22 - 28 March 2001
Issue No.526
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 22 - 28 March 2001 Issue No.526 |
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Crossing lines
A sharp rebuke of the local press by the US ambassador in Egypt has journalists calling foul. Khaled Dawoud sifts through charges of intolerance and hatred
In his remarks last week to members of the American Chamber of Commerce, US Ambassador to Egypt Daniel Kurtzer surprised local authorities and journalists by strongly condemning what he called the "government and opposition press" for its tough treatment of American and Israeli topics. Kurtzer, referring to the volatile atmosphere in the region since the outbreak six months ago of the Palestinian uprising known as the Al-Aqsa Intifada, claimed that coverage of the clashes has been inflammatory.
Daniel Kurtzer
"Some of the media commentary in both government and opposition press during this crisis [the Intifada], and in previous ones, has begun to cross two lines: instead of legitimate criticism of United States policy, anti-Americanism has begun to emerge; and, instead of legitimate criticism of Israeli policy, there has been anti-Semitism -- in other words, hostility to Jews and to Judaism," Kurtzer said. "I do not believe these views reflect the views of the majority of Egyptians or the Egyptian government," he added. "It is imperative, though, that the press and media avoid language and stereotypes that breed intolerance and hatred."
Since the signing of the 1993 Oslo peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians, coverage of Israel-related issues by the Arab press has been targeted as propagating anti-Semitism and spreading a culture of hatred, instead of encouraging peace between the two sides. In several visits by US officials and pro-Israeli groups to Egypt, delegations have presented detailed reports to President Hosni Mubarak citing scores of examples of articles and cartoons considered anti-Semitic.
But local journalists were angered by Kurtzer's direct charge and argue that it is he who has crossed a line by equating opinions expressed in the press with a campaign of incitement. Yehia Qallash, secretary-general of the Press Syndicate, labelled Kurtzer's' accusations a "direct attempt by the American ambassador to pressure the government to limit freedom of expression in Egypt." The government has traditionally ignored such demands, Qallash noted, insisting that "the Egyptian press is not under its control."
Like other journalists, Qallash accused US officials of failing to understand "the growing margin of freedom that the press has enjoyed over the past 20 years." He added that American and Israeli officials believe that papers locally referred to as the "national press" -- papers like Al-Ahram, Al-Akhbar and Al-Gumhouriya -- are "nothing but government-owned institutions, and that all journalists working there are simply government employees." But Qallash claimed this assumption was "totally wrong," noting that the national press has rivalled the opposition press in criticising government policies and reflecting the feelings of the general public.
Insulted by the implication that journalists were nothing more than propaganda machines, Qallash noted that the local press "does not need to write a single word" in order to increase the anger felt by the public regarding Israel's brutal use of force against Palestinians or towards the US policy, particularly after the recent bombing of Iraq. The pictures Egyptians and Arabs see daily on television of Palestinian children being shot dead by Israeli occupation troops "are more than enough to make everybody very angry and doubtful of any claims that Israel was looking for peace," Qallash concluded.
Echoing Qallash's sentiments, prominent Al-Ahram columnist Salama Ahmed Salama, who attended Kurtzer's talk, indicated that the ambassador's remarks were tantamount to inciting the government against the local press. "If he was not happy with something written in the press, he should speak to journalists themselves, instead of asking the government to put pressure on them," he said.
Salama suggested that US embassy staff and pro-Israel groups scoured commentary and cartoons in order to back up the claim that the Egyptian press is anti-Semitic in general. "But they ignored the fact that some of the writers they have chosen are not the most popular or influential with regard to public opinion," said Salama. "Even the ambassador himself admitted that the comments he referred to did not reflect the government's views or those of the majority of the public. So why make it an issue in the first place?"
Salama stressed that it is the right of the Arab and Egyptian press to counter international coverage of events in the Middle East with a clear portrayal of the atrocities committed by the Israeli army and show "how the people who lament Nazi practices [against Jews] are using the same methods against Palestinians." Salama also pointed out the most obvious injustice implicit in Kurtzer's reproof -- that the US embassy in Tel Aviv has never made an issue of the "articles full of hatred against Palestinians and Arabs in the Israeli press."
Informed sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that Kurtzer was particularly angered by a front-page editorial last month in the daily Al-Akhbar sharply criticising recent comments by US Secretary of State Colin Powell in which he referred to Jerusalem as "Israel's capital." Powell later sought to clarify his statement and denied that the US policy on Jerusalem has changed.
The Simon Wiesenthal Centre, a US-based American-Jewish group headed by Rabbi Marvin Hier, sent a letter to Egypt's ambassador in Washington, Nabil Fahmi, protesting Al-Akhbar's editorial. Fahmi responded that Egypt did not condone or accept intolerance of any faith. "Whether it happens in our press or whether it happens in the Israeli press, it is something that bother us," Fahmi said. But he also pointed out that even though the editor-in-chiefs of the main national newspapers in Egypt are appointed by the president, the government is not responsible for what is written in the press. Fahmi denied that Al-Akhbar or any of the other so-called national newspapers were government mouthpieces, saying that the comments "are those of journalists themselves."
Commenting on the controversy, Abdel-Moneim Said, director of Al-Ahram's Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, conceded that some writers in the local press use anti-Semitic language and that there is lots of American-bashing. But he criticised the US for making Israel a central issue in its relations with Egypt. "Israel can speak for itself," Said said. "Relations between the two countries [the US and Egypt] are so important to both sides, and there are still many aspects in which they could increase their cooperation." After 25 years of strong relations with the US, Said said that he regrets that there persists "a serious lack of understanding" on this point. "The impression in the US is that every word written in the national press reflects the official view, and that is not the case. In most cases, journalists in national newspapers are free to write what they want."
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