Young Americans and Egyptians talk, but don't see eye to eye

From jihad to occupation – East and West define the basic terms of the Middle East debate differently.

By Dan Murphy

from the May 9, 2007 edition

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Over the weekend in Cairo, young Egyptian and American students and professionals came together in a series of meetings intended to bridge differences between the two cultures and countries. They were looking for common ground between Arab and American, searching for solutions to issues that dominate the discussion in both countries.

I was invited to attend the meetings by a friend, Rashad Mahmood of the Project on Middle East Democracy, who helped organize the three days of talks that focused on US democracy initiatives in the Middle East, the invasion of Iraq, and what the democracy advocates – both in Egypt and in America – should be doing about all of it now.

But while the gatherings were a chance for Americans and Egyptians to hear each other out on the most pressing issues in the region, and indeed for America, what I saw was a testament to the wide gulf that remains between East and West, especially when it comes to defining the basics of the debate: resistance, occupation, and terrorism.

At points, the Americans and Egyptians grew testy with one another. Many of the Americans felt ganged up on over US policies that they're not responsible for (feeding this was the fact was that Egyptian participants outnumbered Americans). Many of the Egyptians complained that basic cultural facts – the role that Islam plays across the spectrum here or the widespread anger over the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians – weren't grasped by the Americans.

"It's like they can't see where were coming from at all," said one young Egyptian woman, a recent graduate of the American University in Cairo.

A frustrated American woman said, "I feel like the cultural differences are just too wide."

As for me, I'm not convinced that the problems stemmed from diametrically opposed world views, but rather a disagreement over which side was indeed "right."

It's a lot like baseball, in a way. Just as die-hard Boston Red Sox and New York Yankees fans are on opposite sides of the Sox's last World Series victory (Was it an eternal triumph or a tragedy?), nevertheless they both love the game.

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