White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said Tuesday that President Barack Obama will travel to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia in early June to discuss Mideast peace with that country’s King Abdullah, ahead of a much anticipated speech Obama is scheduled to give in Cairo on June 4.

U.S. President Barack Obama meets with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (L) in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on May 28, 2009. Wading into Middle East diplomacy early in his presidency, Obama held talks with Abbas 10 days after hosting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque

He is expected to speak broadly to the Muslim world in the Cairo address and discuss hopes for peace in the region.
“I want to use the occasion to deliver a broader message about how the United States can change for the better its relationship with the Muslim world,” Obama said of his Egypt speech. “That will require, I think, a recognition on both the part of the United States as well as many majority Muslim countries about each other, a better sense of understanding, and I think possibilities to achieve common ground.”

On Thursday, Obama met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House, where he expressed categorical U.S. demand for Israel to stop settlements in Palestinian territories.

Hours before the two men met, the Israeli government rejected the demand. Israeli government spokesman Mark Regev said “normal life in those communities must be allowed to continue,” meaning that some construction will continue in existing settlements.

Obama also told reporters after the meeting that he stands firmly behind a two-state solution, Israel stopping illegal settlements and Palestinians preventing attacks on Israel.

Abbas said the Palestinian Authority will live up to all its obligations.

“We should capitalize on every minute and every hour in order to move the peace process forward,” he said, “in order to cement this process, in order to achieve the agreement that would lead to peace.”

Meanwhile, Cairo University has postponed student exams set for next Thursday and the Egyptian president’s security service took over the campus in anticipation that Obama will address the Muslim world from its main hall.

The American Embassy in Cairo did not confirm the venue, but unidentified Egyptian officials told the Associated Press that Cairo University will be the site of Obama’s June 4 speech aimed at repairing U.S. relations with the Muslim world.

The campus, which has been at the center of student pro-democracy protests, would provide Obama with a symbolic backdrop linked to liberal Arab learning.

Many expect the speech to attempt to recast the way American power and influence are viewed in the Muslim world.

“I feel I can relate to Obama. He’s African and his father is Muslim,” Abdel-Aziz Harby, a 31-year-old graduate student in educational studies told the AP. “Bush had shoes thrown at him, but that will never happen here. He (Obama) is most welcome.”

Sources: The Associated Press, Boston Globe, Washington Post and Aljazeera