RIYADH - President Barack Obama launched a landmark Middle East trip on Wednesday to reach out to the world's Muslims, but earned a swift rebuke from Osama bin Laden in a stinging new audiotape.

Obama arrived in Riyadh to a red-carpet welcome and a kiss on both cheeks from Saudi King Abdullah, a key regional power-broker who also serves as protector of the two holiest sites in Islam.

But minutes after Air Force One touched down, a new tape surfaces from the Al-Qaeda chief who joined a battle for the hearts and minds of the Arab world, by accuseing Obama of perpetuating former president George W. Bush's policies.

"He has followed the steps of his predecessor in antagonising Muslims ... and laying the foundation for long wars," bin Laden said, referring to deadly clashes in Pakistan between the US-backed government and Islamist militants.

"Obama and his administration have sowed new seeds of hatred against America," said the Al-Qaeda leader whose network carried out the 9/11 attacks in the United States.

The latest tape came as Obama and King Abdullah were to hold talks at the monarch's sprawling farm outside Riyadh, which represent Obama's first foray into tricky personal diplomacy in the region, after a flurry of talks with Middle East leaders in Washington.

On Thursday, Obama will travel to Egypt, another pillar of the Arab world, to deliver a personal appeal for reconciliation to the world's 1.5 billion Muslims, and hold his first talks with President Hosni Mubarak.

King Abdullah has been seeking to relaunch a 2002 Arab-backed Middle East peace initiative, which has been praised by the Obama administration.

But it was unclear whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's tough stand on settlements would scupper US hopes of convincing the Arab world to make concessions towards Israel to inject momentum into the process.

Obama signalled in a US radio interview before leaving Washington that he would keep pressing Israel on the issue, despite an emerging rift between the two close allies.

"I've said very clearly to the Israelis both privately and publicly that a freeze on settlements including natural growth is part of those obligations."

The Saudi initiative calls for full normalisation of relations between Arab states and Israel, a full withdrawal by Israel from Arab land, the creation of a Palestinian state and an "equitable" solution for Palestinian refugees.

Obama was also expected to use the talks with King Abdullah, whose country is OPEC's top exporter, to push for stability in oil prices and production.

His trip comes amid a building confrontation between his administration and the Israeli government over settlements and Netanyahu's refusal to publicly endorse a two-state solution.

It also coincides with rising concern in the largely Sunni-ruled region over Shiite Iran's nuclear drive.

"King-Obama summit, key to global stability," Saudi newpaper Okaz proclaimed as Obama made first major foray into the Middle East, following a surprise visit to Baghdad in April.

Egypt's state-owned Al-Rose al-Youssef warned Obama not to lecture.

"Don't be biased towards Israel, don't interfere in countries' internal affairs and don't give lessons in democracy," it said.

Obama's speech on Thursday at Cairo University fulfills a campaign promise to address the of giving an address to the Muslim world after relations soured over the deeply unpopular Iraq war, the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal and the Bush-era stalemate in Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking.

In Israel, there was concern his outreach to Muslims could come at the expense of the US-Israeli alliance.

"The American president has the right to try to reconcile with the Muslim world and compete with Al-Qaeda or Iran for its heart," said Transport Minister Yisrael Katz, a close Netanyahu ally.

"We have to make sure that this will not harm our common interests."

The son of an Kenyan father with Muslim heritage, Obama spent part of his childhood in majority-Muslim Indonesia. His middle name Hussein, which sometimes was seen as a liability on the campaign trail, doubtless will be viewed more charitably in many venues during his Middle East travels.

But some democracy campaigners in Egypt raised concerns at Obama's choice of venue for his major address, saying it rewarded an authoritarian regime wit ha poor human rights record.