Mursi urges US to change policy toward Arabs

Egypt President Muhammad Mursi has urged the US to change its approach to the Arab world to be able to repair relations and revitalize an alliance with Egypt.
In a media interview ahead of his visit to New York to take part in a meeting of the UN General Assembly, he said the US should not expect Egypt to live by its rules as the West, underscoring a cultural divide between the two nations.
“If 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,” he told The New York Times in an interview.
“When the Egyptians decide something, probably it is not appropriate for the US. When the Americans decide something, this, of course, is not appropriate for Egypt.”
“Successive American administrations essentially purchased with American taxpayer money the dislike, if not the hatred, of the peoples of the region,” the president said.
The remarks followed days of protests rallies 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.
Mursi praised US President Barack Obama for moving “decisively and quickly” to support the Arab Spring revolutions, arguing that the US supported “the right of the people of the region to enjoy the same freedoms that Americans have.”
But he also expressed concern about the plight of Palestinians, who still don’t have their own state, the paper said.
Americans, he pointed out, “have a special responsibility” for the Palestinians because the US had signed the 1978 Camp David accord.
“As long as peace and justice are not fulfilled for the Palestinians, then the treaty remains unfulfilled,” he said.
According to The Times, Mursi said he considered Egypt and the US “real friends.”
In his interview, Mursi also reaffirmed his links to the Muslim Brotherhood.