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Following are excerpts from a public address delivered by Egyptian presidential candidate Muhammad Salim Al-Awa, which was posted on the Internet on March 12, 2011:
Muhammad Salim Al-Awa: We want a relationship of equals with the West, and especially with the US. We do not want the American ambassador to tour Egypt from east to west, and meet governors, heads of boroughs, and elementary-school principles, in order to monitor what is done with the American aid. We do not want that aid. This wealthy people is capable of being self-sufficient.
Ambassadors are not allowed to leave their residence, unless they inform the Foreign Ministry which sends someone to accompany them. The American ambassador travels all over Egypt without supervision, without informing anyone, and nobody knows what she is saying. Enough said. We don't want this to continue. This must stop.
We want normal relations with Israel. This probably sounds very strange to you, coming from me, so let me reiterate: We want normal relations with Israel. Israel is an enemy, with which we have a truce. It is an enemy!
Applause in the crowd
Israel is an enemy, with which we have a truce – it is not a friend, it is not an ally, and we do not have a peace treaty with it. This is a truce, and it is as temporary as all truces. Throughout history, there hasn't been a single treaty that was not torn up by one of the parties to it. Oh Egyptians, make sure that the Zionists do not tear up this treaty before you do.
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The normal relations we want with Israel will not be achieved by normalization, but through the affirmation of the enmity, not with hugs or secret phone calls, but by placing Israel in its normal status: the enemy of all the Arab and Muslim countries, and Egypt first and foremost.
We want to have normal relations with all the forces of the resistance – Hizbullah, Hamas, the Islamic Jihad, and the PFLP. We are the home from which the resistance must set out. We are the cave in which the resistance finds shelter in difficult times. We are the source that supplies the resistance with money, men, and weapons.
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Brothers and sisters, we want normal relations with Iran. Iran is not our enemy. It is not a Jewish or populist country. Iran is a country with a culture, with civilization, and with Islam, and it wants to spread them.
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