' on the website Liveleak. Approximately 15 minutes in length, the film shows Qu'ranic quotes intermingled with clips and images of violence arguing that Islam incites people to violence.
In anticipation of the film's release in late March 2008, CAWU organised a delegation of Islamic and Christian leaders to come to Cairo on March 24 to March 28. The delegation consisted of:
- Dr. Bas Plaisier, Secretary-General of the Protestant Church in the Netherlands
- Mr. Ahmed Driss el- Boujoufi, Chairman of the Contact Committee, Muslims and Government
- Mr. Abdelmajid Khairoun, board member of Contact Group Islam and Chairman of the Dutch Muslim Council
- Mrs. Zainab al- Touraihi, Secretary of Contact Committee, Muslims and Government
- Dr. Marzouk Aulad Abdellah, Lecturer at the Free University in Amsterdam
- Father Dr. Ton van Eijk, Secretary-General of the Dutch Council of Churches
- Mr.Jielis van Baalen, delegation member for the Protestant Church in the Netherlands
"
The main message that the delegation seeks to send to the Arab and Islamic world is that the Dutch men of religion, as well as many people, refuse the content of the offensive film and also the statements of the producer," said Dr. Bas Plaisier, head of the delegation and secretary-general of the Protestant Church in The Netherlands. The high-level delegation met with representatives of the three major Christian churches in Egypt, students of Cairo University, and the shaykh of the Azhar.
The meeting was presided over by Dr. Hassan Wagieh of al- Azhar University.
To see what delegates told the media, click
here.
We also took part in the lively discussion at Cairo University on 8 April 2008.
Two days later, on the 28 March 2008, CAWU released a petition to the Dutch Parliament in protest against the actions of MP Geert Wilders and his polarization of dialogue between Muslims and Christians and the Arab World and the West. It was signed by 97 individuals including professors from the Azhar and Cairo Universities, members of the ENAWU network, journalists, students and representatives from all the Christian denominations in Egypt; Coptic Orthodox Bishop Marcos, Coptic Catholic Bishop Qulta, head of the Coptic Evangelical Community Council (Maglis el- Milli) Rev. Dr. Safwat al- Bayadi. We would like to thank all signatories for responding in such a short span of time!
The petition was taken back to the Netherlands to hand to Mrs. Gerti Verbeet, chair of the Dutch Parliament (Tweede Kamer der Staten Generaal) by Rev. Dr. Bas Plaisier. Read more about the petition
here.
On June 3, 2008, the Dutch Parliament confirmed the delivery of the petition from the Center for Arab-West Understanding.