Dr. Bob Swansbrough

Some members of local Muslim and Jewish communities found President Barack Obama’s speech this week in Cairo encouraging and a sign that things are heading in the right direction.

“I think he said a lot more than any other American president has said in the past,” said Ezad Ahmad, a Muslim who lives in Dalton, Ga. “It was a message of peace, and it was uplifting to hear him quote the Quran to make his point to bring all the unanimity of all religions together and share more common ground amongst us.”

President Obama asked Israel Thursday to stop constructing settlements in the occupied West Bank, but he also pointed out that the emergence of Islamic extremism was a threat to all and urged Muslims to reject radical ideologies, The Associated Press reported.

“The significance of the speech was President Obama’s efforts to establish a new chapter in America’s relations with the Arab and Muslim states of the world,” said Dr. Bob Swansbrough, political science professor at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

“I think in his comments in dealing with the Israel-Palestine issue, he was trying to show that he was going to be evenhanded in terms of indicating that Israel needed to be more forthright, particularly with the new government in trying diplomacy to seek a two-state solution,” he said.

Michael Dzik, executive director of the Jewish Cultural Center, said President Obama made several very strong points, such as recognizing and asking the world to recognize Israel’s right to exist, but that he also left several questions unanswered.

“(Although he mentioned it), he didn’t get into too much detail on certain issues ... like the (Palestinian) settlements,” said Mr. Dzik.

“I think the biggest thing we have to recognize, we as Americans, we as Jews, we as Muslims, we as Christians,” he said, “is that the issues that are on hand are between the country of Israel and the Palestinian people. That’s something the president did mention, and that’s a huge thing for people to understand.”

Akram Musa, a Palestinian from Jerusalem, said he was happy to hear the president start the conversation on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict so early in his presidency.

“He hit the dot with the Israeli-Palestinian problem ... Peace brings better solutions, better lives,” he said.

For Alizeh Ahmad, Dr. Ahmad’s 16-year-old U.S.-born daughter, the most powerful statement was when the president said America is not at war with Islam.

“I really felt that he was able to provide a lot of hope to Muslims in America as well as in the rest of the world just in terms of the American relationship with Islam,” she said.

“It kind of sounds weird that a country needs to make a position on a religion, but I think it’s something that needed to be stated,” she said, “because extremism is always associated with Islam, so it kind of became a war against Islam to some people.”