Education and the Israeli challenge

By Mohamed Sid-Ahmed

Indeed, the issue of developing educational systems in line with the startling scientific and technological achievements of our time is not a luxury, but a fundamental need. Whoever does not move forward in the field of education is doomed to move backwards. This is all the more true in the Middle East, where Arab societies have to face the Israeli challenge.

The Zionist fathers claimed that Palestine was a land without a people for a people without a land. This statement is obviously absurd, for the land of Palestine has been inhabited by Arabs throughout recorded history, long before the modern wave of Jewish immigrants decided to make it their home. And, though it is true that much of Arab land is barren desert, it is equally true that this land has given rise to one of the great civilisations of the world.

Still, it is worth considering whether this Zionist claim has any validity in a metaphoric sense, specifically if applied to the fields of science and education. Could it be considered, for example, as meaning that because Arab societies were unable to keep up with the giant strides in modern science, technology, and, hence, education, they left the door open for an alien society to step in and fill the gap? In this connection, it is useful to highlight two characteristics that are specific to this alien body. First, Israel has managed to square the circle by being both part of the Middle East and totally separate from it, a feat that has helped sharpen disparities in societal standards and levels of development with its neighbours. Second, the persecution of the Jews in Europe, which culminated in the Holocaust, has fine-tuned the survival instinct of Israeli society, which is in a permanent state of mobilisation and high alert. In direct contrast, Arab societies have been lulled by the trickle-down effect of oil money into a false sense of complacency that has done much to demobilise them.

If Egypt wants to break out of this rut, it will have to face the fact that a socio-economic structure in which 'strategic services' enjoy such prominence can only promote a negative mind-set. Egypt was rewarded by the summit of the international community for making peace with Israel, and, later, for its unequivocal condemnation of Iraq's invasion of Kuwait. Thanks to peace, tourism has flourished in Egypt. Although the tourist industry has been the target of terrorist attacks in recent years, these setbacks have not diminished the resolve of the international community to keep Egypt's tourism a thriving industry.

But an economy based on services does not create the incentives for developing creative thinking. Only a society excelling in productive fields and operating under conditions of stiff competition can be genuinely innovative and motivated to establish the infrastructures that can help maximise its creative potential. That is not to say that Egypt should turn its back on services industries altogether, only that it should proceed in a manner that will not compromise its pressing need to overcome demobilisation and complacency.

The challenge represented by Israel in the fields of science and education is no less acute in times of peace than it is in times of war. Newsweek once wrote that only Israel constitutes a match for California's Silicon Valley, the most advanced centre of computer research in the world. A society capable of achieving such impressive results in computer technology is capable of coping with state-of-the-art technology in any field.

In its 50-year history, Israel's relations with Egypt have gone through different phases. In a first phase, they were limited to all-out hostilities. Then came a phase of partnership, when both states had a common interest in ensuring the success of the peace process launched at the Madrid Conference. Now relations are entering a third phase of rivalry over which country will occupy the leading position in the region. Israel proceeds from the assumption that its superiority over all Arab states combined, including Egypt, is a precondition for its long-term survival in the Middle East. This assumption, held by both Israel's hawks and its doves, can only be detrimental to Egypt. The latter is aware that 60 million Egyptians cannot live within the confines of the Nile Valley and that some form of Egyptian presence throughout the Arab world is unavoidable. Egypt is also aware that pan-Arab solidarity need not be expressed only in terms of the ideological form it assumed under Nasser. Pan-Arabism can also be based on forms of economic complementarity, of pan-Arab markets, over and above its traditional sources rooted in religion, culture and history.

A showdown with Israel is thus unavoidable, even in conditions of peace, particularly in the fields of science, technology and education. As mentioned in my previous article, knowledge depends not only on objective reality, but also on the subjective perceptions of the recipients of that knowledge. Accordingly, it is bound to differ according to the specific characteristics of each society. One field where competition between Egypt and Israel is likely to become acute is that of the growing shortage of potable water throughout the Middle East, a new source of friction that could eventually degenerate into 'water wars'. Shortage of water worldwide prompted French President Jacques Chirac to convene a world conference on water in Paris last March. During his last visit to France, President Mubarak delivered an address before the French Institute of International Relations in which he called for a concerted global effort to find a way of desalinating sea water at competitive prices. Mahmoud Abu Zeid, the head of the Egyptian delegation to the Paris Conference, offered Egypt as a site for an international institute to conduct research into issues raised by water shortage.

The research would not be confined to the field of water alone, but would extend to include such fields as solar energy in a region whose climate makes it ideal for the extensive exploitation of sunlight as an economic source of energy; genetic engineering to optimise the use of low-grade desalinated water for agricultural purposes in desert or semi-desert areas; geology and further development of petrochemical industries. Research into such fields could help transform Arab oil assets from a factor of demobilisation into one of invigoration and scientific creativity.

Israel is already active in all these fields. It will not tolerate Arab projects based on such advanced science unless they are undertaken in cooperation with Israel and under its supervision. Twenty years ago, Israel had no compunctions about launching an air strike against Iraq to prevent it from developing nuclear technology. It is only if Arab parties develop scientific knowledge of their own, commensurate with Israel's in these fields, that they can meet the challenge. This they can only do if their educational infrastructure meets the requirements of the age; in other words, the issue is one of proper educational approaches before being one of correct scientific programming.