A prominent Egyptian historian took to national television last week to make an unusually open and robust case for Egypt to "drop the Palestinian cause and normalize relations with Israel."

In a lengthy interview with Egypt's Mehwar TV on May 28 - segments of which were translated by MEMRI - historian Maged Farag insisted it was time for Egyptians to leave "the old ideology and cultural heritage on which we were raised" - namely, rabid anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism - in favor of a more rational focus on Egypt's own national interests.

"What I'm saying is that we should pay attention to the interests of our country," he told his interviewer.

"There are no such things as eternal enmity or eternal love.There are only eternal interests. We should identify our country's interest. Churchill once said that he was ready to cooperate with the Devil in the interest of his country. As a man who knows a little bit about history and about international relations, I believe that it is in our interest to maintain normal relations with Israel."

Noting that in practice there already is close cooperation on security, political and other issues between the two countries' respective governments, Farag asserted: "The state is not the problem. The problem lies with the people, who still live the old ideology and the cultural heritage on which we were raised. Our generation was raised upon hatred and upon these people being barbaric..."