Cairo's answer to 'Peace Now'

By Nevine Khalil

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After five months of preparations, the Cairo Peace Movement (CPM), a non-governmental organisation, was launched formally at a press conference last week, with its founders pledging that it would work to promote stability in the entire Middle East and not confine itself to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The CPM was founded by the nine Egyptian signatories to the Copenhagen Declaration as well as 21 other leading intellectuals, academics and businessmen. It will serve as "a forum for enlightened thought," its founders said. The CPM, which describes itself as "an academic and research centre", advocates a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East, especially the creation of a Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, full withdrawal from the Golan Heights and southern Lebanon and unconditional implementation of all UN resolutions.

The CPM aims to carry out research, hold seminars in order to "disseminate a culture of peace with the aim of achieving comprehensive development", exchange visits with similar societies and establish a specialised library. Funding for the movement will come mainly from Egyptian donations and a membership fee of LE10 per year. It is yet unclear whether the government will subsidise the movement, as is the practice with some other licensed non-governmental organisations. Foreign donations are also acceptable, but have to be cleared by the Ministry of Social Affairs. A budget of as much as LE1 million is anticipated within a few months, and it is expected membership will rise to as many as 300 soon.

The CPM took only five months to come into existence -- a relatively short time for any non-governmental organisation to receive a license from the Ministry of Social Affairs. Founding members debated at length whether CPM would be independent of Copenhagen, or the Egyptian chapter of Copenhagen, finally deciding that it will serve as the think tank for the Egyptian chapter of Copenhagen, but will not limit its work to the Arab-Israeli conflict.

The signing of the Copenhagen Declaration in January 1997, which created an "International Alliance for Arab-Israeli Peace", triggered a fierce debate in Egypt. The Egyptian signatories included renowned Al-Ahram columnist Lutfi El-Kholi, Egypt's former ambassador to Moscow Salah Bassiouni, Abdel-Moneim Said, head of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, prominent lawyer Ali El-Shalakani and cinematographer Ramsis Marzouk. The Egyptian signatories were a target for heavy-handed accusations of betrayal, and are still today regularly denounced in many intellectual circles for allegedly normalising relations with Israel -- a charge they hotly deny.

The Cairo Peace Movement is for "all peace-lovers in Egypt," according to Bassiouni, the movement's chairman.

"Now we have new tools to manage the Arab-Israeli conflict," said El-Kholi, "since the obsolete tools of sloganeering have proved useless".

"In general, Egyptian public opinion wants a just and comprehensive peace, and we represent a large majority of Egyptians," Bassiouni said. "We will be able to communicate with other peaceful groups in Israel, Europe and the US which reject the current Likud government's policies." He added that the Cairo Peace Movement does not intend to work with government officials, either in Israel or elsewhere.

Although the peace process will be a top priority, the aims of the movement transcend the Arab-Israeli conflict, and it plans to deal with other issues plaguing the region, such as the unrest in Algeria and the UN sanctions imposed on Iraq and Libya. "Since we are promoting peace in the Middle East, the Arab-Israeli conflict is of primary importance," noted Abdel-Moneim Said, "but there are also other conflicts in the region." The Cairo Peace Movement will also address the issues of military imbalance in the region, economic conditions, security and stability.

"We believe that, from a purely Egyptian point of view, for this country to develop and acquire a good standing in the international arena, we need a stable and peaceful Middle East," added Said. This aim will be pursued through dialogue, mediation, seminars, studies, "by all the means that NGOs can use -- pamphlets, books, magazines."

Armed with what is already an ambitious agenda, the Cairo Peace Movement will work to create a specialised research centre on Israeli society, as well as opening dialogue with other peace movements around the world. "The Cairo Peace Movement has a purely Egyptian position," Bassiouni asserted.

The CPM research division will focus on Israeli society, in order to collect a strong database on its people, the dynamics of their society, and the nature of different political groups. Said, who will chair the CPM research body, contrasted it with the strictly academic Al-Ahram Centre, for example, by saying that "it will be an advocacy group which looks at policies and ways to resolve conflicts, and act accordingly."

"The Cairo-based group will work on ideas and research, not politics," asserted El-Kholi. "CPM will provide information and data about the various forces in Israel with which we could coordinate." The research programme will also carry out studies and surveys inside Israel, "something which is not possible for other study centres," he added.

A lot of work still lies ahead for the members of the Cairo Peace Movement. Major tasks in the near future include defining the structure of their organisation, expanding its budget and, of course, improving their image with the public.