7.17am:
Air Force One has touched down in Cairo. Obama is is due to hold talks with the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, ahead of his big speech. The speech is expected to start some time between 10.35am and 11.10am BST.
The White House has gone into social networking overdrive to spread word of the speech. It will be texted, tweeted, highlighted on Facebook and Myspace, live streamed by both the White House and the state department, and translated into 13 different languages, according to the New York Times.
7.41am:
There is no shortage of advice for Obama on what he should say. Two former state department speech writers preview the buttons that Obama needs to press and the pitfalls he needs to avoid, in a 35-minute discussion on bloggingheadstv.
Condoleezza Rice's speech writer Christian Brose, who helped write Rice's 2005 Cairo speech, says Obama should not shy away from democracy and human rights in Islamic countries. "He has talked a lot about how he wants to be honest with Israel but he needs to be equally honest with other countries in the region."
Madeleine Albright's speechwriter, Heather Hurlburt, predicts that Obama will lay out principles by which the US can be judged in the Middle East.
7.52am:
In Cairo there is resentment at the security lockdown in the city according to Zeinobi, blogging on Egyptian Chronicles. "The people living in Khalifa Al-Mamoun were ordered to close their shops and businesses on Thursday, to find another place to park their cars and not to look through the balconies or window," in a post headlined "We Won't Kill Him For God Sake!!". She adds: "I do not understand why the people will not be allowed to see him passing by. For God sake most of them are the Muslims he is trying to reach to."
The bumpy streets leading to the university are now as smooth as silk, writes Waleed Nassar who works near the university.
8.07am:
The Guardian's Middle East editor, Ian Black, who is in Cairo, says the security operation in the city is "vast", with rumours of thousands of CIA operatives crawling the streets.
He tells Guardian Daily (18 minutes in) that there are huge expectations about the speech and that people will be "hanging on every word".
8.44am:
Right wing US pundits are alarmed by what Obama might say.
Bush's deputy national security advisor, Elliott Abrams, wants Obama to stop saying sorry for the USA.
"The president needs to stop apologising for our country. He shouldn't be giving this speech in Egypt it's a very repressive regime."
Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch, wants Obama to deliver a blunt message to the Muslim world. He writes a speech the president "should give" in post on Real Clear Politics. It says: "Pakistan and other Muslim countries will not receive another penny of American aid unless and until they demonstrate - in a transparent and inspectable fashion - that they are working against, not abetting, the forces of the global jihad."
Pakistan and other Muslim countries will not receive another penny of American aid unless and until they demonstrate - in a transparent and inspectable fashion - that they are working against, not abetting, the forces of the global jihad.
8.52am:
Guardian America editor-in-chief, Michael Tomasky, tests his own knowledge of the Middle East.
9.02am:
Mubarak and Obama have given a post-talk press conference, broadcast on Al Jazeera. Mubarak said they discussed all the issues "without reservation" including Iran's nuclear programme.
Obama said: "We discussed how we can move forward in a constructive way to bring peace and prosperity in the region. I emphasised to him that America is committed to working in partnership in the region."
9.07am:
The Guardian's Rory McCarthy has been gauging expectations for the speech Gaza City. He writes:
In Gaza, Asad Abu Shark, a professor of linguistics, said he expected to hear little more than "sugar-coated language" and a "sweet-tongue strategy" from Obama's speech."Any American gesture in the right direction is welcome," he said. "If the Americans want an even-handed policy we welcome that, but actions speak louder than words. We don't want to live in hope until we die in despair."
He wants Washington to press Israel to end its blockade of Gaza, end the occupation of the Palestinian territories and allow Palestinian refugees to return to their homes in what is now Israel.
Abu Shark, whose family are refugees from what is now the Israel city of Ashqelon, believes in a one-state solution to the Middle East conflict, that is Israelis and Palestinians living together as citizens of a single, bi-national state. It is an idea that is gaining ground among Palestinians, but is strongly opposed by Israelis.
He was concerned about America's close relationships to the leaders of the Arab world. "If America says they want democracy and then he meets with dictators it means there is a double standard," he said. "They should stop listening to Arab rulers and start listening to the Arab public."
9.13am:
There is scepticism in Egypt about what the speech can achieve.
Islamist blogger, Mostafa Al Nagar, writes: "Mr. Obama, everyone is awaiting your speech, but more importantly your action."
Similarly, Mohamed Elmenshawy, writing in Egypt's English language newspaper, the Daily News, says: "The Muslim world's reception of Obama's presidency — as enthusiastic as it is — remains sceptical of a US that has a long history of failure to follow through on its promises."
James Zogby, president of the Arab American Institute, says Egypt is where "attitudes toward America are harshest" and where Obama "faces his greatest challenge".
Writing on the Huffington Post he said:
This speech must be more than banal clichés ("we are not at war with Muslims") or a repetition of hollow visions. It must be bigger, more consequential and more substantial. It is a tall order, but given Obama's modus operandi, I'm counting on him to prove me right.
It was last month at speech in Turkey, when Obama said: "The United States is not, and will never be, at war with Islam."
9.29am:
AP describes Obama's arrival:
Obama arrived at Egypt's imposing, ornate Qubba Palace on a lush property in the middle of Cairo with nearly two dozen horses leading his motorcade down the wide, palm-lined palace drive.
The US president jogged up the steps to greet his Egyptian counterpart with a handshake and the region's traditional double-cheek kiss. As the two leaders stood on a balcony, a military band in blue dress uniforms played both countries' national anthems.
9.34am:
Steven A Cook, senior fellow for Middle Eastern Studies at Council on Foreign Relations marks our card on what to expect in the speech.
He reckons there will have to be a strong statement about the Palestinian-Israel conflict if the speech is to go down well in the Arab world.
The Independent's veteran middle east writer Robert Fisk is characteristically cynical about the speech.
"Everyone will nod sagely and the newspapers of the Arab dictatorships will solemnly tip their hats to the guy and the New York Times will clap vigorously," he says, but adds "beautiful rhetoric and paradise-promises never, ever, win against reality.
9.52am:
Jack Shenker, the Guardian's Cairo stringer, has been talking to a man who has been sprucing up the October bridge across the Nile, for £6.50 a day.
"We have to repaint, he's our guest," Samir Hussein said wearily as he made his way across the bridge with his paintbrush. "It's an honour."
10.00am:
Hamas has uttered some conciliatory words ahead of the speech.
In a letter to Obama, Hamas foreign ministry official Ahmed Youssef welcomed Obama's outreach to Muslims and wrote that his group is committed to a "just solution" to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
10.04am:
Obama and secretary of state Hillary Clinton, in a head scarf, are visiting the Sultan Hassan mosque in Cairo.
The president's speech is due to start in about an hour. The White House will livestream the speech here.
Nomadlife is doing a live photo blog of the visit.
10.27am:
The Israeli Committee Against Home Demolition has emailed to say that 300 Bedouin people are about to be evicted in the West Bank, in another "Israeli landgrab".
10.31am:
Ian Black in Cairo writes: "Obama is now on his way to give his long-awaited speech at Cairo university after visting the Sultan Hassan mosque in the city's old Islamic quarter. His motorcade is passing through empty streets lined by police."
An embargoed copy of the speech has just been emailed over. It is 5,832 words long.
10.42am:
The Guardian's religious affairs correspondent, Riazat Butt, is outside the US embassy in London.
She texts to say: "The embassy is throwing a party. There is tea, coffee and two types of water. There are even pix of Muslims looling happy and American. The Muslims are in their huddles and the non-Muslims are in theirs. Not much mixing in going on."
10.51am:
The hand-picked audience is gathering at Cairo university hall. Politicians, clerics and pop stars are among the guests, tweets Zeinobia. Live pictures from Jazeera show a packed hall with guests looking around checking out who else is there.
11.01am:
Obama has arrived at the university and is expected to start speaking in around five minutes.
Shenker writes:
The university has something of a reputation for hosting controversial speeches; during an address last year by Egyptian prime minister Ahmed Nazif a young heckler interrupted proceedings with shouts of "Egypt's youth are behind bars!" before being bundled off by security.A repeat performance today is unlikely; the guest list for the speech is tightly controlled and only one student from each university faculty has been invited to attend. In recent weeks a campaign of arrests has targeted potential dissidents, including a number of foreign students at Al-Azhar University, one of the oldest educational institutions in the world.
11.11am:
Obama starts his speech by praising the university and the people of Egypt.
When he utters the Muslim greeting "assalaamu alaykum" he is warmly cheered.
"I have come here to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world; one based upon mutual interest and mutual respect; and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles – principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings."
11.15am:
Obama gets more applause when he quotes from the Koran. "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth," he says.
A full text of Obama's speech is here.
11.19am:
The third applause greets this line: "When the first Muslim-American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers – Thomas Jefferson – kept in his personal library."
The fourth comes for a pledge to fight negative stereotypes of Islam. But when Obama says the same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America, there is silence then a smattering of claps.
11.26am:
Obama repeats his line about America not being at war with Islam, to more claps.
11.28am:
Silence greets this: " I am aware that some question or justify the events of 9/11. Al-Qaida killed nearly 3,000 people on that day. The victims were innocent men, women and children from America and many other nations who had done nothing to harm anybody. And yet al-Qaida chose to ruthlessly murder these people, claimed credit for the attack, and even now states their determination to kill on a massive scale."
But there are cheers and an inaudible heckle when he says: "The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent, it is as if he has killed all mankind."
11.32am:
Obama's pledge to remove US troops from Iraq by 2012, goes down well. As does his planned closure of Guantanamo Bay prison. There are wolf whistles of approval.
11.36am:
"Let there be no doubt: the situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own." This gets one of biggest cheers yet.
But there is not a murmur when Obama says: "Palestinians must abandon violence."
11.40am:
Whistles and cheers for this: "The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements."
Nisar Ahmed Faizee, tells Declan Walsh in Islamabad, "the points he makes are very good. But the question is whether he will implement them".
11.45am:
"When the Holy Land of three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed (peace be upon them) joined in prayer," Obama says to more approval. Riazat Butt says: "Now he's just showing off".
11.48am:
Obama's pointed commitment to human rights, in a country with a questionable record on the issue, is greeted with subversive cheers.
11.55am:
When the president said "I want to address is women's rights" he is again applauded to Obama's approval. He says that reaction shows that the issue is hotly debated in Egypt.
He forgot to say that Saudi Arabia has no rights for women, Riazat points out.
12.03pm:
Obama hasn't been applauded for about five minutes. But the audience wakes up when he says: "There is also one rule that lies at the heart of every religion – that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us."
12.04pm:
The 55-minute speech ends with this: "The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God's vision. Now, that must be our work here on Earth. Thank you. And may God's peace be upon you."
He gets a standing ovation, and some seem to be shouting for an encore. There are a few chants of "O-ba-ma'.
12.07pm:
Rory McCarthy, in Gaza City, writes:
Eyad Galaja, 28, in the Delice cafe was impressed with the speech, which he said was balanced. He felt that when Obama described the Palestinian situation as intolerable this was "a direct message to Israel to lift the siege on the Palestinians."But he added: "It is easy to say the words, many presidents have given good speeches, but the most important thing is the actions. The first step should be to put pressure on Israel to lift the siege on Gaza, open the commercial crossings and let goods come in."
In Baghdad, Martin Chulov has been talking to Colonel Ali from the Baquba police. He said: "This was the first time I have heard an American leader talker about remorse in this country. They have been good to deal with here as soldiers, but I think the Democrats in general are less violent than Republicans. Hopefully things will continue to get better.
12.21pm:
More of Osama bin Laden's audio message has been played as Obama was speaking.
"We either live under the light of Islam or we die with dignity ... brace yourselves for a long war against the world's infidels and their agents," Reuters quoted him saying.
12.44pm:
There was "warm but not wild applause" at the American Embassy in London, according to our religious affairs correspondent, Riazat Butt.
She explains the reaction and gives her verdict on the speech here:
Meanwhile in Cairo, Shenker says helicopters are preparing the airspace for Marine One's visit to the Giza pyramids.
12.52pm:
The Arabist, an Egyptian blogger, provides an instant deconstruction of the speech.
Obama's words on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict get the highest praise:
"Saying that the Palestinians' situation is intolerable is a fantastic move, as well as making it clear that there is a special US-Israel relationship." But the post adds: "The emphasis of the US, and the Quartet, in getting all Palestinians to adhere to the Quartet conditions is wrong-headed, though, since there is no similar demand on the Israelis to give up violence."
1.00pm:
The Leftist Egyptian blogger, Hossam el-Hamalawy, provides the antidote to the reaction in the hall.
He writes:"It's some of the biggest pile of horseshit I've had to listen to in years.. and I still don't understand what's "historica"l about it?!!"
1.15pm:
Here's a Wordle version of the speech:
1.22pm:
The Palestinian reaction has been largely positive.
Nabil Abu Rdeneh, a spokesman for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, said: "The part of Obama's speech regarding the Palestinian issue is an important step under new beginnings. It shows there is a new and different American policy toward the Palestinian issue."
Mahmoud Ramahi, from the rival Hamas, said:
"There are many positive points," he said. "There is a difference between his policy and Bush's policy. I see a change in the US foreign policy discourse. But the problem is still on the ground. Would they achieve a Palestinian independent state? If he does that, that would be a relief and good for all parties."
Israel's Jerusalem Post reports a mixed reaction.
1.38pm:
Jewish settlers reacted with frustration, the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, reports.
"Today, the state of Israel is paying is paying the price of its leaders' defeatism," Yesha Council, which represents settlers, said in a statement. "Hussein Obama gave priority to Arab lies, which have always been told with determination and daring, at the expense of the Jewish truth, which has been said in a weak and unconfident voice."
1.52pm:
It was a "terrific performance" according to our Middle East editor, Ian Black in Ciaro. But he reckoned it was more about tone than substance, and it contained few specifics.
2.07pm:
There's mostly adulation on the Facebook group for the speech. But it was set up by the White House.
"This speech is seriously B R I L L I A N T, period" writes Nomali Perera from Boulder, Colorado. "I am just pleased as peaches at everything our new President does," says Timothy Blackman from Portland, Oregon.
2.20pm:
The counter-extremist Muslim thinktank Quilliam, welcomed a nuanced change in Obama's language. In an email it pointed out that he "notably avoided any use of the term 'the Muslim world' and instead adopted 'Muslim majority countries' and 'Muslim communities'.
"There is no monolithic 'Muslim community' nor is there a singular homogenous entity known as 'the Muslim world', rather there are diverse and distinctive Muslim communities that need to be reflected in our discourse. Using the term 'the Muslim world' only serves to bolster the Islamist and al-Qaida narrative of 'the West' against 'Islam'—of a battle of 'us' versus 'them' or 'good' versus 'evil'. By omitting this, Obama has taken a positive step in the battle of ideas."
2.44pm:
Those on the right and left wings were less than impressed.
Republican Congressman Dan Burton said Obama came down too hard on Israel, and not enough on Iran.
Egyptian blogger revsocialist said it was recycled bullshit.
The posts says: "Despite what some people say, Bushama is not a good speaker. And he managed to pronounce every arabic word he included wrong."
3.00pm:
"Some Arab critics are likely to be dismayed, if not surprised, by his failure to condemn Israeli violence, especially during the offensive against Gaza this year," Ian Black writes.
3.07pm:
A new Guardian video picks out some highlights of the speech.
That's all for now, thanks for your comments.
You have characters left
Please read our community standards.
Closing this window without pressing "Post your comment" will result in your words being lost.
Are you sure?
Thank you for your comment. This has been submitted for moderation.
Your comment has been successfully posted.
Sorry, something has gone wrong and this action cannot be completed. Please try again later.