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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 June 1999 Issue No. 435 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 24 - 30 June 1999 Issue No. 435
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Interview Travel Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters What's in a name?
Dina EzzatWhile Egyptian and Iranian officials were making positive remarks about the prospects of future relations, a new twist occurred in the quarrel over the name of a Tehran street, called after Khaled El-Islambouli, leader of the assassination squad that gunned down President Anwar El-Sadat in 1981. An ultra-extremist group, armed with a permit from the Tehran municipal administration, placed a five-floor high wall-painting of El-Islambouli in the middle of the street last week. Beneath the painting, El-Islambouli's name was inscribed, with a description of him as a martyr of Islam. There was also a Qur'anic verse, exhorting Muslims to fight the infidels.
However, an Iranian diplomatic source told Al-Ahram Weekly , "This is nothing that the Iranian government approves of, not at all. We are going to do all that we can to make sure that this situation is changed soon."
The same message was conveyed to the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. And Ali Natiq-Nouri, speaker of the Iranian parliament, reiterated statements he had made earlier about the intention of the Iranian government to look into the matter of changing the street name, if this could lead to an improvement in Egyptian-Iranian relations.
"When Natiq-Nouri, who is not exactly on the moderate side of the Iranian establishment, made these statements a few weeks ago, he came under verbal attack from the ultra-hardliners," commented an Egyptian diplomatic source. "So, for him to repeat these statements now, means that the Iranian government, both moderates and hardliners, share the same position."
On Monday, a senior Iranian official said his country wanted to re-establish closer ties with Egypt, and sharply criticised Islamic hard-liners who were trying to undermine them.
"The view of the government and the Supreme National Security Council is to move toward a comprehensive rebuilding of ties with Egypt," said Ayatollah Mohajerani, the Iranian government spokesman. He added, "The move was a clear expression of the poor taste of [a certain group] at a time when we had Egyptian guests in Tehran and a good suitable atmosphere of cooperation had taken shape."
Egypt chose not to make a fuss about the wall-painting episode. Official sources said they are aware that those responsible for the incident are opposed to the liberal policies of Iranian President Mohamed Khatami, who is demonstrating an obvious interest in mending fences with the Arab world. "We were promised that this painting would be removed soon. The proof of the pudding is in the eating," an Egyptian official said.
Only hours before the wall poster episode, Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, in response to a question, said that Egypt could not blame the Iranian state and the entire Iranian people for something said by one individual. Moussa spoke during the inauguration ceremony of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs.
Said Moussa: "Our relations with Iran are moving forward. We are working to remove the obstacles [that stand in the way], including the naming of a Tehran street after the assassin of President El-Sadat. This matter, we hear, is [under scrutiny]. We believe that reason has started to prevail."
Moussa added that once this problem is resolved, the improvement of Egyptian-Iranian relations will become much easier.
In other words, the ball is in the Iranian court.
Egyptian and Iranian sources closely following bilateral relations suggest that the quarrel is likely to be defused sooner rather than later. Some sources even suggested that the Iranian government is considering having El-Islambouli's name removed and replaced by the name of the leading Egyptian Islamic scholar Mohamed Abduh.
Sources point out that there is an increasing awareness on both sides that the two countries stand to make political and economic gains from an improvement in bilateral relations.
Akbar Ali Qassami, head of the Iranian interests section in Cairo, said that last week's episode should not have a negative impact on bilateral relations.
Moreover, Mohamed Sadiq Al-Husseini, a close aide to President Khatami, wrote in Al-Wifaq, one of Iran's widely-circulated newspapers, that the time has come for Cairo and Tehran to put differences behind them and work on improving relations.
According to Al-Husseini's lengthy article, printed on 15 June, there is an increasing awareness in Iranian political circles that relations with Egypt are of prime importance.
Iran broke off diplomatic relations with Egypt in 1979 after the Islamic revolution ousted Shah Reza Pahlavi, to whom Egypt gave refuge. Iran was also critical of Egypt for its peace treaty with Israel. Iranian officials have often argued that the farther Egypt moves away from Israel, the closer it gets to Iran.
For its part, Egypt has been very critical of Iran's attempts to export its Islamic revolution to Arab countries. But Iran is now apparently desisting from doing so as Egypt is no longer making complaints in this connection. Even better, the government has been comfortable with businessmen exploring potential deals with their Iranian counterparts. The government is also encouraging cultural exchange.
Moreover, Iran is no longer making cooler ties with Israel a precondition for warmer relations with Arab countries. Last week, Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharazi was in Jordan -- the Arab country that has the warmest relations with Israel -- for talks that were described as positive.
