11 - 17 April 2002
Issue No.581
|
Al-Ahram Weekly Online 11 - 17 April 2002 Issue No.581 |
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 | Current issue | Previous issue | Site map | ||
Parliamentary fury
MPs from various sides of the House joined ranks on Tuesday in their condemnation of American and British double-standards in the Middle East and in calling for an end to relations with Israel. Gamal Essam El-Din
An extraordinary session of the People's Assembly blasted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's war against the Palestinian people on Tuesday. The Assembly concluded that Sharon's "bloody slaughter" of the Palestinians is part of an American conspiracy aimed at breaking the Arabs' political will. The members accused America's President George Bush and Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair of conspiring against the Arab peoples, especially of Palestine and Iraq.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Kamal El-Shazli's criticism of America's double-standard in the Middle East was received with much applause. "Their policies are completely biased towards the Israeli enemy. We are gravely disappointed by America's failure to ensure that UN Security Council's resolutions are obeyed and to act as an impartial peace broker in the Middle East conflict," El-Shazli said. Britain's prime minister came under fire too. "Blair, you are America's lackey." Gamal Abu Zikri, a member of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) said.
Assembly's speaker, Fathi Sorour, had difficulty in preventing opposition, independent and Muslim Brotherhood MPs from having their say because of the uproar.
Kamal Ahmed, an independent MP with strong Nasserist sympathies, said "Sharon's war against the Palestinians has demonstrated to all how impotent the Arab leaders are. We have become captives of the Arab regimes, which are using criticism to cover their failures." Ahmed blamed President Anwar El-Sadat for the current situation, saying "Sadat failed to make use of Egypt's victory in 1973 war, he sold the Palestinians for peace with Israel." He suggested that "President Nasser's slogan 'what was captured by force must be restored by force' was the right strategy to face that criminal state [of Israel]." Ahmed called upon Arab leaders to "kick Israeli ambassadors out." El-Shazli's responded by asserting that El-Sadat fully utilised the 1973 victory. "Egypt restored its occupied land and this restored pride for the entire Arab world," he said.
NDP leading member Mustafa Al- Fiqi, chairman of Arab and Foreign Affairs Committees replied, "We must not let feelings govern our reactions. We have to listen to the language of wisdom and rational thinking. Expelling the Israeli ambassador from Cairo," Al-Fiqi reasoned, "could satisfy the protesting masses for the short term, but it does not provide a solution in the longer term. We have to reconcile our feelings with our interests. We have to learn the art of interest management."
The Brotherhood MPs also complained of the impotence of Arab leaders. El-Sayed Hozayen, a Brotherhood MP for Sharqiya governorate, wanted "not only severing relations with Israel, but also a reduction in diplomatic relations with America and England. "We want to cut oil sales to Americans and activate the Arab joint defence treaty." He also expressed a wish for a reconciliation between Arab governments and the Arab peoples.
El-Fiqi's reply was that keeping diplomatic relations with Israel was in the interests of the Palestinian people. "India and Pakistan were on the verge of waging war against each other but they did not speak of severing relations with each other," El-Fiqi said.
El-Fiqi's arguments failed to carry weight with some MPs, however. Mortada Mansour, an independent lawyer, demanded that the Egyptian- Israeli Peace Treaty "must be scrapped, because the gang in Israel used it ... to kill the Palestinians and conquer their land." Mansour also blasted Bush for describing Palestine's freedom fighters as terrorists.
The Brotherhood MPs Mohamed Mursi and Gamal Heshmat also insisted that the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty be reconsidered. "This treaty is not a holy book. It must be revised to see which party breached its terms," Mursi said. Musri and Heshmat both asked that weapons be given to the Palestinians. "This will not be considered a breach of the peace treaty with Israel. We also have to let Egyptian men go to fight with the Palestinians," Heshmat said.
The liberal-oriented Wafd Party applauded Saddam Hussein for cutting oil sales. "It is a courageous step and we highly praise President Saddam Hussein for adopting it," Al-Wafd's Fouad Badrawi said.
Ayman Nour, an independent, suggested sending Bush 60 million e- mails. "These e-mails will convey one message: Sharon's terrorist war against the Palestinians will hit the White House at the end," said Nour.
However, chairman of the Housing Committee, Mohamed Abul-Enein, praised President George Bush for his understanding of the Middle East conflict. "The Bush administration has yet to translate this understanding into action. It has two options: forcing Israel to withdraw from the occupied territories or losing its interests in the Middle East," said Abul-Enein.
MPs approved donating a one- month salary to the Palestinians. They said this is the least they could do.
© Copyright Al-Ahram Weekly. All rights reserved
 |
|
|||||||||||||||||
| ARCHIVES Letter from the Editor Editorial Board Subscription Advertise! |
WEEKLY ONLINE: www.ahram.org.eg/weekly Updated every Saturday at 11.00 GMT, 2pm local time weeklyweb@ahram.org.eg |
 Al-Ahram Organisation |
Recommend this page