Suddenly after 28 years in office, President Mubarak has decided to write an article with the title of his interrogatory piece: "How to achieve Palestinians-Israeli peace." Article experts such as Waheed Abdel Meguid, Amr Alshobki and Amr Rabie Hashim described the piece by "our colleague Hosni Mubarak" as "a response to the speech by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu," but the value of the article in my estimation does not only lie in the political content, but in the fact that the humble President took himself away from the turmoil of governance and grabbed a pen and paper and decided to write. First of all allow me Mr. President to call you a 'colleague'. I do not think that the word will anger you or belittle your worth because writing is one the most sacred instruments of governance, and the most viable and effective. Allow me the right of the fellowship to be curious and ask you the things I recognize as a professional writer, but I do not know how it will seem when the writer is a guest who descended from the highest point in the country. I know that the two presidents Nasser and Sadat wrote articles published prior to their assumption of power, or in the first years of their reign. At the time the articles were published they became a bridge between them and the citizens. So why has 'Mubarak' delayed his creative advent all these years? What is the significance in choosing this particular time? Has he given up on addressing the Israelis with the traditional methods and so placed his hand in the reigning pouch and took out this article? Does this have anything to do with the selection of the American "Wall Street Journal" for the publication of the article?
In fact, I would have liked for our colleague Hosni Mubarak to choose an Egyptian newspaper to publish his first article, although I do not know whether the owners of "The Wall Street Journal" are Jews or ordinary Americans! If they are Jewish, do they sympathize with the Palestinians or are they like Lieberman? I have rather it if Mubarak chose an Egyptian newspaper. His National Democratic Party and Policies Secretariat have many newspapers that require a speech to raise its distribution and remove it from the resolution of lying to the people, and the nonessential details of their Editors-in-Chief. Assuming that these newspapers are disliked by the President, he has the newspapers of "Sharif AlShura" all of which sneezes if the President, God forbid, catches a cold. If we assume that our 'colleague' does not like either of these two then he has a golden opportunity to start a special newspaper, however I propose he funds it himself and becomes its Editor-in-Chief. If he wants he could leave the presidency of the Board of Directors to Hassan Shehata (a football player), who was the only one capable of getting the Egyptians out from their homes and making them cry while they were waving their country's flag.
I go back to Hosni Mubarak's article and ask: What is his feeling after the completion of his writing? Did he make use of a professional writer as he does in the speeches of the summit? Has he written a draft and Al-Ahram Study Center was responsible for its wording? Then, will he repeat it so as the writing becomes a 'cultural project' for the President? This, in my opinion, is the best ending after a long history of rule that has been the subject of much criticism. Allow me Mr. President this time to stand face-to-face with you and ask a 'colleague': What drove you to write this article? Who inspired you with the idea and convinced you of its usefulness? There is no doubt that you joining the world of writers is an honor to them and endorses writing. But certainly no one told you that your descent from the tower of governance to the category of writing is more onerous than your descent to the streets in a slum area, even if you wore a magical hat that makes you disappear so please bear with me as you came with your own feet!
