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Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian philosopher Murad Wahba, which aired on Egyptian TV on March 30, 2009.
Murad Wahba: When I conducted dialogues with [Israeli] philosophers, I discovered that there was a strong secular movement in Israel. So I said to myself that we should take advantage of this secular movement in order to move things forward for the benefit of all. But I was surprised that... When I went to Israel, they said: "We are ready to conduct a secular dialogue." But when I returned to Egypt, I naïvely tried to organize a symposium of secular dialogue between Israelis and Arabs...
Interviewer: Who would agree to such a thing?
Murad Wahba: I told you I was naïve.
Interviewer: It's a good thing you are still with us.
Murad Wahba: I was surprised to encounter complete rejection.
[...]
Interviewer: You are saying that you conducted a rational and constructive dialogue with many philosophers and enlightened people in Israel, and you encountered a very good response, right?
Murad Wahba: Yes.
Interviewer: My question about this Israeli group – regardless of whether it is large or small – is how come we never hear its voice, and all we hear is the voice of people calling to plunder the land, to violate the honor, and to annihilate the Palestinians.
Murad Wahba: You should note something very important. When I told you that I encountered a positive response, what you should have asked me, logically, was what response I encountered when I presented the same idea in Egypt. I would have told you that the response was negative. Therefore, I gave up the idea.
Interviewer: So we are the problem?
Murad Wahba: Yes, exactly.
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