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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 April 1999 Issue No. 424 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 8 - 14 April 1999 Issue No. 424
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Profile Features Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Wali takes legal action
against Al-Shaab
By Gamal Essam El-Din
Following a three-month campaign by Al-Shaab, the bi-weekly mouthpiece of the Islamist-oriented Labour Party, Youssef Wali, the deputy prime minister and minister of agriculture, has decided to take action against the paper. Wali, who also serves as secretary-general of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), filed a complaint with the prosecutor-general, accusing Al-Shaab of libel. He said a series of articles published by Al-Shaab between December 1998 and March 1999 "went against all rules of press freedom and ethics".
Youssef Wali
According to Wali, the articles contained information and statements aimed at slander and defamation, rather than serving the public interest. "This is evident from the severity of the language, the abundance of uncorroborated claims and attempts to incite public opinion [against Wali]." The climax of the campaign, he said, was the newspaper's claim that he committed high treason.
The anti-Wali campaign revived memories of a campaign Al-Shaab launched against former Interior Minister Hassan El-Alfi in the summer of 1997 -- but with one major difference: El-Alfi was accused of using his influence to amass wealth illegally. The anti-Wali campaign has focused on the issue of normalising relations with Israel. Al-Shaab claimed it was making "war against a network in the ruling NDP and Agriculture Ministry which exceeded all limits in normalising relations with Zionists."
The accusations levelled against Wali have been both political and economic. The newspaper claimed that he established a relationship between the Agriculture Ministry and the Israeli Mossad, as well as a lobby within the ministry and the NDP to normalise relations with Israel. The newspaper also alleged that Wali allowed Israel to deliver as many as 50,000 tons of rotten seeds to farmers in Egypt and Jordan with the aim of damaging agriculture in the two countries. Furthermore, Al-Shaab also claimed that an American committee, consisting exclusively of Jewish experts, was appointed by Wali to map out Egyptian agricultural policies. Another allegation made by the newspaper was that Wali coordinated with the Interfaith Peace Centre, run by former Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, to promote bio-technological cooperation between Egypt, Jordan, the Palestinian Authority and Israel to allegedly provide Israel with its water requirements through what is called the Middle East and Mediterranean Desert Development Programme.
In addition, it claimed that Wali commissioned Israeli companies to establish a computer network for the Agriculture Ministry and the NDP. "The network connects the agricultural research centres with the Mossad," the newspaper alleged. It also claimed that Wali organised a large number of visits by young members of the NDP to Israeli kibbutzim. The newspaper went as far as to claim that Wali was of Jewish origin.
At a recent meeting of parliament's agriculture committee, Wali denied that his grandfather, Mizar, was Jewish. He said "Mizar" was originally the name of a pond surrounding the land owned by his family in the governorate of Fayoum and which was later bestowed on his grandfather. Wali described his grandfather as a patriot who financially supported the Orabi revolution against British invaders in 1882. But he insisted he would use all types of agricultural technology, including Israeli technology.
Many MPs from the ruling NDP supported Wali for lodging his complaint with the prosecutor-general. Mohamed Gweili, chairman of parliament's proposals and complaints committee, said the campaign had exceeded all acceptable limits. "Wali is a symbol of the ruling party. The campaign targeting him should not be tolerated because it is designed to defame the entire party," Gweili said.
Fayez El-Tikhini, another NDP deputy, described Wali as being sincere and honest. "The campaign against him is unfounded. We all know that his agricultural achievements are unprecedented," El-Tikhini said.
Ragab Hmeida, the sole representative of the Liberal Party in parliament, praised Wali for "making great achievements in Egyptian agriculture." Other deputies, mostly independent and opposition, were not as sympathetic. Ahmed Taha, an independent, said, "Normalising relations with Israel should be the subject of debate in all parliamentary, political and information circles. The campaign against Wali throws again into sharp focus the dangers which the normalisation of relations pose to national security. I am sure that all of Egypt is against normalising relations with Israel."
For Yassin Serageddin of the liberal Wafd Party, Al-Shaab's attack on Wali should be taken seriously. "All economic observers know quite well that agriculture is the one sphere in which normalisation with Israel has taken great strides," he said.
Ibrahim El-Nimiki, deputy chairman of parliament's legislative committee, told Al-Ahram Weekly, "It is a grave development for a newspaper to direct a charge of high treason against a senior government official. Levelling such an accusation can only be done by the People's Assembly," he said.
Makram Mohamed Ahmed, chairman of the Press Syndicate, said he had informed Al-Shaab's chief editor, Magdi Hussein, that the newspaper's campaign "violated professional ethics and a code of conduct".
Some political analysts believe the campaign was the result of an internal feud within the Labour Party. One analyst said the campaign was masterminded by the party's secretary-general, Adel Hussein, to promote the chances of his re-election at a forthcoming party congress in mid-April.
