US President Barack Obama has made a groundbreaking speech reaching out to the Muslim world. Speaking in Cairo on the 2nd day of his Middle East trip Obama said that the "cycle of suspicion and discord" between the United States and the Muslim world must end. US officials said that the speech was intended to start a process to "re-energise the dialogue with the Muslim world".
The US President reaffirmed Israel's right to exist in peace and security and condemned rocket attacks on innocent children. He spoke of the 6 million Jews murdered in the holocaust, and said the Shoah cannot be denied. He said that the US was committed to work for peace between Israelis and Palestinians, in the framework on the established road map, based on a two-state solution.
Mr Obama said the bond between the US and Israel was "unbreakable". Adding that "Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong." However he also said the "situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's."
On the key issue of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, Obama said "there can be no progress towards peace without a halt to such construction".
