As an Egyptian I am totally frightened by the situation in the past couple of days in Sinai and along the border with Gaza. This is not an over alarmist position. The situation in Sinai now poses the greatest threat to Egypt’s national security.
Immediately after electricity was cut from Gaza we saw a movement by Palestinians towards the Egyptian borders. At first came the women and after them the militia men started blowing up holes in the border which led to the situation going totally out of control and an estimated 700,000 Palestinians entering Sinai.
The Egyptian President gave a speech in which he stated that Egypt would not allow the starvation of Palestinians. Although it was clearly a late attempt to show that he was in control and that he had let the Palestinians in, his words gave me no relief. The situation continued to escalate and more holes were blown on the border and more Palestinians came in. The border became a joke as it became a freeman’s land allowing even Egyptian bloggers to enter into Gaza and meet Ismail Haneya. This is in itself a joke. I mean the guy that is supposedly the second sought man by Israel after Nasrallah is easy to locate and sit with. Where are those supposed assassination attempts by Fatah that Hamas was screaming about just a few days ago? More hilarious is that Ismail Haneya, seems to be having a lot of free time to sit with bloggers. Instead of doing his job the guy is giving interviews.
I am honestly disgusted of those Arab Nationalists, Socialists and Islamists who have been screaming for decades about Egypt’s National Security. They have been giving us lectures in strategy and nationalism and that Egypt’s national security is not limited to its boarders. Whether they talked about Palestine as a national security issue for Egypt, or they reached the Pakistani boarders, they continued to argue for national security for Egypt and have made Egypt pay for 59 years with its own blood and wellbeing for the greater Arab Cause. What shocks me is that when Egypt is itself under threat they have shut up and called for demonstrations against the Egyptian government and its position in Gaza. I am the last person on earth to support the Egyptian government, but seriously what do you want them to do Mr. Heakal and the rest of the so called experts? Do you want us to take them all in???
It also is quite surprising that just 1 day after the electricity shut off, thousands were storming the borders. I mean with all due respect to everyone, people do not starve in 1 day!!!
I am not against letting people in. Egypt is bound by international law to take refugees fleeing, but I seriously question the way this was done. People crossing any border should be at least be registered and searched. Israel has been arguing lately that Egypt is not doing enough in stopping weapons smuggling through the tunnels. Now with the situation being complete chaos on the borders there is no way to stop the weapons going in or for this matter going out.
Any Palestinian crossing the border could take with him weapons and explosions and supply them to Al Qaeda affiliated groups in Sinai. With Al Qaeda reportedly being active in Gaza this scenario seems very possible. Even if it was not Al Qaeda, Gaza is full of weapons and not just by Hamas. Weapons are available there for every street gang and organized family crime. Can anyone take the risk of some El Kassam rockets being available to be fired at Hotels in Sharm El Sheikh. In addition to this it would be interesting to see how the situation on the borders is affecting Tourism in Sinai. Egypt is heavily dependent on Tourism income and any drop in Tourists would have a huge effect on the Egyptian economy.
Even if my fears of weapon smuggling and terrorist acts prove to be premature, there is no way to determine that the people crossing into Sinai do not include thugs and thieves.
Once again no one is saying that Palestinians should starve or die. If the situation inside Gaza proves to be a humanitarian crises, a humanitarian action should be considered not on the bases of Arab Nationalism but on pure humanity. In that case humanitarian assistance going to Gaza or some cases that need medical assistance going into Egypt is expected, but before they are let in an action plan needs to be formulated that takes into consideration the humanitarian situation and more importantly Egypt’s national interests and security.
Gaza should not be turned into Egypt’s problem. Israel since its disengagement and withdrawal from Gaza has been looking for ways to deal with it. With the world viewing Gaza as still Israel’s problem, Israel has been looking for ways to officially disengage from Gaza. Noah Pollak and David Hazony have written excellent articles on the matter in contentions. Although worth reading is Alex Fishman’s piece.
Is Egypt ready to take responsibility not just for a short period, but permanently for Gaza? Are we ready to deal with the situation there?
The current situation allows Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to go on with the Peace process and reach a 2 State solution, while Egypt willingly or unwillingly is left to deal with Gaza, whether by assuming control there as it did before 1967 or by taking a huge number of refugees on a permanent basis inside Sinai, from the already overpopulated Gaza.
In whose interest is this?
It defiantly is not in Egypt’s best interests.
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looks like someone is trying to play a 25th hour reverse Moses with Gaza situation. As of the Arab nationalists, I am sure they will formulate a position once things are back under control. Through their history they were never famous for anticipation. In fact, Egypt's leftists, Arab nationalists suck so much because they have no operational capability whatsoever. They don't stand out for their organizational prowess.. Ironically, they themselves suffer from the same ailment they criticize the government for: too much talk and very little action... Harsh but true.
One thing we agree on, Samuel, is that this is not in favor of the Egyptian regime with its current alignment. So one point taken from the regime. Who is going to win this point is still open for speculation.
This is the first time I ever write responding to any of Sam’s articles, be them his own words or just forwards. Many hardcore discussions and arguments have taken place on this mailing group in response to various controversial issues, be them religious or political, and yet, I have never found the necessity to comment. The reason for this may be the fact that I always held the belief that there are others that share my same beliefs and stands on these discussed issues be them religious or political. But now, it seems I have to speak up, simply because I have to be the voice of the disenfranchised. I have to take on the role and for the first time ever speak out, not as an Egyptian which is the overwhelming part of my identity, but as a Palestinian.
P.S.: I am not one of those Palestinians who see that Palestine should come first and foremost despite anything. I truly believe that every country, its leadership, and its people, should do what’s best for their own country’s best interest. As an example, I don’t see Egypt’s peace with Israel as a sell-out to the Palestinians. In fact, I see it as one of the few moves that was done by any of this country’s presidents for the benefit of the country itself.
In reference to Sam’s article “It’s Egypt’s Security Stupid!,” I find both the overall message of it as well as the contents and details of it shocking and nonfactual. From the very beginning the article starts off with the fact that “the situation in Gaza now poses the greatest threat to Egypt’s national security.” I truly do not know what to say. If Palestinians, along with their border crossing, are now Egypt’s greatest national security threat, then that must mean only one of two things: First, that Egypt has solved every single problem it has, both internally and globally, including the deepening poverty, the increasing illiteracy, corruption, lack of democracy/freedom of speech/freedom of religion, power transition, even traffic and other problems, and then put a concrete and eternal end to its problems with Israel (including the continuous killing of Egyptian soldiers on the borders by Israeli snipers) and other neighboring countries, and by doing so, has become problem-free, and therefore this border crossing is a disastrous break to that Utopia; or second, that Egypt is so weak that it can’t bring to an end the border crossing of hundreds of thousands of hungry, siege-broken individuals whom most are women, children, and old men. I truly believe that both points are not true. First, Egypt does still have all these problems I mentioned and they create a greater threat both on the short and long terms. And second, Egypt is definitely not that weak or else we would be facing a huge problem of trying to stop almost 2 million registered Israeli soldiers with full weaponry if the Israeli army ever decides to cross and invade.
“The border became a joke as it became a freeman’s land allowing even Egyptian bloggers to enter Gaza and meet Isamail Haneya.” Sam, the border has always been a joke; it’s simply the first time that non-Israelis are allowed to have a laugh because of it. Israelis as you know are allowed to travel freely into Egypt without any requirements except a distant show of the cover of their passport. Egyptian border police are not allowed to search them; and in return, they (Israelis) are allowed to freely import to us drugs and HIV/AIDS. But that’s ok. It’s the terrifying 70 year old Palestinian woman that we should be afraid for Egypt’s security from. In addition, I don’t see how you use the entering of Egyptians into Gaza as a proof that the borders are a joke. Egyptians should be allowed to travel out of their own country and its borders anytime they want. I believe that’s one of their basic rights as citizens the last time I checked. It’s the closing or opening of the other (receiving) country’s border that becomes the question of the joke. This brings me to what might be the most shocking point to me which is ironically even off topic. “More hilarious is that Isamil Haneya, seems to be having a lot of time to sit with bloggers. Instead of doing his job, this guy is giving interviews.” Now I’m not a personal fan of Haneya’s, but correct me if I’m wrong, what’s the mistake of sitting with bloggers? Aren’t bloggers the new media? Aren’t they the new non-corporate voice of the common people? Aren’t bloggers the ones responsible for exposing the misdeeds of many governments including this one (Egypt’s)? Isn’t one of your closest friends, Wael Abbas, the winner of the 2007 Knight International Journalism Award, CNN’s Person of the Year Award, and BBC’s Most Influential Person 2006? Didn’t “bloggers” in general win an award last year for breaking the silence and reaching places and voices others never did? Wait a minute, aren’t you yourself a blogger? Isn’t this why you became a blogger? To make interviews and get information. And to make interviews, don’t you need people to interview, especially influential people so that it attracts readers? Don’t politicians make interviews to be heard and have their message reach out? I know you’ll say “well he’s in the middle of all this and he has time?” Yes, because again, bloggers are respectable people whom many see as the true non-corporate voice with whom their message can reach out. So I wonder how you make fun of “sitting with bloggers” as if they’re children on a field trip and the Manager of the Museum should not waste time on them. And by the way, if he hadn’t had the time to sit with them or even just didn’t want to sit with them, he would’ve still received a negative comment in your article.
“Arab Nationalists, Socialists, and Islamists…made Egypt pay for 59 years with its own blood and well being for the greater Arab cause.” Now I’m not as knowledgeable as you are in geography, but I don’t think that Egypt is located in the Bahamas and that those “Nationalists, Socialists, and Islamists” went and pulled it off its comfortable place under the sun on that island and shoved it into a fight that’s not its own. I believe that Egypt’s location, culture, heritage, religion, and history had a say and role in its entering of that “59 year” struggle. These wars were at the gates, actually on the lands of Egypt, and it had the most to lose. This doesn’t mean that Egypt has not done anything for the Palestinians. To the contrary. I truly and firmly believe that Egypt, both as a country and people, has done more to the Palestinians than any other nation. But no one fought a war that was not theirs. No one died for something their country or religion did not ask them for. No one went out of their place or country to fix a problem that was not directly affecting them.
“Do you want us to take them all in???” Not once did I hear anyone from the Palestinian side, politician or on-foot-border-crosser, ask Egypt to take all the Palestinians in. Nowhere has it ever been mentioned. If this was the case, those Palestinians wouldn’t be already back or on their way back to Gaza by now, and more importantly, they would’ve asked for it months or years ago instead of bearing all this ongoing torture and humiliation.
“It is also quite surprising that just 1 day after the electricity shut off, thousands were storming the borders. I mean with all due respect to everyone, people do not starve in 1 day!!!” I don’t see where is that “due respect” Sam. If your information is wrong in the first place then you have not given these people their “due respect”. Thousands were not storming the borders after 1 day of no electricity. It was a few days. It was a few days in the midst of the coldest winter known to our region in our lifetime. It was a few days of that coldest winter without any source of energy including fuel and even fuel-oil (mazot). It was above and beyond all this, not even a few days, it was 8 months of the worst siege and blockade known to man as put by many of the international humanitarian organizations. It was 240 days of starvation. It was 5760 hours of unemployment, deteriorating healthcare, and dying babies. It was 345,600 minutes of the darkest and harshest conditions any human being can be put in, including those in prison. It was 20,736,000 seconds of a world watching a genocide in the making…and it was time for the curtain to unveil on that show.
“Egypt is bound by international law to take refugees fleeing.” Is this now the only drive that Egypt has towards the Palestinian cause and people? Are there no other reasons such as closest neighbors, Arab brothers, Muslim unity, fellow human beings, or even above all this, Egypt’s own national security and gain from having Palestinians, especially in Gaza, act as a buffer between Israel and Egypt? And if this was the case, how will these refugees flee and consequently be “taken” in if every time they “flee” to the borders they find it closed?
“People crossing any border should at least be registered and searched.” Again I refer you back to how Israelis (the non-threatening people) enter Egypt. In addition, I urge you to read CNN’s coverage (it being a Western party with no Palestinian affiliates or ties) of the first 2 days of the border crossing and they reported that Hamas’s (again not a favorite of mine, neither is Fatah for that matter) control was well organized and that they were able to stop weapons entering from Egypt into Gaza and delivered them to the Egyptian police. As for weapons going out, this brings me to my next point.
“Any Palestinian crossing the border could take with him weapons and explosions and supply them to Al Qaeda affiliated groups in Sinai.” Now here I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Laugh because of the humor that Al Qaeda in the vast, widely open, hard to control, army-less Sinai (whose local families by the way have more weapons than Al Qaeda itself) needs the few obsolete weapons coming out of tiny, American-satellite-watched, Israeli-border-controlled Gaza; or cry because of the naïve American Bush politics of just shoving the word Al Qaeda at everything to make it scary.
“Even if my fears of weapon smuggling and terrorist acts prove to be premature, there is no way to determine that the people crossing into Sinai do not include thugs and thieves.” First, any normal border crossing from any airport, shipping port, or land border, cannot guarantee the kind of person entering any country. Most of the worst “thieves” and cons come flying first class. Second, living in Egypt you should know the number of check points in and around Sinai in normal days and circumstances, so I wonder how many they’ll be with all this going on, and how easy it will be for those “terrorists, thugs, and thieves” to reach their Al Qaeda reunion in the deep deserts of Sinai. No Sam, the Palestinians, despite all the hardships and siege, despite their hunger and humiliation, despite being under the worst apartheid regime of all times, are not all “weapon smugglers, terrorists, thugs, and thieves”.
“If the situation inside Gaza proves to be a humanitarian crisis, a humanitarian action should be considered…” I know you’ve been busy the past few months, but if you still don’t see the situation as already beyond the point of a crisis and at the point where UNRWA and other international organizations already recognizing it as genocide, then I don’t know what to you would constitute a crisis if this doesn’t.
In regards to the external readings Sam refers to in his article as support to his argument:
Starting with Alex Fishman, I bring your attention to the following 2 quotes from his article: “Businesses in Rafah are flourishing” and “Cairo is concerned over the prospect of mass demonstrations over the rise of food prices in Egypt. Every day, Muslim Brothers activists are arrested and tried.” These quotes make me revert to points I made above: First, that the Palestinians crossing the borders are not beggars. To the contrary. They have spent more money in these areas than these areas have seen in previous months combined and by that improving the income of Egyptian shop owners or practically anyone who has anything to sell. Not only that, but many of those commodity owners have increased the prices of the goods by more than 10 folds as seen in products such as fuel jumping from L.E. 18 per plastic container to L.E. 55, and cigarettes from L.E. 50 per box (khartousha) to L.E. 130. So Sam, people in Al Areesh and Rafah did not wake up and find their country’s economy destroyed or their shops wrecked by Palestinian “thugs and thieves,” they actually made more money on those very few days than did for many months now at times when the local economy is plummeting. And in reference to the second quote, I just wanted to point out again that Egypt has “great(er)” and more “immediate” agonizing problems than the Palestinians crossing its borders and mostly all returning by now.
As for Noah Pollak’s article, I believe this quote clarifies how Egypt is not that naïve nor weak and it knows what it’s doing. “When Israel asked Egypt to do a better job of policing Sinai to prevent weapons smuggling, the Egyptians replied that they would like to do more, but cannot because the peace treaty between Israel and Egypt limits the number of soldiers that Egypt can station in Sinai. In other words, Egypt simultaneously said to Israel: not only will we not help you suppress Hamas, but if you want us to even consider doing so, the price will be a renegotiation of our 30-year-old peace treaty to allow us a greater military presence on your border.” This might be the first and only opportunity Egypt has to renegotiate that peace deal that has Egypt losing money in natural gas sales to Israel, and has Egyptian soldiers dying at the borders without the ability to respond, and more importantly, has Egypt’s Eastern borders and the entire Sinai Peninsula army-less because the treaty dictates so. And yet, to Sam, Palestinians crossing the borders, in this horrifying way of walking on foot and riding donkey-carts, of buying goods and paying for them 10 times their price, of walking back happily to their prison (Gaza) and praying for Egypt and its people that God blesses them and their country, is Egypt’s worst nightmare.
Returning to Sam’s article:
“The current situation allows Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank to go on with the Peace Process and reach a two State solution.” Again I wonder where this American naïve look at politics is getting its grounds. As if you haven’t been living here for the past couple of decades and studied the previous ones before your lifetime to know that there is no Peace Process with Israel. They will not give us anything. Their game is one of prolongation. They do not want an end to the problem because solving it creates more problems to them. They will have no politics nor politicians to feed off that politics if there is no enemy and threat. But then again, President Bush said he’ll deliver a 2 State solution by the end of the year, so I’m sure that’s what you’re referring to.
“…while Egypt willingly or unwillingly is left to deal with Gaza, whether by assuming control as it did before 1967 or by taking in a huge number of refugees on a permanent basis inside Sinai, from the already overpopulated Gaza.” Again, no one asked Egypt to “deal” with Gaza. As a matter of fact, and probably the first time both Palestinian governments (Hamas and Fatah) ever had the same thought, each officially presented Egypt with their strategy on how they plan to control the borders. In addition, and in reference to Egypt’s control pre-1967, no one certainly asked Egypt to annex and occupy Gaza at the time nor to assume control of it, but again, it was at Egypt’s best interest and national security.
Now that I’ve finally come to the end of this strangely bitter and flawed article, I would like to highlight a few short points before concluding.
I have responded to the arguments Sam made as briefly and specifically as I can, but there are a few bigger pictures I would like to leave you with.
The lifting of a Palestinian flag by a boy on a light or electrical pole doesn’t make that pole or the ground under it Palestinian; or else AUC would be Lebanese, Iraqi, Palestinian, and Egyptian grounds since Sam and I have proudly lifted these flags numerously on its walls and gates.
An article Sam sent quotes the NDP as saying that more than 30 Palestinian suicide bombers were arrested as far as Banysouf. I don’t know if they had Harry Potter’s invisibility cape, but for an Egyptian, let alone a Palestinian, to move from anywhere inside the Sinai Peninsula to anywhere out of it, he would have to cross through no less than 30 check points. So I wonder, if the Palestinians are that good at invisibility, why didn’t they use it to pass through Israeli check points and carry out their suicide missions where it counts.
Finally, this whole Gaze crisis, since the final chapter of cutting off fuel supplies and electricity, have awakened most of the Egyptian people once again and united them around one goal. People found a purpose once again. Not that Palestine is or should be the purpose. Anyone can view or make his/her own purpose in life. But what’s important is to have one. In the past 4 days alone I was contacted and asked to join in 3 different donations campaigns throughout the country. One of them was right here in Al Rehab City where I live. People have once again stayed up nights in a row, on the streets, in the coldest of winters, men, women, and children, rich and poor, Muslim and Christian, giving up their time, energy, money, and leisure, to help their fellow mankind, their brothers and sisters. This is something bigger than Sam and myself. It is bigger than all of us. These are the times that show the true core of people. These are the times that continue to prove that Egyptians are the great people they are. The generous people they are. These are the times that make us stronger and more willing to face the challenges of both the near and far future.
Whether you donated a piaster or L.E. 100,000, whether you bought or packed, whether you did it for religious or humanitarian reasons, whether you did it for a reward in the afterlife or just wanted to work out by lifting cartons onto the trucks, I thank you. I thank you from the deepest part of my heart. I thank you with every atom in my body. And I thank you in the name of every Palestinian whose life you lit up once again because of what you did. THANK YOU.
Finally, Sam, your favorite quote on Facebook is “if you believe in the cause of freedom, then proclaim it, live it and protect it, for humanity’s future depends on it.” The Palestinians did nothing more than this when the crossed a wall to proclaim Man’s most basic God-given right of survival.
Welcome aboard Mr. Tadros. Careful lest you be labeled an unwanted heretic by the online rebel fashionista's syndicate:-)
Amr Gharbia, you agree only "that it is not in favor of the Egyptian regime with its current alignment." Is it in the interest of the Egyptian people by any chance? Address your argument to the average pig shot at the border while guarding it.
To the average pig: what are you doing with your life, man! Go home!
Seriously man, you guys need to grow up. I'm not the person to throw the treason label around as Mr. Hamalaway-I'm-a-communist-who doesn't-believe-in-borders-or-governments is very peculiarly and energetically doing right now, but wake up and look at what you're doing; you're taking the side of an armed invading government that is valuing the lives of your fellow citizens who are guarding your borders as literally no more than pigs, and whose objectives are at worst to invade your country's territories, and at best to impose new arrangements on you with the use and threat of more armed force. Again, what is wrong with you? And the saddest part to see here are Egyptian communists using the hollywood term "pigs" (I know I brought it up here, but I'm just saying..)to refer to these people that have and will sacrifice more for this country than I or you ever will, and here you are asking them to give up any sense of belonging to it (no difference between you and the Islamists, a happy marriage indeed) and let the border just burn...Again, please don't address your argument to me (I'm a half-wit beyond comprehension), but to the average icky animal-like creature guarding and being attacked right now at the border.
p.s: Please bear in mind in your letter the first armed invasion that happened exactly two years ago, killing a couple and injuring many other icky animal creatures on our side. Thank you.
That's a lot of 'you's and 'you guys' in there. You probably know little about my stands, Seneferu, so let us ignore them all, shall we?
I understand this is a good time for nationalism. Let us agree that the people who invaded Northern Sinai were half of Gaza. According to Nora Younis, a minimum of 3-5 thousand Egyptians invaded Gaza too, you know, but even this is not related to my half-said argument here.
The point is that the CSF recruits who receive most of what HAMAS has to give--you made wrong assumptions about what I think of HAMAS policing the Palestinians--are our internal army, whose soldiers are conscripted among us to work mainly against us, and they would rather not, really. They'd rather go home.
I hope you agree with me that the regime's mild intervention is partly because anything stronger would go against public sentiments, including the conscripts.
Personally, I think this whole affair would not have happened if we made it a point to build 'naturalised' relationships with the Palestinians, perhaps a little bit more than we have with the Israelis. Some trade and freedom of movement is a good start. It even makes good populist talk-stuff, and was used recently by our regime.
So in other words, let me rephrase...
Dear pig: Your people, the pigs, have sacrificed very dearly with your flesh and blood to liberate the Sinai from Israeli occupation...but we, handful of activists who join protests and speak internet, know what is best for you, because, frankly, you are dumb and stupid, and smell not very nice: we know that your people, the pigs, suffer from much more impoverishment and unemployment than the glorious nation of Palestine (Long live Hamasistan! Die traitor Dahlan! boo!), but you will relinquish the opportunities made possible by your sacrifices for our brave neighbors (Long live Hamasistan! Die traitor Dahlan! boo!...) who never approved of the way your people led by the head pig Sadat (euff!! l'imbecile! liberateur de perfectly good jambon!) liberated your lands. We know what is best for you, dear pigly wigly, for we shall show you the way!...(Vive la revolucion! Barbecue de jambon le matin!...)
بى. إس: إنت عارفنى بهرّج يا عمرو وسبيكينح إن جينيرال تيرمز, سو بليز دونت تيك زيس بيرسونالى :-P
Actually, I did take you seriously, but it turns out you were goofing around. Alas, next time you start by 'seriously man' I will remember you do not really have anything to say.
و انت إزيك؟
Ah ya la2eem:-)...tayeb let me clarify then: my jest is also half serious as that, of course, is the point of a lampoon. I just meant to clarify the general and non-personal nature of it, especially that I'm not familiar with your positions as you correctly point out.
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