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Egypt\u2019s new president, Mohammed Mursi, urged the United States late Saturday to change its approach to the Arab world to be able to repair relations and revitalize an alliance with Egypt. <\/p>\nEgypt\u2019s new president, Mohammed Mursi, urged the United States late Saturday to change its approach to the Arab world to be able to repair relations and revitalize an alliance with Egypt. <\/p>\n
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Mursi will travel to New York on Sunday to take part in a meeting of the U.N. General Assembly. <\/p>\n
\u201cSuccessive American administrations essentially purchased with American taxpayer money the dislike, if not the hatred, of the peoples of the region,\u201d the president told The New York Times in an interview. <\/p>\n
According to the paper, he was referring to U.S. backing of dictatorial governments in the region and Washington\u2019s unconditional support for Israel.
The remarks followed days of violent anti-American protests in Cairo sparked by an amateur anti-Islamic film posted on YouTube. During these events Mursi called on demonstrators to show restraint while condemning the film ridiculing the Prophet Mohammed. <\/p>\n
Mursi praised U.S. President Barack Obama for moving \u201cdecisively and quickly\u201d to support the Arab Spring revolutions, arguing that the United States supported \u201cthe right of the people of the region to enjoy the same freedoms that Americans have.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he also expressed concern about the plight of Palestinians, who still don\u2019t have their own state, the paper said. <\/p>\n
Americans, he pointed out, \u201chave a special responsibility\u201d for the Palestinians because the United States had signed the 1978 Camp David accord, which called for Israel\u2019s withdrawal from the West Bank and Gaza to allow for full Palestinian self-rule.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs long as peace and justice are not fulfilled for the Palestinians, then the treaty remains unfulfilled,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
According to The Times, Mursi was evasive when asked if he considered the United States an ally. <\/p>\n
\u201cThat depends on your definition of ally,\u201d he said, adding that he considered the two nations \u201creal friends.\u201d<\/p>\n
The issue was thrust to the forefront of bilateral relations earlier this month, when President Obama suggested that Cairo was neither an ally nor a foe.<\/p>\n
State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland and other top administration officials then tried to distance from Obama\u2019s comment by acknowledging that officially Egypt was still \u201cmajor non-NATO ally.\u201d<\/p>\n
Egypt was granted such status under U.S. law in 1989, allowing it to enjoy a close relationship with the U.S. military, along with other allies including Australia, Japan, Jordan, Israel and Thailand.<\/p>\n
In his interview, Mursi also reaffirmed his links to the Muslim Brotherhood, a religious organization viewed by many in the United States with suspicion. <\/p>\n
\u201cI grew up with the Muslim Brotherhood,\u201d the president said. \u201cI learned my principles in the Muslim Brotherhood. I learned how to love my country with the Muslim Brotherhood. I learned politics with the Brotherhood. I was a leader of the Muslim Brotherhood.\u201d <\/p>\n
He also pointed out that the United States should not expect Egypt to live by its rules as the West, underscoring a cultural divide between the two nations.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you want to judge the performance of the Egyptian people by the standards of German or Chinese or American culture, then there is no room for judgment,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen the Egyptians decide something, probably it is not appropriate for the U.S. When the Americans decide something, this, of course, is not appropriate for Egypt.\u201d <\/p>\n
Mursi initially sought to meet with President Obama at the White House, The Times said, but he received a cool reception, and the idea was dropped. Obama thanks Mursi over embassy protection<\/strong> Obama\u2019s rival in the U.S. presidential race, Mitt Romney, called for a tougher line with Egypt after protesters scaled the compound wall and tore down the U.S. flag on Sept. 11.<\/p>\n Police clashed with demonstrators for four days after that incident and barriers were erected to stop them getting near the compound.<\/p>\n In a letter, Obama repeated Washington\u2019s condemnation of the film and said he looked forward to working with Mursi to build on the \u201cstrategic partnership,\u201d Mursi\u2019s official Facebook page said on Sunday.<\/p>\n \u201cIn his letter, President Obama thanked the Egyptian president for Egyptian efforts to secure the mission of the United States in Cairo,\u201d according to the site.<\/p>\n Egypt was a close ally of the United States under Hosni Mubarak, whose 30-year rule was ended by a popular uprising last year. The U.S. government, a major aid donor to Egypt and long wary of Islamists, only opened formal contacts last year with the Muslim Brotherhood, the group that propelled Mursi to power.<\/p>\n Obama told a Spanish-language network this month that the United States did not consider Egypt\u2019s Islamist government either an ally or an enemy.<\/p>\n When asked whether he thought of the United States as an ally in an interview with the New York Times published on Sunday, Mursi said: \u201cThat depends on your definition of ally.\u201d Egypt\u2019s new president, Mohammed Mursi, urged the United States late Saturday to change its approach to the Arab world to be able to repair relations and revitalize an alliance with Egypt.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2278","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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Meanwhile, Obama thanked the Egyptian president for securing the U.S. Embassy during the protests against the film.<\/p>\n
Source: Al Arabiya.net<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"