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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 21 - 27 September 2000 Issue No. 500 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 21 - 27 September 2000 Issue No. 500
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Elections Development Region International Economy Opinion Culture Features Special Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters Plain dignity
By Amira HoweidyCaptain Ali Murad was just an ordinary pilot working for the national carrier, EgyptAir, until last week, when he became a national hero. Appearing on state-run television and dominating the printed media throughout the past week, the "story of the pilot" continues to be told and re-told with great relish.
Murad, 42, who flew an EgyptAir plane to Gaza airport on 8 September, was baffled when three Israeli trucks packed with armed Israeli soldiers surrounded the plane as soon as it landed. It was Murad's first flight to Gaza. When he was informed that these armed soldiers intended to inspect the Egyptian plane, he immediately contacted EgyptAir headquarters in Cairo. All he received, Murad said, were "vague replies." So, he contacted the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv, which sent him an embassy diplomat. When Murad asked the diplomat if armed Israeli soldiers should be permitted to inspect the plane, the diplomat did not reply and disembarked the plane. Meanwhile, the soldiers attempted to come on board, Murad said.
"I refused. This was an Egyptian plane, which means it's Egyptian land under Egyptian sovereignty and I had no instructions to allow this to happen," he told Al-Ahram Weekly.
The Israelis reacted by refusing to allow the passengers who were bound to Cairo to board the plane. Murad flew a passenger-less plane back home.
The incident remained low-key until EgyptAir practically suspended Murad from work by refraining from assigning him to flights. Because the passengers who were not allowed to board the plane had already purchased EgyptAir tickets, Murad was accused of causing the carrier financial loss.
The incident has, since then, taken on unexpected dimension. Murad's stance was hailed as an act of patriotism. Many newspaper editorials and columns praised the pilot. "Egypt cries out: we are all Murad," said the Nasserist mouthpiece Al-Arabi newspaper. The independent Al-Osbou summed up the situation on Monday in the following words: "He defended Egypt's dignity... And consequently, EgyptAir punished him." The incident at Gaza airport was dubbed the "Gaza Operation." The newspaper dedicated three full pages to the pilot under the slogan: "Defending Egypt's dignity". And on Tuesday, Al-Ahram columnist Fahmy Howeidy published an article under the title "In defence of pride." Murad's face lay on the cover of Akher Saa'a and Al-Mussawar magazines. 'The tears of a wingless pilot", said Akher Saa'a.
Although Murad says he has no political affiliations and is not a member of any political party, his story appears to be of paramount importance to many political groups. Al-Arabi, run by a new editor, Abdallah El-Senoussi, who is attempting to revive the heydays of Nasserism, seemed to revel in the incident.
The Nasserist Party was quick to establish "The Ali Murad Solidarity Committee". A few days later, Al-Osbou invited the press, public figures, politicians, poets, actors and actresses to attend a rally honouring the pilot.
The dramatic rhetoric that was used aside, the Al-Osbou rally turned into a feverish event opposing the normalisation of relations with Israel. The fact that it coincided with the 18th anniversary of the Sabra and Shattila massacre of Palestinian refugees in Beirut, which was orchestrated by Israeli invasion forces, added fuel to the fire.
"But this is what it's all about," former UN official Ashraf Bayoumi told the audience. "Despite all the peace culture that the Education Ministry is feeding our people, they know where to place Israel... Murad [acted this way] because he behaved with nationalist zeal."
Speakers such as veteran cinema actress Nadia Lutfi said that until she watched Murad on a national television show last week, she had felt "depressed because I was under the wrong impression that the new generation didn't receive proper nationalist upbringing. Now I can rest assured this isn't true." Turning to Murad, she added, "your mother breast-fed you right." This was met with applause from the audience.
Exaggerations? Political games? "No, not true," responds Al-Osbou editor, Mustafa Bakri. "I don't see why this noble pilot should be punished by EgyptAir and I don't see why we shouldn't support him in whichever way we can," he told the Weekly.
Al-Osbou's rally had become a platform for speakers to sample what many described as "a taste of victory". To the speakers, who accumulated a general sense of defeat after the 1956 and 1967 wars, as well as the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, Murad is a synonym for resistance. "Yes, we're defeated," said Bayoumi, "but I don't accept defeat."
The rally featured a recital of a sarcastic poem by Abdel-Rahman El-Abnoudi, read out by himself. "I wrote this poem after the signing of Camp David I (in 1978) and I think that it still means a lot today," El-Abnoudi said.
Related sites:
Al-Osbou
Egypt Air
