OF the many regional problems facing Egypt and requiring its intervention, the veteran writer Mohssen Mohamed referred yesterday to the three issues of Palestine, Sudan and Yemen. In his column in Al-Gomhuria newspaper, the writer affirmed that for Palestine in particular, Egypt could not turn its back on the Palestinian Cause, because it directly reflects on Egyptian national security. “One shouldn't forget the strong ties connecting Israel to the US. Thus, no one could work at solving the Palestinian problem without considering the American role,” he wrote. “The question is why couldn't US President Obama put pressure on the Israeli Premier Benjamin Netanyahu to stop settlement building, just as former US President Dwight Eisenhower once did with the then Israeli Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion to withdraw from Sinai in 1956?” the writer asked. Mohamed noted that if Obama sufficiently pressurised Israel into suspending the building of settlements, he could get closer to achieving peace in the Middle East. “However, Obama still has the problem of the Palestinian division and Iran's hands in the region. Egypt realises all these circumstances and so it takes its decisions with great caution,” he remarked. Egyptian caution and transparency Similarly, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, writing meanwhile in Al-Ahram newspaper, urged Egypt to show both caution and transparency while presenting and announcing its new negotiation plan to resume the stalled peace process. “Although the precise details of the plan have not yet been revealed, Egypt still aims to open the blocked tunnel of peace talks,” he wrote, adding that Egypt is calling all parties to start debating the most difficult problems first. He specifically referred to the issue of the borders and determining the timetable needed to fulfil a final peaceful settlement to the conflict. He continued: “With Egypt's full right to speed up in reaching a final comprehensive settlement to the Palestinian Cause, it should still be very cautious and show full transparency in dealing with it for two important reasons.” The first of these reasons is the nature of the Israeli premier, whose vision totally differs from that of Egypt, especially in his insistence on swallowing up a large portion of the West Bank and excluding Jerusalem from any talks. “The second reason is the Palestinian division that opens the gate for Israel to evade sitting at the negotiation table with the claim of the non-existence of a Palestinian partner to sign a peace deal with,” he stated. Good intentions are not enough Also writing yesterday in a similar context, Ibrahim Nafae referred in Al-Ahram to the recent statements made by Khaled Meshaal, the chairman of the Political Bureau of Hamas in Damascus, as well as the Head of the Government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyah. They expressed readiness to sign reconciliation pacts with the other Palestinian factions and the need to ensure the commitment of all parties to the suspension of military acts against Israel so as not to subject the Gaza enclave to a new Israeli assault. “Meshaal and Haniyah's statements could form a good chance to end the Palestinian division and form a national unity government,” Nafae wrote. However, he expressed suspicion over the good intentions of the two officials of Hamas for their similar repeated statements without adopting honest policies to enforce them. He finally asserted that if Hamas is serious about its attitude, the movement should present evidence to back it up by arresting the persons who killed the Egyptian soldier on the Egypt-Gaza borders last week. Turkey's active regional role In Al-Shorouq independent newspaper, Fahmi Howeidi continued his criticism of the diminishing role of Egypt in the region compared with Turkey's. He referred to the policy adopted by the Turkish government of the Justice and Development Party since taking rule in 2002 and which aimed at settling all kinds of problems and enhancing co-operation in all fields with its neighbours. “During a recent visit to Beirut, the Turkish Prime Minister reached an agreement to cancel visas between the two nations, a step that followed similar decisions that were taken between Turkey and both Syria and Jordan,” the writer pointed out. “This means that movement of individuals and commodities would be free between these four countries to form the nucleus for a new common Arab and Islamic market serving around 100 million persons.” The writer then affirmed that this active Turkish role in the region did not aim at creating a strong Sunni block led by Turkey to counter Iranian ambition. “Instead, Turkey enjoys a strong relation with Iran because of its dependence on the Iranian natural gas, along with signing some 40 co-operation accords with Tehran in different fields as well as 100 accords with Iraq!” Excessive sense of power Also writing on Turkey, the strategic military analyst Mohamed Abdul-Moneim commented on the growing political tension between Ankara and Tel Aviv after long years of good relations and co-operation especially in the military field. In his column in Al-Akhbar, Abdul- Moneim quoted the recent statement made by the Turkish premier in Lebanon. He had announced that Israel was threatening world peace with “its excess use of power against the Palestinians, its repeated violation of Lebanese air and water space and its refusal to reveal its nuclear programme”. The writer attributed the present tension between Tel Aviv and Ankara to the excessive sense of power that encourages Israel not to listen to any political directives or advice, even if being issued from Washington itself. Poisonous ideas Commenting on the Naga Hamadi incident, when some Christians were killed, or wounded on Christmas Eve, Nabil Omar wondered in Al-Wafd opposition newspaper if Egypt really had managed to win the war on terrorism and extremist organisations. “It is true that courageous security men managed to break and end the presence of the terror attacks by these extremist groups,” he conceded. “However, we haven't yet gotten rid of many of their poisonous ideas that they planted in Egypt”. The writer noted that some of these wrong ideas regard Christians as aliens that should not enjoy any rights, while they are partners to the Muslims in the life and governance of Egypt as the constitution ensures. “On the other hand, there are many Christians who see the Muslims as predecessors of the Arabs who came with the Islamic invasion to turn the Christians into a minority suffering discrimination,” he stated. He observed that this was not true as “most of the present Muslim Egyptians were sons and daughters of Egyptian Copts who converted to Islam in the early years of Islam in Egypt”. Also writing on the Naga Hamadi incident in Al-Masry Al-Youm independent newspaper, Amr el-Shobaki maintained that it would be added to the sectarian tension that reflect a governmental failure in dealing with this serious issue file, which is becoming a time bomb in the society. “This criminal act makes the State face a new kind of violence, as it wasn't preceded by differences over the building of a church or the spread of a rumour about a love affair as occurred in some previous cases,” he warned. “Instead, this time we are facing random retaliation, that even if related to the accusation that a Christian man raped a Muslim girl, victims that were targeted still had no connection with the perpetrator.” “Egypt needs an education curricula free of any sectarian sedition and a unified law for building places of worship,” he advocated. It also needs to set rules for building churches with the aim of worshipping God only. Wishing for alms! Meanwhile, the satirist Ahmed Ragab wrote in Al-Akhbar congratulating the Government-owned Eastern Tobacco Company for obtaining loans totalling some LE2.6 billion from eight banks and companies to create its new complex in the Sixth of October Governorate. “On this occasion we wish that some million pounds of these funds had been allocated (as giving alms) to creating a large hospital for chest diseases to treat the consumers, and we won't mention paying the funeral cost!” he sardonically noted.
