Nevine El-Aref asks what Daniel Barenboim's Cairo Opera performance implies for normalisation Conductor Daniel Barenboim's first ever performance in Egypt is tonight. The famous musician's concert at the Cairo Opera House, a collaborative initiative of the Spanish and Austrian embassies and the Ministry of Culture, has sparked controversy in Cairo's Middle East politics-vexed public sphere. "I am not here to represent the Israeli government," the Argentine-born Barenboim, who holds Argentinian and Spanish as well as Israeli and Palestinian citizenship, said Wednesday at a press conference in the Austrian Cultural Forum. "I am here as an individual who has been very critical of the Israeli government." And Barenboim's supporters point out how vocal he has been about the injustices of Israel, condemning the occupation of Palestinian territory and the ongoing spread of settlements -- which put him on the wrong side of the Israeli government on many occasions. Barenboim's Egyptian opponents, on the other hand, question his decision to hold onto Israeli citizenship, pointing out that his visit to Egypt, the first such, may be intended to furtively normalise relations with Israel -- a step Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni, along with the vast majority of intellectuals, formally rejects. Hosni's critics ask whether inviting Barenboim to Egypt is a nod on his part to the pro-Israel-dominated US political sphere, with a view to gaining favour regarding his nomination to the post of UNESCO director-general. "I will not accept such a visit or such a performance," the well-known writer Youssef El-Qaeed declaimed. "And don't tell me that Barenboim has a Palestinian passport or that he was a close friend of Edward Said's. I still will not accept it. The visit seems ill- timed in the wake of the Gaza War," El-Qaeed went on. "And if the invitation came from the Austrian Embassy, then let the performance be held within its premises. Barenboim's position is just not clear enough for me to see this project as innocuous." Pointing to Hosni's "firm stand" against normalisation, El-Qaeed added, "Why this person at this time, I just don't know." Yet the better known novelist, Gamal El-Ghitani -- also the editor of the cultural weekly Akhbar Al-Adab -- takes the opposite stand: "Had it been 10 years ago, it would have been perfectly fine. As it is this visit looks like an electoral manoeuvre in Hosni's candidacy for UNESCO director- general, which it is not. This is not normalisation and it's a dangerous wager to say that it is. This conductor is a hugely important figure who has always supported peace and spoken out against Israeli aggression in the Middle East. We cannot oppose someone because of their religion. Barenboim is a citizen of the world with a Palestinian as well as an Israeli passport. I personally have nothing against him." In this context El-Ghitani suggests that it may be time to review the normalisation debate in the light of global developments: "Should I meet an Israeli counterpart at a conference, do I walk out or confront him and put across my point of view?" Intellectuals should convene and draw up committees to discuss the issue, El-Ghitani went on. "To be perfectly frank with you," he confessed, "I want to visit Ramallah to support the Palestinians there and the reason I cannot is that it will release a Pandora's box of criticism on me. Barenboim is my friend because he was Said's friend. Said is the one who showed us that Barenboim is respectful and supportive of the Palestinian cause -- that he was no Zionist." Novelist Ibrahim Aslan agrees, suggesting that the Arab Writers Union should hold a meeting to reconsider normalisation. "It saddens me deeply," he says, "that no one was able to share in the Palestinians' celebration of the choice of Jerusalem as capital of Arab culture this year." The well-known journalist Assem Hanafi goes even further, explaining that refusing to let an anti-Zionist figure perform in Egypt is to realise Israel's wishes. "All I can say," he says, "is that this is an excellent opportunity and I have already booked my seat." The head censor, critic Ali Abu Shadi, feels that "what we have to go on" is Barenboim's stated position on the Arab-Israeli conflict. "If it is in support of the Arab cause and Palestinian rights, I am all for the person. If it is not I am against him -- even if he is the most outstanding artist on earth." To the claim that it is an electoral manoeuvre on the part of Hosni, Abu Shadi exclaims, "normalisation of what? And to what end?" Over the 20 years of his term, Abu Shadi points out, Hosni avoided every kind of cultural normalisation, expressing the majority position of intellectuals. As Hanafi explains, had Hosni wanted to normalise relations, he could have allowed Israelis to participate in the Cairo Book Fair or the Cairo Film Festival -- in order to promote his UNESCO nomination. For show host Wael El-Ibrashi, Hosni has always been in a no-win situation: when he stands by the Arab cause, he is accused of anti-Semitism; when he invites an anti-Zionist Jew, he is accused of "appeasing Israel". It is a line of thinking Hosni himself agrees with. "Why reject Barenboim," the minister wonders. "He is with our cause and he is not doing this for the sake of fame but because he is already famous. He embodies a cultural value that can only benefit our orchestra and audience." Yet there remains the question of the word "normalisation" itself and what it entails. El-Ibrashi, for example, says he is staunchly against normalisation, but points out in the same breath that this position is in dire need of practical clarification: "What exactly should it entail to be against normalisation? At any given time, what are the rules?" Visiting Ramallah was once normalisation, now it is not. "According to my current understanding of the term," El-Ibrashi concludes, "we should be against whoever holds Israeli citizenship and not let them into our Opera House. To me, that remains a kind of normalisation."
