The bigger problem
The Egyptian press this week focussed on the further deterioration in the Palestinian occupied territories and Iraq, and reactions to the Constitutional Court's ruling on MPs dodging the draft, writes Aziza Sami
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Raouf in Al-Ahali shows a heavy government of the ruling party offended that this man in rags was its wide base of support; Omran's cartoon in Al-Ahram shows that who subsidies go to is the difficult question in the state's budget; Amr Okasha in Al-Wafd depicts Parliament in the intensive care unit over the issue of MPs dodging the draft
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On 22 August the national daily Al-Akhbar announced in its banner that "Israel demolishes the truce and declares outright war against the Palestinians". This came after the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Abu Shanab the day before by Israeli forces, in the wake of two suicide bombings in West Jerusalem in which 20 Israelis were killed and 100 wounded. The editorial that day in the national daily Al-Ahram, entitled "Israeli provocation, and American responsibility", criticised the US for what it considered its lukewarm efforts to enforce the cease-fire and its failure to exert sufficient pressure on the Israeli government to stick to the agreement. "The sign that there might be a return to violence between the Palestinians and Israelis did not develop in a vacuum," wrote Al-Ahram, "but is the result of a situation for which Israel bears complete responsibility. This is not simply because Israel broke the pact with the Palestinians, but also because it failed to present any sign of goodwill that it was serious about accepting the roadmap [peace plan]. Added to this is the fact that the Israeli government continued to build the apartheid 'security' fence, which very early on scuttled any hopes the Palestinians might have had for attaining a just political solution."
The US, continued the editorial, "instead of taking decisive steps towards the roadmap's implementation, made half-hearted suggestions that it was 'against' the building of the fence, with these suggestions dwindling into mere criticism of the route which the fence is taking, and not of the construction of the fence itself". In conclusion, Al-Ahram wrote, the problem is not simply with "extremist Israeli thinking", but has more to do with Washington's stance. "The bigger problem lies in Washington, whose official administration lapses into silence when Israel launches into an orgy of killings, invasions, demolition of homes and destruction of Palestinian farms. Conversely, everyone in the White House and Congress rushes to make statements of condemnation against any Palestinian reaction to the constant Israeli provocations, which have not stopped despite the fact that the Palestinians abided by the conditions of the cease-fire for over forty consecutive days."
Commenting on the bombing of the UN headquarters on 19 August, which killed more than 20 UN workers and the UN envoy to Iraq, Sergio Vieiro de Mello, Sanaa El-Said in the opposition daily Al-Wafd asked, "who stands to benefit?" The answer, wrote El-Said, is that "America stands to benefit the most from the explosion, because it does not want the UN in Iraq. The explosion also served another purpose for the US, which is to smear the 'image' of the Iraqi resistance, by indicating it was behind the operation."
On 18 August, Al-Wafd's banners announced with great fanfare that the Constitutional Court had revoked membership of parliament of several MPs who had failed to complete compulsory military service. Coverage by Al-Akhbar and Al-Ahram was more restrained, with both dailies publishing on their front pages the court's decree that "military service or exemption is a precondition for membership of parliament".
The national weekly magazine Al-Musawwar threshing out the issue, took it as its cover story on 22 August and devoted a five-page investigative report on the issue.
"The Constitutional Court decision, the last to be issued from the pen of the late head, Fathi Naguib, has thrown parliament into turmoil" wrote Al-Musawwar. "The decision will affect -- at the very least -- nine members who will leave the Assembly; 12 others, who are still under investigation, are also expected to leave." Al-Musawwar wrote that, because of the large numbers of unqualified MPs, "voices have been raised demanding the dissolution of parliament. But it is more probable that the Assembly will remain as it is, with early elections being held at the beginning of the next parliamentary session in the constituencies of the MPs who are vacating their posts." Al-Musawwar predicted that, "an emergency session will be convened by the president to look into the contested memberships". The opposition weekly Al-Arabi, mouthpiece of the Nasserist Party, on 24 August chose to highlight, in a frame, the status of the head of the People's Assembly, Fathy Sorour, whose military service status it alleged was dubious. "A suit was filed by a rival candidate in 1995 contesting Sorour's nomination as MP for the Al-Sayeda Zeinab district" wrote Al-Arabi adding that "the claimant based his suit on the fact that Sorour never produced a certificate clarifying his status with relation to compulsory military service. The suit is still circulating in the courts."
Over the week, almost every press publication featured an article on the current crisis currently undergone by the Egyptian pharmaceuticals industry, as a result of low investments and high production costs.
However, Samir Ragab, editor-in-chief of the national daily Al-Gomhouriyya, writing on 19 August, directed harsh words of censure to the pharmaceutical companies which, last week, had filed published an appeal to the president requesting a review of current pricing policies. In a "more-royalist-than- the king" fashion, Ragab peremptorily demanded whether it was "proper, what is now happening within the pharmaceutical industry in Egypt? Such "paid-for" appeals which appear in the newspapers from time to time should never be made by people who are "respectable", and who should be sufficiently aware of their own responsibilities to refrain from overstepping the mark and "marring the country's reputation!"
Ragab adds that as he had understood from Health Minister Awad Tageddin, "certain companies are not happy with the profits they are making, even though they are huge. They believe that these profits are not commensurate with the money they have invested". With a rather obscure logic, he argues that while "it is true that these companies have sustained a 30 or 40 per cent loss in profits because of the exchange rate" this still does not justify their regarding this decline "as a loss, and not the opposite!"
The writer concludes that, "such arm-twisting tactics will not do". However, softening at the end of the article, he says that "there is no problem in convening a conference between the 'appealing' companies and the ministries of health and of public enterprise, and trying to reach practical solutions which will not result in a small group enforcing its will, and will not harm the larger body of citizens".
Following its extended campaign against the Muslim Brotherhood's Supreme Guide Ma'moun El-Hodeibi, the independent weekly Sout Al-Umma on 25 August published a full-page interview with El-Hodeibi. The headline quoted the Brotherhood's leader as saying, "We want to reach an understanding with the state, but nobody listens to us." The smaller captions highlighted statements bound to raise controversy , such as that "The government might use us, but we also use it to achieve our goals" and "if a Copt steals, then according to our law, his hand will be cut off." El-Hodeibi was also quoted as saying that "the Wasat Party -- (a group of Islamist 'moderates' )-- was formed behind our backs, and so we expelled them," and, finally, "If Gamal Mubarak nominates himself [for president] along with our candidates, we will not reject him just because he is the president's son".
In typical fashion, Sout Al-Umma also speculated in its banner that " [Minister of Finance] Medhat Hassanein will form a new cabinet next October". This headline was substantiated in an incongruously short front-page news item which stated that, "Minister of Information and NDP Secretary-General Safwat El-Sherif criticised the government for its failure to face recurrent economic problems." Sout Al-Umma quoted Al-Sherif as saying that, "Governments come and go, but the NDP stays." The news item concluded that "eyes are now on Hassanein to form the next cabinet".
The front pages of both Al-Arabi and the independent weekly Al-Osbou' devoted space to Egypt's involvement in post-war Iraq. Writing under the heading "Sending Egyptians to Iraq to die instead of Americans", Al-Osbou' alleged that an "Egyptian security company" based in Alexandria is "arranging for young Egyptian men to work as human shields, protecting American and British installations in Kuwait and Iraq. This constitutes a crime, and is endangering the lives of those young Egyptian men, since those employed will not be able to refuse the tasks which Iraqis themselves have rejected."
Al-Arabi for its part, under the headline "Marketing the American occupation of Iraq" wrote that a private media company called Cairosat is involved in marketing news items on "the reconstruction of Iraq" to Egyptian and Arab satellite channels. The coverage, Al-Arabi wrote, would gradually include "the government, constitution, and Paul Bremer's role in attaining stability, security and restoring economic life, etc to Iraq". Apart from extensive quotes from the alleged letter, Al-Arabi made no commentary, except than to call it "a scandal".
