Initiative and according to the legal rights of the Palestinian people."

However, opposition groups, mainly Hamas and the Islamic Jihad movement which are based in the Gaza Strip, slammed Obama's speech, saying that the new US president was not fair enough to the Palestinians.

"The speech of Obama focused on imposing Israel on the Arabs and Muslims, and he connected the issues of stabilization, settlement, partnership and investment in the region with recognizing Israel and realizing normalization with it," said Mohamed al-Hindi, a senior Islamic Jihad leader.

Al-Hindi said "the speech didn't include any change in American policy towards the Palestinian cause. Obama neglected the legal rights of the Palestinian people and tried to shape the Palestinian cause as a humanitarian cause."

The United States and Europe have listed both Hamas and Islamic Jihad as terrorist groups. Washington led a campaign to isolate Hamas since it won in the Palestinian parliamentary elections held in the Palestinian territories in 2006.

Meanwhile, Fawzi Barhoum, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, told Xinhua by telephone that "Obama's speech is full of courtesy and depends on the style of soft diplomacy. But it is for sure different from the speeches of former US presidents."

"The speech of Obama has depended on beautification and decoration of the image of America in the world. Obama didn't talk about respecting the democratic choices of the Palestinian people who chose Hamas movement," said Barhoum.

The Hamas spokesman lashed out at Obama for "not recognizing the legitimacy of Hamas movement that won in the elections and he didn't talk about the Palestinian people's rights of resistance and self-defense."

Obama did not call for an end to an Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip for three years and to the Israeli aggression as the Palestinian people had expected, Barhoum said.

(Xinhua News Agency June 5, 2009)