CAIRO (AP) - President Barack Obama told Arab television viewers that "Americans are not your enemy" in an interview aimed at repairing relations with the Muslim world that were damaged under the Bush administration.

Obama's choice to give his first formal sit-down television interview as president to Al Arabiya signalled a new American approach in the region.

In the interview, broadcast Tuesday, Obama said the US had made mistakes in the past but "that the same respect and partnership that America had with the Muslim world as recently as 20 or 30 years ago, there's no reason why we can't restore that." The new president also condemned Iran's threats against Israel, pursuit of nuclear weapons and support of terrorist organisations, but said "it is important for us to be willing to talk to Iran, to express very clearly where our differences are, but where there are potential avenues for progress."

Obama's predecessor, former president George W. Bush, launched wars in Iraq and Afghanistan that prompted a massive backlash against the United States in the Muslim world. During his eight years in office, relations between the US and Iran also grew increasingly tense - with the Bush administration often singling out Iran as the most dangerous in the region.

The interview on the Dubai-based Al Arabiya 24-hour news channel aired as Obama's new envoy to the region, former Sen. George J. Mitchell, began the administration's first Mideast peace mission. Mitchell arrived in Egypt on Tuesday for a visit that will also take him to Israel, the West Bank, Jordan, Turkey and Saudi Arabia.

In contrast to the enthusiastic reception Obama's victory has garnered around the world, the Arab world has been more cautious about the new US president - with most sceptical that American policy in the region will change substantially.

"I can't be optimistic until I see something tangible," said Hatem Al Kurdi, 35, a Gaza City engineer who saw parts of the interview. "Anyone can say nice words, but you have to follow with actions." After earlier dismissing Obama as following the same policies as Bush, officials from Hamas, which rule the Gaza Strip, softened their stance.

"In the last couple of days there have been a lot of statements [from Obama], some of them very positive, and choosing this George Mitchell as an envoy," said Ahmed Youssef, a senior Hamas official interviewed on the Qatar-based Al Jazeera news network. "I think there are some positive things we have to count." But in Lebanon, a senior official with Hamas' Palestinian rival, Fateh, was more cautious, saying he's waiting to see if Obama's words are matched by action.

"If Obama acts in this respect, this will restore positive relations between the US and Arab and Muslim countries," said Khaled Aref, a Fateh official based in southern Lebanon.

Obama's choice of Al Arabiya, which is owned by a Saudi businessman, follows the lead of the Bush administration, which gave several presidential interviews to that news channel.

"The US sees Al Arabiya as a friendly Arab channel, whereas they see Al Jazeera as confrontational," said Lawrence Pintak, director of the journalism training centre at the American University in Cairo.

Al Arabiya re-aired clips of the interview repeatedly on Tuesday, and more than 200 people posted comments about the interview on its website.

Hady Amr, director of the Brookings Doha Centre, an arm of the US think tank in the Qatari capital, described decision to make the first presidential interview with an Arabic news network as "stunning". "President Obama has made it absolutely clear... that a central priority will be repairing America's relations with the Muslim world," he said. "If that's his objective, I'd say he's been hitting home run after home run." In the interview, Obama called for a new partnership with the Muslim world "based on mutual respect and mutual interest". He cited his Muslim background and relatives, practically a taboo issue back home during his US presidential campaign.

Obama's Kenyan father was born Muslim, though a self-described atheist, and many of his relatives in Kenya are practising Muslims. As a child, Obama lived for a number of years in Indonesia, the Muslim world's most populous country.

This appeal does seem to have struck a chord among many Muslims.

"He's different from the previous presidents, perhaps because of his colour or his Islamic background. My views of America are different now than they were during the Bush administration," said Youssef Ali, 45, who works for the Iraqi electricity ministry in Baghdad.

Most of Obama's interview focussed on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which is widely perceived in the Mideast as the most pressing issue. On Tuesday, Gaza's fragile truce was threatened when a bomb detonated by Palestinian fighters exploded next to an Israeli army patrol along the border with Gaza, killing one soldier and wounding three.

Obama said he felt it was important to "get engaged right away" in the Middle East and had directed Mitchell to talk to "all the major parties involved". His administration would craft an approach after that, he said.

"What I told him is start by listening, because all too often the United States starts by dictating," Obama told the interviewer.

The president reiterated the US commitment to Israel as an ally and to its right to defend itself. But he suggested that both Israel and the Palestinians have hard choices to make.

"I do believe that the moment is ripe for both sides to realise that the path that they are on is one that is not going to result in prosperity and security for their people," he said.

In Israel, some were cautious over Obama's overtures to the Muslim world.

"There must be a guarantee that it wouldn't be bad for Israel," said Josef Alter, 51, an insurance agent from the Tel Aviv suburb of Ramat Gan.

But one political analyst in Syria was more optimistic.

George Jabbour said Obama's interview and sending Mitchell to the region "clearly reflected his interest in the Arab-Israeli conflict". In the interview, Obama also said that recent statements issued by Al Qaeda suggest that their "ideas are bankrupt". In his latest message on January 14, Al Qaeda leader Osama Ben Laden said Obama had been left with a "heavy inheritance" of Bush's wars. The network's No. 2, Ayman Al Zawahri, also has described Obama with a demeaning racial term for a black American who does the bidding of whites.

"I think the Muslim world has recognised that that path is leading no place, except more death and destruction," said Obama about Al Qaeda.