Egypt: The other side of Gaza’s story
“Why aren’t you as an Arab lady writing about Gaza?”
“Where are your columns about Gaza?”
“Say the Israelis are wrong!”The messages started to arrive soon after Israel’s bombardment of Gaza killed close to 300 Palestinians. Implicit was the pressure to toe the party line, Hamas is good, Israel is bad. Say it, say it! Or else you’re not Arab enough, you’re not Muslim enough, you’re not enough.
Mona El Tahawy, an Egyptian columnist based in New York, started her last article “Israel is the Opium of the People and Other Taboos”.
The last Iraeli attacks on Gaza not only had impact on the Palestinians or the Arabs but also by those living in Egypt who have witnessed a different story unfolding
The conflict that's been going on for the past 4 days in Ghaza is kind of horrific, with both sides sharing some the blame (Hamas for being its stupid and reckless self, and Israel doing it's own rendition of what the wrath of the old testament god would look like today). The Arab world decided that it will take a stand, and place the full blame on one party, and, here is the twist, it wasn't Israel or Hamas. They instead chose to blame Egypt. Sweet, huh?
“Blame Egypt: all the cool kids are doing it!”, Sandmonkey decided to title the above post.
Since Last Saturday, voices were raising against Egypt to open the borders unconditionally for all Palestinians, to stop verbal condemnation for the situation in Gaza and start taking an action.
Needless to say, that such voices were the first to accuse the Egyptian government with treason claiming that President Mubarak knew about the Israeli Attack beforehand; the thing that Livni, the Israeli foreign affairs minster,has denied herself on Al Jazeera news TV.
Furthermore, an Egyptian border officer was shot in his office by Hamas gunmen last Sunday.
Hizboallah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, conducted a speech about Gaza, asking Egyptians to go to the streets and stand against the regime, to force the regime to open the crossings unconditionally or else Egyptians will be accused of helping in Palestinian murder.
This caused a few Anti-Egyptian demonstrations to fire up in some Arab cities; resulting in theEgyptian consulate in Aden, as well Egyptian Embassies in Lebanon and Sudan being stormed by angry Gaza-supporting-protesters, who replaced the Egyptian flag by the Palestinian flag on the Consulate.
Tales of a Fattractive Egyptian Woman, wrote:
And I’m sick of the sudden “let’s blame Egypt” mentality, and not only by Hamas. I mean, good on you Arab leaders, for taking a united stand, but one against Egypt?! Storming the Egyptian Embassy in Yemen? Considering an Anti-Egypt protest in Johannesburg? Hamas killing an Egyptian border officer? Nasrallah asking Egyptians to revolt against their leaders for another country, when they aren’t even doing it for themselves?
I don’t know if y’all have realized this, but Egypt has signed an international agreement with Israel, violating it would mean war. And Egypt can’t open the borders except by agreement with the Palestinian authority, which, I’m sure you also haven’t noticed, were kicked out by Hamas!
Back to Mona El-Tahawy where she clearly points out:
It is difficult to criticize Palestinians when so many have died this weekend but the Hamas rulers of Gaza are just the latest of their leaders to fail them. For those of us who long to separate religion from politics, Hamas has given the truth to the fear that Islamists care more about facing down Israel than taking care of their people. The Palestinians of Gaza are victims equally of Hamas and Israel.
[…]
Yes, Israel’s occupation of Arab land angers Egyptians but there is absolutely no space in Egyptian media, culture or intellectual circles for discussing Israel as anything but an enemy. And neither is there an attempt to forge it.And now Mubarak, old, tired and out of new ideas, is reaping a policy that plays all sides against each other in an attempt to make his regime indispensable.
But my question to Egyptians and others across the region incensed at Israel is where is their anger at the human rights violations, torture, and oppression in their respective countries? If such large crowds turned out onto Arab capitals every week, they could’ve toppled their dictators years ago!
Again, back to Sandmonkey’s post where he justified his words saying
Heading the charge are the Jordanians, the Lebanese and the Syrians- not to mention some of our own “oh-being-arab-is-so-awesome-we-wish-we-were-arab” self-hating dicks, and some gulfies. The rationale being that somehow, Egypt is not doing enough to support the Palestinian cause, and is to blame for the Gaza blockade. The rationale completely skips that
1) Egypt tends to honor it's international agreements, even if we don’t like it,
2) The coordination for opening the border happens between us and the Palestinian authority, which was overthrown by a nice bloody coup exacted by Hamas, and
3) Hamas is the kind of Islamist terrorist organization that we don’t really wish to legitimize or support, let alone give access to a part of our country that witnessed 3 separate terrorist attacks in the last 4 years, 2 of which targeting Israeli tourists.
On a different note, Tarek highlights another aspect of the story related to media in his post “The other Gaza”, where he started by mentioning the Late Egyptian president Abdel Nasser’s experience with media.
In the early fifties and sixties, the Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser used the conflict to reach the hearts and minds of the people here in Egypt and in the whole Arab world as well. The Egyptian influence and Soft Power on all Arabs was at its best then. The wholes Arabs use to admire and look up to Egypt as leader country in the region, thanks to our media then, and for sure thanks to Abdel Nasser's speeches that made the best use of the Palestinian-Israeli conflict. People across the whole Arab world loved Abdel Nasser and Egypt, although we lost the six days war in 1967, and a significant parts of our countries were occupied.
[…]
The following president of Egypt, Anwar El Sadat, fought in 1973 to liberate our occupied land, and he succeeded in getting it back.
Tarek further comments on the nowadays “Media Game”
And since then, people everywhere started learning how to play this game. Saudis, Libyans, Sudanese, Moroccans, etc. They all learned how to play that game very well. Even someone like Saddam Hussein was considered as a brave hero by some Arabs only because he cursed Israel once or twice. They all knew that “Israel is the opium of the people”. Political leaders learned very well that they are not supposed to focus on solving the conflict, getting the Palestinian rights back, or even show the whole world that we are deprived from our rights. They knew that it is useless to focus on such stuff. All they have to do is to give speeches and portray themselves as heroes and the ones who are sympathizing more with the Palestinians. And be all here, I mean everybody, including Egypt. We all stopped caring about solving the problem and now we are caring more to show everybody that we care about solving the problem.
Some nations now know how to play the game well, while other like Egypt for example are not that good in it nowadays. And though they all are useless and do not offer any real help to the Palestinians, the ones who are skilled less in the media game now, are the ones who are being blamed the most.
At the end, Zeinobia concludes it all saying that the main problem Arabs should be focusing on now is the “Divide and conquer” policy playing out
It is true and we are seeing the division in front of us in the Arab world. I am so surprised with all these protests against Egypt and all these attacks against our embassies in all over the world where as no one thinks for a moment to protest and attack the Israeli Embassy !!??
It is strange thing that the main discussion or our main issue “Gaza” is being neglected where as the focus is on Egypt and its so-called treason.
We the Arabs did a great job for Israel as usual; we are divided as usual.
27 comments
Steve the American has the ONLY practical idea I have EVER read.I don’t understand why no one wants to see the Palestinians living somewhere in peace and security, and why all countries profess the impossible: that two growing populations can live side-by-side on a small piece of land, which is Israel, and which is not growing.
I don’t know why the world prefers to give millions of dollars to the Palestinians, and no one knows where the money goes.
Either way, Gazans and W.Bankers have nothing. If all the world did not want them to live in miserable limbo, Jordan, Egypt would have offered to make them full citizens.
It seems the Palestinian issue is something the other countries want to keep exactly as it is-festering, unsolved, and used for their own politics when the time suits them.
And the Palestinians are just too blind to pursue their own good-they don’t want good peaceful lives for their families, they just want to defeat Israel.
that’s a good recipe for never-ending poverty, death, and zero quality of life.
Others take advantage of the Palestinians, and the Palestinians enthusiastically let them.
I totally agree Steve and Terence. This would allow all of the Middle East to contribute toward the betterment of the Palestinians. I fear that this will never work because it is too simple and too logical.
Egypt cannot be responsable for Gaza situation, but can be more supporting. Not only Egypt, all muslim countries should stand up side by side with Palestinians, who are the real victims.
Why to make agreements with opressors? Isn’t it better to make agreements with your brothers? In Prophets’s life (SAW) how this situation could be seen? How he SAW would react? For sure not blaming others, but calling to reason, justice and if war were the only solution, he would go for it witout fearing any one. Why now Muslim countries are affraid of talking and/or faithing?
O.K, without going as far, why Muslim countries are affraid of say openly what is going on? to imposse themselves against who ever can stop the aid they are sending?
Why to ask permission to invasors? Why if the enemy say ther is no way to stop the attack… every one should accept it as the last word? Be brave. Do not forget to pray. God will do better.
I would like to see this bloody mess stopping right now. It is extremely sad to see so many children, women and men die for nothing but stubbornness and false proud and honor. This applies to both sides, no doubt about that.
What are the real intentions of the people in charge at Hamas and the Israeli government?
If Palestinians want to live in peace, why on Earth do they still support Hamas and let them fire rockets at Israeli people? Will they never learn that Israel is overreacting and killing even more Palestinians?
This all looks like a medieval vendetta between two families. You killed one of ours, we will kill two of yours! That will teach you to leave us alone! And after a while both families cease to exists because they simply rely on the thought that the other one will at some point start to learn and change while they at the same time reject the whole idea of learning and changing themselves.
I have no idea if democracy is what it should be in Palestine and if Hamas has been elected in a legally correct and fair process. But if that was the case, people are now exactly getting what they asked for. And the same applies to Israel. Do you want to stop this fighting and achieve peace? Really? Then you should start to vote for parties that claim to be striving for this very goal and not give your vote to the political forces that want to fight on and insist of the fact that this is all your land and no one else is allowed to live here, especially when it comes to different religions.
I pray for the families that lost their sons, daughters, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers and people they loved, both in Israel and Gaza and wherever this example of human dumbness caused death and injuries.
How long do *both* sides *want* to continue to live in terror and sadness because they want to force the other side to change instead of start changing themselves?
Heiko from Germany says: “I have no idea if democracy is what it should be in Palestine and if Hamas has been elected in a legally correct and fair process. But if that was the case, people are now exactly getting what they asked for. And the same applies to Israel. Do you want to stop this fighting and achieve peace? Really? Then you should start to vote for parties that claim to be striving for this very goal and not give your vote to the political forces that want to fight on and insist of the fact that this is all your land and no one else is allowed to live here, especially when it comes to different religions.”
If the voting was not tampered with, then you are correct. As to any peace, hardliners in Israel and terrorists in Palestine do not to peace make. I about fainted when Israel started moving backward and then Hamas won an election!?!
Our voters did the same thing, and then the ones who didn’t vote due to apathy and discouragement, realized what the consequences were. Two wars, economic disaster, and global hatred. We only have ourselves to blame and to shame.
Hopefully we are moving in the right direction with President Elect Obama. I think the Israelis realize this, and that’s why they are making a move now. Death due to politics? God, Allah, Yahweh, Help Us!!!
Nabeela says: “O.K, without going as far, why Muslim countries are affraid of say openly what is going on? to imposse themselves against who ever can stop the aid they are sending?”
Well I think there are two reasons: terrorists attacks in their own country for giving an opinion and; yes, aid.
Arabs are very good at blaming themselves. The case of scapegoating Egypt is very interesting. I think there is an improvement here. Arabs always blame Israel or the Zionist states for all the ills of the muslim world, one of them being the pride. Anyway, I see this as an improvement because the blame has shifted from the zionist state toward the quasi-secualr quasi-muslim state of Egypt (I am using these terms because Egypt is a not a sharia run state)
My point is that this is an improvement. I am hoping that whem the next bloody war accurs the blame may overwhelmingly go to Hamas, which is to say that Hamas would be blamed for not doing what it was suppose to do (which is to liberate all muslim lands under occupation). This is only a prediction. If this comes true, then I must thank Egypt for accepting to be and being a scapegoat (as a transition) for million of muslim fanatics who cannot bring themselves to accept that wars would not liberate anything. It would destroy everything….
Hold on Egypt, you are playing one of the best role ever played by an arab country. My respects goes for you.
Well come to think of it, some other predatory muslim nations like Syria and Iran and their foot soldiers cronies in Lebanon (hizbollah) and Gaza (hamas) may be using this (balming Egypt) as to distabilize Egypt and bring chaos to that region, while they stay unharmed and sheltered. Syria has left all of its Golan Heights occupied by israeli forces, yet we do not hear any voice of liberating this strategic lands. All called for war against Israel go to other places. This is very convenient for Syria isn’t it?
It was Egypt who suffered the most during the six day war and I am not sure they will let themselves be brought again into this mess in order to play the role of the savior of the arab-muslim cause. Let Hamas fight if it wants to fight.
Redouane says:
“I am hoping that whem the next bloody war accurs the blame may overwhelmingly go to Hamas, which is to say that Hamas would be blamed for not doing what it was suppose to do (which is to liberate all muslim lands under occupation).”
When Hamas stated that they were going to run for election, they were asked if they could stop their terrorists factions. They stated that could, and further went onto say that they were prepared to take care of the people and infrastructure of Palestine (and were doing so at the time).
Redouane says:
“If this comes true, then I must thank Egypt for accepting to be and being a scapegoat (as a transition) for million of Muslim fanatics who cannot bring themselves to accept that wars would not liberate anything. It would destroy everything….” “Hold on Egypt, you are playing one of the best role ever played by an arab country. My respects goes for you.”
This I think goes to prove that went Hamas says jump nobody says how high. It is not enough to be Hamas anymore after what has happened during their rule especially humanitarian spending rather than purchase of more sophisticated weaponry.
I agree with you Redouane.
Egyptians should not fall into the trap of saving the ill faded notion of arab-muslim unity. It is dis-unity not unity. Everyone is on its own when it comes to muslim-arab unity. Blaming naother arab nation comes eas, like the arab proverb goes: “..the camel does not see his huntch, he sees only the huntchs of other camels” as a way to laugh at them.
Egypt has its peace treaty with Israel. It got back the occupied Sinai. That’s called diplomacy. When you know you cannot win land by force of war, human beings created diplomacy. Now it is time for Syria to do the same or else let it liberate the occupied Golan Heights and stop exporting wars to other small dismal territories like south lebanon and Gaza.
i really love this article.
i am israeli and may disagree with some notions but, wow, it is so refreshing to read such great article.
as mentioned, the egyptians may not like israel but, they are responsible enough to know that hamas is a much greater enemy.
be real, in iran you get stoned to death for stealing bread.
women have no rights and are considred slaves.
is that the life you want? if answer is yes, then, continue blaming israel. if no, then do not legitimize hamas.
they bring iran to the palestinian peopple.
as an israeli, i wish all palestinians a bright future with prosperity. for hamas, i wish nothing but destruction.
hamas is the enemy. you all know we israelis see hamas as an enemy but, i think it is time you see hamas as your enemy as well,