The well-known Egyptian writer, researcher, and politician Osama Al-Ghazali Harb presented an explicit apology for normalization with the Israeli occupation, and for his calls for normalization with the occupation over the past fifty years, and he directed his apology to Egypt, Palestine, the people of Gaza, its martyrs, its men and its women for his position on Israel.

Osama Al-Ghazali said in his article that he published in Al-Ahram on Sunday, November 19, 2023: “This is an apology that I announce - I, Osama Al-Ghazali Harb - the writer of these words, for the position I took, as one of the intellectuals of Egypt and the Arab world, regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict.”

Al-Ghazali Harb added: “After half a century of living together and hundreds of studies, scientific research, newspaper articles, press interviews, and field visits! I remember the events of the tripartite aggression in which Israel participated against Egypt and the occupation of Sinai in 1956. I remember in detail the events of the bitter defeat in 1967. And I remember the days of the War of Attrition.” , which was followed by the glorious October War in 1973. I followed - not only as a citizen, but also as a student of political science - the courageous peace initiative announced by President Sadat and the subsequent peace agreements with Israel.”

Al-Ghazali Harb also said in his article: “Following that initiative, I visited Israel with a delegation headed by the late, great Dr. Osama El-Baz. I was optimistic after the signing of the peace agreements with Jordan (1994) and then with the PLO between Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin (Oslo 1, Oslo 2) under American sponsorship.” It subsequently endured condemnations from opponents of (normalization) from Egyptian intellectuals and professional unions, led by the Journalists Syndicate.

He also wrote: “My opinion was that after Egypt regained every inch of its land, holding its head high and affirming its dignity, it could establish and build official peace relations, with the established right of the Egyptian citizen to accept or reject them... and I was among those who accepted them, optimistic that these steps would contribute to complete peace that restores the Palestinians’ stolen rights!

He added in his article: “Today, I have followed with anger, indignation, and pain the crimes and atrocities that have happened and are still happening in Gaza that devastate humanity, in which thousands of children and women are killed, homes and buildings are destroyed over people’s heads, and the corpses of innocent people are lined up with no one to be found to bury them."

He added: "I say that I apologize for my good opinion of the Israelis, who revealed a hateful, criminal racist spirit. I apologize to the martyrs of Gaza, and to every Palestinian child, woman, and man. I apologize!"

The apology article written by Osama Al-Ghazali Harb sparked controversy among Egyptians, and journalists close to the authorities expressed their praise for “Harb’s” position. Journalist and parliamentarian Mustafa Bakri praised the apology of journalist writer Dr. Osama Al-Ghazali Harb, for his support for normalization with Israel, and his remorse for having good faith in making peace with it, after the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip revealed its aggression and genocide against the Palestinians.

Bakri said, in a post on the X website: “The apology of the great journalist, Dr. Osama Al-Ghazali Harb, for his support for normalization with the Zionist entity and his visit to Tel Aviv earlier, is a courageous and respectable position.”

As for the Egyptian writer Hamdi Rizk, he wrote in an article in “Al-Masry Al-Youm”: “With courage and ability, the great writer, Dr. Osama Al-Ghazali Harb, came out to us with an apology for his good opinion of the Israelis over the past half-century. The apology was published in (Al-Ahram) and marked with his signature, under a completely expressive title (an apology) for what he thought, appreciated, worked on, and agreed upon for part of his life.”

He added: “I wish the group (the new normalizers) and those who are on the fast path to normalization, and who repeat the Israeli narrative in absentia, like a parrot with its mind in its ears, would read the words of one of the fathers of normalization and its thinkers, and learn from the disappointment of the first normalizers.”