INSTANT VIEW: Reaction after Obama addresses Muslims

CAIRO (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama sought a "new beginning" between the United States and Muslims in a speech on Thursday but offered no new initiative to end the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, an omission likely to disappoint many.

Below are reactions to his speech delivered from Cairo University in Egypt:

NABIL ABU RDAINAH, SPOKESMAN FOR PALESTINIAN PRESIDENT

"His call for stopping settlement and for the establishment of a Palestinian state, and his reference to the suffering of Palestinians ... is a clear message to Israel that a just peace is built on the foundations of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital."

"President Obama's speech is a good start and an important step toward a new American policy."

ALI AL-DABBAGH, IRAQI GOVERNMENT SPOKESMAN

"The speech was historic and important and reflects a positive direction for the new administration (in Washington) and it is a new start."

"The use of Koranic sayings plays a big part in a positive change of picture, but there is a necessity for action."

"The government of Iraq is comfortable with the clarity of the president in respecting commitments to Iraq and the timetable for withdrawal stipulated in the security pact."

"I think there is clear support of a right for a Palestinian state, and their right for a life, but Arabs are waiting for pressure to be exerted on Israel so it can stop its violations in Gaza and the West Bank."

HAZIM AL-NUAIMI, ANALYST AT BAGHDAD UNIVERSITY

"He gave nothing new to Iraqis. He gave one promise, to respect the rights of minorities and work with consensus. In all he says, he tries to remove himself from all that happened in Iraq."

HASSAN FADLALLAH, LAWMAKER FOR LEBANON'S HEZBOLLAH

"The Islamic world does not need moral or political sermons. It needs a fundamental change in American policy beginning from a halt to complete support for Israeli aggression on the region, especially on Lebanese and Palestinians, to an American withdrawal from Iraq and Afghanistan and a stop to its interference in the affairs of Islamic countries."

"The U.S. administration bears the responsibility for the problems that Obama presented. Violence in the region, the source of which is the Zionist entity, American wars, and the attempts to plant rifts between sects is an American project."

"We have not seen any change in (U.S.) policy toward the Palestinian cause."