CAIRO: Egyptian politicians and intellectuals rejected a call by the American Ambassador to Egypt Margaret Scobey to discuss the crisis of civil society in the country at a meeting that was supposed to be held Sunday. Leading politicians and journalists had been invited to the ambassador's meeting, but the rejection comes on the heals of Al-Ahram's Hala Mustafa's meeting with Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Shalom Cohen, which led to much criticism for the meeting. Mustafa, the Editor-in-chief of Democracy, a publication from the semi-governmental insitution, was heavily criticized by journalists and Members of Parliament after she hosted Israeli Ambassador to Egypt Shalom Cohen at her office during Ramadan. The incident has caused widespread condemnation and anger, especially from the journalists syndicate, which considers such meetings as “normalization with Israel.†Normalization with Israel is strictly forbidden in Egypt's syndicates, including the journalists union. This means, Egyptian reporters are not allowed to interview or meet with Israeli government officials. Mustafa could be booted from the union for the meeting, some journalists have argued. Independent MP Gamal Zahran, Engineer Abou el-Ela el-Madi, founder of AL Wasat party – which has been refused a license for establishment – and Dr. Amr al-Shobki, an analyst at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, justified the refusal of the invitation by the American Embassy, saying that they “do not want to after Dr. Hala Mustafa hosted the Israeli Ambassador 2 weeks ago.” One of the invited guests, who asked not to be named, told Egyptian newspaper al-Shorouk that “it is believed that this meeting is an attempt by the American Embassy to save the face of Hala Mustafa, after the violent attacks that were directed at her during the last few days,” adding that national politicians “must not participate in the attempt after what Mustafa did.” Zahran said that he believes “normalization with Israel gives it additional age and, hence, national politicians must take a position on the normalization of such attempt by Hala Mustafa and others belonging to Al-Ahram Foundation, or to other institutions owned by the Egyptian people.” He demanded their immediate impeachment and removal from their positions as an example of what he called attempts to “legitimize the Zionist enemy. “i reject the call to protest against the presence of normalizing person and if the American Embassy wants to support her, it can look for others who accept normalization,” he added. Hassan Nafaa, a political science professor and former Al-Ahram newspaper Editor, said he did not know if Mustafa was among the invitees to the meeting at the embassy, however, he added that he was not opposed to her presence. “We boycott Israel and not accepting the call for the meeting is not a positive situation.” For her part, Mustafa told al-Shorouk newspaper that she “did not receive an invitation from the American embassy” and that she “has no idea about the names of the invitees.” Scobey had sent an invitation to a number of political figures and journalists, including Dr. Osama Ghazali Harb, and Mounir Fakhri Abdel-Nour **reporting by Mohamed Abdel Salam BM
