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Following are excerpts from an interview with No'man Gum'a, former Egyptian Wafd Party leader, which aired on ON TV on February 23, 2011:
No'man Gum'a: There is no war between Iran and us. Why should we be hostile to Iran? I'm not saying we should form a coalition with it, but why be hostile to it? How come we have an embassy of Israel? How come Ben Eliezer, who buried Egyptians alive in the 1967 war, and unleashed rabid dogs to devour them, is welcomed [in Egypt] with hugs and kisses, yet we boycott Iran, Hizbullah, and Hamas? Why? We should be having normal ties with them.
Interviewer: Do you think that the foreign policy of Egypt will change?
No'man Gum'a: It must change because we should not be boycotting anyone. The Camp David Accord is still in effect, but this should not prevent us from saying to Israel and the US that a reexamination of this accord is needed, because it discriminates against Egypt, which cannot deploy forces in Sinai, whereas the Israeli forces are deployed along the border. It is necessary to reexamine the accord, but in principle, we will not renounce it. If we do not keep our international commitments, the world will turn against us.
We are not hostile toward the America people, but toward the policy of the US administration, which vetoes the demand to cease building settlements in the lands that are Palestinian according to the Partition Plan. The US itself told Israel not to build settlements, but it continues to do so, even though the entire Security Council is in agreement, and the US alone imposes a veto.
What kind of a friendship do we have with [the US] then? Why is Egypt a friend of the US? Because it gives us 1.5 billion dollars? Brother, we should turn to all those [ministers] who stole billions, and ask them to give us 1.5 billion every year from the money they stole, and we won't have to take aid from the US, and we will hold our heads high. We can build Egypt by ourselves, and we don't need aid from anybody.
If the US wants to treat us with respect, we will pay it in kind, but when we see that the US continues to support Israel, that it displaced the Iraqi people and killed 1-1.5 million Iraqis, using mercenaries, and banished three million people, including at least half a million Egyptians… They are the ones who talk about human rights, while they maintain Abu Ghureib and Guantanamo…
As far as I am concerned, the US does not deserve a thing, unless it respects my rights. If it does not, I will not have anything to do with it.
Interviewer: But the US supported the youth in the revolution.
No'man Gum'a: It did so because Hosni Mubarak was over and done with, in their view. They squeezed this lemon dry.
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