We are proud to have studied in your country and hope to continue to be proud of it. We followed your election campaign and admire your frankness and transparency. You have the right to want to place America first, but it will only be first by protecting the principles and values that make it great.
Your recent statements suggesting that solving the problems of the Middle East can only come by dispossessing the Palestinians of their land and removing them from their country to other countries or by taking their country from them have profoundly shocked us.
The statements are against American values and are against the values of your country’s founding fathers and human rights.
We expected that you would suggest a project that the US would participate in with the Arab and other countries to rebuild the homes, schools, hospitals, churches and mosques that have been destroyed in Gaza by the Israeli Army and to find the loved ones of the Palestinian population who are still buried under the ruins.
As a woman in a man’s world, and as a Christian in a predominantly Muslim country, I particularly appreciate the policies of our President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi, who guarantees freedom and human rights to all citizens equally. We support the policy of our president in refusing to countenance the displacement of the Palestinians from their homeland.
The Palestinians are human beings who have the right to remain in their country. Two members of our group have suggested that while their country is being rebuilt they could be hosted in your country, perhaps in Texas or Arizona or some other state until it is time for them to return.
The war between the Israeli government and Hamas has been responsibly for the deaths of some 60,000 people, the majority of whom are women and children. Those that remain do not deserve to lose their country. They have the right to self-determination, and they want to stay in their homes.
We feel sure that the American people who elected you do not approve of what is happening in Palestine, a country recognised by the international community. We suggest that you implement principles associated with former US president Dwight D. Eisenhower, who helped states to live together side by side in peace.
History proves that enemies can become friends. Cooperating with the Arab countries to make Gaza into a Middle Eastern Riviera is a good idea provided that it remains part of Palestine within the framework of the two-state solution and with guarantees on the limitations of armed forces and weapons that should apply to the two states equally.
We do not wish to see a return to the era of colonialism and occupation.
We ask God to protect you and your family and to guide you to the right decisions. We call on you to do the right thing in order to retrieve our admiration of you and your country.
Professor Leila Takla
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* A version of this article appears in print in the 13 February, 2025 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly
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