Palestinians pleased with Obama's Koran quotes
Sources within PA say US president understands Israeli-Palestinian conflict 'root cause' of Mideast stability; PRC spokesman says speech shows Obama constrained by 'Zionist lobby'
Sources in the Palestinian Authority expressed their satisfaction with Barack Obama's speech in Cairo on Thursday, stressing the fact that the American president did not mention the word "terror" even once.
The sources said they were pleased with the fact that Obama did not differentiate between isolated Israeli settlements and the settlement blocs as a whole, as well as with his call to stop Palestinian "suffering".
"It is very important that Obama addressed 1.5 billion Muslims from such an important city like Cairo, and it is very important that he quoted seven verses from the Koran and stressed that there was no hostility between the US and Islam," a Palestinian source said.
"Obama did not use the word 'terror' even when speaking of al-Qaeda, and used 'violence' instead; he did not speak like (former US President) George W. Bush. Obama understands that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the root cause of instability in the Middle East, and therefore we can we be calm; it is the Israelis who should be worried," he said.
According to the Palestinians, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's government is implementing the Road Map for peace initiative to the letter, including action against armed Palestinian factions.
Earlier Thursday, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said "there is a change between the speech of President Obama and previous speeches made by George Bush. But he complained that Obama did not specifically note the "suffering in Gaza" following the three-week Israeli offensive earlier this year and did not apologize for US military attacks in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"So 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 wishes and views into actions," said Barhoum.
According to the Popular Resistance Committees' armed wing, the Salah Al-Din Brigades, Obama's speech was pro-Israel.
"It is clear that regarding the Palestinian issue Obama is constrained by the Zionist lobby that controls the White House and surrounds him with Jewish advisors," spokesman Abu Mujahid told Ynet Thursday evening.
"We can assume from Obama's speech that the war against Islam will continue," he said.
