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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 July 1999 Issue No. 436 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly 1 - 7 July 1999 Issue No. 436
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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 Special Interview Travel Living Sports Time Out Chronicles People Cartoons Letters Copenhagen reignites
Amira HoweidyAs the speakers and members of the audience walked into the headquarters of the independent weekly Al-Osbou', they stepped on an Israeli flag which had been intentionally spread out on the entrance floor. In the course of the conference, anti-Israeli and anti-normalisation sentiments were expressed by actors, actresses, members of parliament, opposition party representatives, former diplomats, writers and journalists. That was their reaction to a decision taken by the founders of the International Alliance for Arab-Israeli Peace to organise a "Cairo for Peace" conference on 6-7 July.
The alliance -- sponsored by the Danish government -- was proclaimed in Copenhagen in January 1997 by a group of Egyptian, Jordanian, Palestinian and Israeli intellectuals who issued what they called the Copenhagen Declaration. The Egyptian participants then went on to found a local association called the Cairo Peace Society (CPS).
The conference's organisers said high-ranking Egyptian, Palestinian, Israeli and Jordanian officials will be attending. Reda Helal, a founding member of CPS, said Foreign Minister Amr Moussa would make a speech before the conference, but this was denied by Foreign Ministry sources. Should the formation of the government coalition in Israel be completed before the conference, Prime Minister-elect Ehud Barak will attend, Helal said. Should he attend, added Helal, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat will also take part. Members of the Palestinian National Council and Jordanian officials were invited as well.
Helal claimed that the Egyptian Foreign Ministry "is the conference's no. 1 sponsor." But this was again denied by a Foreign Ministry official who condemned "attempts to associate the ministry with a conference with which it has no relationship." Helal said the European Union will also provide financing.
In statements to Al-Ahram Weekly, Egypt's Ambassador to Israel Mohamed Bassiouni insisted that the conference was "purely the outcome of efforts by Egyptian and Israeli non-governmental organisations." He doubted that many high-ranking Israeli figures would be attending on the grounds that the opening date of the Israeli Knesset's session coincided with the opening date of the conference.
Organising the conference in Egypt, not in Israel, is triggering the wrath of pan-Arab intellectuals and sections of the opposition press. Al-Arabi, mouthpiece of the Nasserist party, dubbed 'Cairo for Peace' "the notorious normalisation conference" and urged the Egyptian government to cancel it. The independent Al-Osbou' went even further by labelling the Egyptian organisers as "traitors". Its front-page headline read: "A black day in the history of Egypt" and "A conference for shame in the middle of Cairo." Inside, a full-page article attacking the conference listed the names of its organisers, "with the aim of isolating them," it said.
Speakers at Al-Osbou's press conference were equally enraged. Syrian actress Raghda, Egyptian actress Fardous Abdel-Hamid, actor Hamed Ahmed, former diplomat Mohamed Wafaa Hegazi, newly-elected Press Syndicate board member Hamdin El-Sabahi, Al-Osbou' Editor-in-Chief Mustafa Bakri, Nasserist MP Sameh Ashour, Wafdist MP Ayman Nour, Liberal MP Ragab Helal Hemeida, former minister Yehia El-Gamal and Culture Ministry Undersecretary Ahmed Nawar were among speakers who issued a statement condemning the "normalisation" conference.
The statement urged the government to "withdraw its support" for the conference and to prevent it from taking place on Egyptian soil. Should the conference be held, a counter-conference shall be organised at the headquarters of the Press Syndicate on 5 July, to be attended by intellectuals and the "Egyptian masses."
In any event, said the statement, a popular rally will be held at the headquarters of the Liberal Party on Saturday. It urged "citizens" to send telegrams to Foreign Minister Moussa to ask him to refrain from attending the conference. Moreover, politicians, members of professional syndicates and members of the teaching staff at Egyptian universities were urged to issue a statement condemning the "Cairo for Peace Conference." More importantly, however, the statement said its signatories will seek to establish an NGO "to defend national fundamentals." "The papers of this NGO will be presented to the Ministry of Social Affairs within the next few days," the statement said.
"The organisers of the conference are a bunch of dwarfs who want to make personal gains," actress Raghda told the audience. "Who are they working for anyway? We know the answer to this question, and it is known to everyone," she said.
The speakers denounced the timing of the conference which comes only a short time after Israel's latest strikes on Lebanon.
But Helal of the CPS dismissed the accusations, describing critics of their initiative as "a bunch of defeated former nationalists, Nasserists and fundamentalists who have no role to play anymore."
"We are a minority, it is true, but an effective one," he argued. The "others" are a minority too, Helal said, "dominating the insignificant, yellow press."
The conference will be held on time, Helal said. The recent Israeli strikes against Lebanon, he added, will not be an obstacle. "We are operating in a very hostile environment anyway; naturally, we are against the Israeli aggression on Lebanon and this will be discussed at the conference," he said.
"Cairo for Peace" will discuss five topics: the implementation of all the agreements signed between Israel and the Arabs; violence; regional cooperation; the culture of peace and Jewish settlements. The CPS was founded last year by the nine Egyptian signatories of the Copenhagen Declaration as well as 21 intellectuals, academics, businessmen and journalists. The signatories included the late political writer Lutfi El-Kholi, Egypt's former ambassador to Moscow Salah Bassiouni, head of the Al-Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies Abdel-Menem Said, lawyer Ali El-Shalakani and cinematographer Ramsis Marzouk.
The founders have been severely attacked by a large number of intellectuals who view their actions as an attempt to promote normalisation and break the "popular boycott" of Israel, which they feel should remain in place so long as Israel maintains its illegal occupation of Arab lands.
Ironically, some CPS members such as Helal refuse to travel to Israel. For Helal, this should not cause confusion. "The issue of going to Israel is unresolved and still needs to be cleared by intellectuals," he said.
