Obama renews vow of "new beginning" with Muslims

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama on Monday renewed his commitment to a "new beginning" with the Muslim world, vowing no let-up in U.S. efforts to promote Middle East peace, curb militant violence and boost economic development.

Seeking to build on his outreach to Muslims in a speech in Cairo last June, Obama used a U.S.-hosted Muslim business conference to underscore what his administration has done so far and to pledge further work to overcome mistrust.

While Obama has made progress toward mending America's image in the Islamic world, he still faces stiff challenges in his handling of the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process, the nuclear standoff with Iran and wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"I knew that this vision would not be fulfilled in a single year, or even several. But I knew we had to begin and that all of us have responsibilities to fulfill," Obama told the Presidential Summit on Entrepreneurship.

The focus on business development marked the Obama administration's strategy of trying to broaden the conversation with Muslims beyond the "war on terrorism" that dominated the Bush-era approach and alienated many.

But, speaking to an audience of 250 business people from more than 50 countries, Obama also waded into some of the hot-button issues between Washington and the Muslim world that he acknowledged "have often been a source of tension."

Many Muslims are especially disappointed by Obama's failure so far to advance Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking despite promising in his first days in office to make it a high priority.

He assured his audience he would not abandon U.S. diplomatic efforts, which have been stymied by a dispute with Israel over Jewish settlement building and divisions among the Palestinians.