By DPA,
Jerusalem : Israel said Thursday that it shared US President Barack Obama’s hope for peace with the Arab and Muslim world.
In an official statement reacting to the landmark speech to the Muslim world Obama made Thursday, the Israeli government expressed its hope “that the important speech of President Obama in Cairo will indeed lead to a new era of reconciliation between Arab and Muslim world”.
The Israeli reaction did not address Obama’s demand for Israel to halt settlement activity – a call Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has previously rejected – but instead focused on his call for Arab states “to recognise Israel’s legitimacy”.
“We participate in the hopes of the American president that the American effort will lead to the opening of a new era which will lead to an end of the conflict and to Arab recognition of Israel as a Jewish state which lives in peace and security in the Middle East,” the statement said.
The brief communique ended by noting that “Israel is committed to peace and will do whatever it can to widen the circle of peace within its national interest first and foremost its security”.