President Obama deservedly received a standing ovation from his audience at Cairo University today, after delivering a pitch-perfect and inspiring speech to the Arab and Muslim peoples.

The President?s words were especially significant, as they should have been, with regard to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, bluntly stating ?it is time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true,? which is that it is in ?Israel?s interest, Palestine?s interest, American interests and the world?s interests? to achieve an agreement between Israel and the Palestinians that allows for the creation of a Palestinian state. Indeed, perhaps the most significant aspect of his speech were his two references to Palestine as a state in the same context as Israel and the United States – an extraordinary step ? adding, “just as Israel’s right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine’s.” It was almost impossible to listen to President Obama’s speech without concluding that the Palestinian state constitutes a fait accompli in his own mind, and in American policy, and that from the point of view of the American President, it is only a matter of time before it is established. No doubt this an important part of what he meant when he pledged that, ?we will say in public what we say in private.?

His reference to the occupation as “intolerable” was also refreshingly blunt and appropriate, as was his rejection of Israeli settlement activity. Palestinians, he said, deserve, “dignity, opportunity and a state of their own.? The President was also quite right in stressing the need for including a central role for the Arab world in resolving the Israeli-Palestinian issue, an issue that ought to be vigorously pursued in the coming weeks and months as the Arab states have both an interest and a responsibility to step up to the mark as President Obama himself is. The President was also wise to defend the special relationship between Israel and the United States, and the need for an Israeli state, both of which reflect consensus positions in the United States and will be the basis for much of what the United States can do to secure Israeli cooperation on peace. The same applies to his principled rejection of Holocaust denial, anti-Semitism and threats to destroy Israel, and his appropriate reminder that, under such circumstances, violence is wrong, does not confer moral authority and does not succeed.

There were other important aspects of the speech, particularly the use of his own personal narrative to illustrate the extent to which Islam is and can be a part of the American story and society, and that there is no contradiction between a Muslim identity and American values and interests. He reiterated his repudiation of torture and determination to close the detention center at Guantánamo Bay, as well as his commitment to the schedule for troop withdrawals in Iraq. His distinction between the war in Afghanistan, which he is pursuing, and the war in Iraq which he is bringing to an end, was a clear indication of another important distinction between the new administration’s policies and those of its immediate predecessor. The President?s support for the principles of democracy and women’s rights received warm applause, but he was careful to note that the United States would not seek to impose its vision for how states ought to conduct their transition towards democracy and pluralism. He also was right to warn against those who would promote democracy as a tool for getting into power and then oppress others when in power, a clear reference to Islamist extremists who pose as champions of democracy without believing in pluralism or real democracy at all.

Overall, the President’s speech was exactly what was needed and would have been difficult to improve within the context of the responsibilities of that office and the political realities in which he must operate. On a range of issues — the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Guantánamo, Iraq, and changing the tone with which the United States addresses the Arab and Muslim worlds — President Obama has done his part in moving quickly to reshape relations between the United States and the Arabs. It is now time for reciprocal gestures. The most important thing, perhaps, that the Arab states can do at this stage is to take concrete, serious and practical steps support his moves on Israeli-Palestinian peace. This means stating clearly and eventually taking practical measures to live up to the spirit of the Arab Peace Initiative and demonstrating a willingness to move in the direction of reconciliation within recognition of Israel in the context of serious Israeli steps that will lay the groundwork for a peace agreement with the Palestinians. President Obama today spoke of Palestine as a state that must and will exist, but all parties must play their role in creating the political and diplomatic realities that will allow the Palestinian state to, at long last, emerge from the ashes of dispossession and occupation. The ball is now in the Arab court ? he needs and deserves their help, and they have a vital interest in providing it. Arab governments, organizations and individuals should, in their own interests, move quickly to do everything possible to reciprocate and support the President?s bold gestures.