Jehan Sadat - My Hope For Peace - Book Review

This new book by Jehan Sadat, widow of the late President Anwar Sadat of Egypt, reads like combination of timely essays and an autobiography that reads easily. The essays include impassioned well reasoned and referenced defense of Islam as a religion of peace and equality distancing Islam from violence and women subjugation. While Jehan Sadat religious belief of what Islam is, or rather her (our) versions of Islam are closely aligned, this part came across weaker than it could because of excessive generalizations. It is abundantly clear that a small majority or substantial minority of Egyptians doesn’t share Jehan Sadat or my versions of Islam.

Another essay like portion of the book covered Egyptian feminist movement and famous Egyptian feminists of the last one hundred years.  This was well researched and presented and only lacked those leftist feminists that suffered on the hands of Egyptian rulers. While she addressed the struggle for women suffrage, the omission of those who struggled for women suffrage in the early 1950’s and were subjected to regime hostility came across as an obvious omission. Similarly, while “we” may dislike and disapprove of Islamist ideology, leaving out Egyptian women leaders who advocated Islamist policies is another glaring shortcoming, in an otherwise good essay. Needless to say, such leftist and Islamist women suffered under both presidents Nasser and Sadat.

Separate from the essays, two central themes dominate the book, one is the history of President Sadat, including her life as a first lady, and another her life as a widow and an independent woman post his assassination.  Jehan Sadat aimed to portray her late husband actions in the best possible light and primarily as a man of peace, her defense of his actions was total. While this is understandable and perhaps it would be unthinkable for her to comment negatively on the rule of her beloved husband, this part came across somewhat weak. I found it difficult that Jehan Sadat did not recognize that her late husband presided over a totalitarian police state and that many people were imprisoned and tortured during his rule. Moreover, those were not only sectarian Islamists as she claimed but also many who opposed him including leftists, liberals and Coptic Christians. Indeed Sadat took a hostile position against Sana Hassan (author of Enemy in the Promised land) who strongly advocated for peace with Israel, Hassan was the wife of an Egyptian diplomat, Tahseen Bashir, who was pressured by Sadat to divorce her.

While it may help Jehan Sadat view of her husband to portray Sadat as a man of peace, who worked tirelessly for peace for decades, somehow I felt as an Egyptian American who lived the Sadat era, that Jehan Sadat wasted an opportunity at shedding more light on a man who, was clearly an Egyptian patriot, but was more about being practical and goal oriented than being a man of peace. Sadat moved quickly to achieve his goals and his actions could have been more objectively analyzed, while remaining sympathetic. Nonetheless Jehan Sadat had many fascinating tales of President Sadat.

The most enjoyable parts of the book and the parts that come across most honest and revealing are those about Jehan Sadat herself, a real pleasure to read. Jehan Sadat, did not put herself on a pedestal and tried to defend her actions, she rather allowed her fears, uncertainties, weaknesses to show. The tales of her move from Cairo to the US and her life in the US, including receiving her first pay check, her first bank account, her first time arranging her own accommodation in Washington DC are all fascinating to read. Jehan comes across a courageous and determined woman, with deep faith and lots of humanity.

While, the essay and the defensiveness of Anwar Sadat have some obvious weaknesses, this does not reduce from the overall value of My Hope For Peace. Jehan Sadat, is not only a fascinating woman, she clearly is a talented writer with a gift for easy prose that flows. I highly recommend the book and I very much hope, that Jehan Sadat would write again

AA

October 12, 2012

On Blasphemy And Freedom!

Years ago, I watched “Life of Brian”, a Monty Python movie mocking Jesus Christ. I remember laughing in the movie theater along with a majority Christian audience in England. Over the years, as my Islamic faith deepened, I would no longer watch this movie let alone laugh at or own it, I find it objectionable for its portrayal of the Jesus like character.  As a Muslim I consider Jesus, like Mohammad, sacred, both are human beings chosen by God to be His prophets and messengers to all of humanity.

Commencing on September 11, 2012 we have seen days of angry protests and violence following the, peculiarly timed, airing of a video clip titled “Innocence of Muslims” by a Salafi TV station in Egypt. The violence was combined with demands by religious and political leaders in Egypt for action against the makers of the movie in the USA. The angry convulsions turned into loud demands for legal action and changes to international law to ban insults to religions and religious figures.

In an attempt to understand the so-called “Muslim rage”, I watched the “Innocence of Muslims” video on YouTube. Needless to say, I found it as offensive as any cheap insult or remark one receives from hateful or ignorant types. It did not mean a great deal to me that someone who hates Islam produces a movie that insults my Prophet in a vulgar manner. Mohammed, the Prophet of Islam, is sacred and beloved to me, I hold him in unparalleled esteem; but I also accept that some 80% of humanity do not believe in him, his message or believe in Islam.

To many Muslims, the word “prophet” carries huge religious meaning, a sacred or revered messenger from the almighty God. Many Muslims are unaware that, for most Christians, saying “we respect Jesus as prophet…” is sacrilege.  While the core beliefs in Christianity of the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus and his divine status are not accepted by Islam, most Christians take “prophets” to mean wise men, inspired by God, but not divine!  So it can be clearly seen how religious beliefs, especially historical ones, are incompatible and how easily acceptance of one belief can be blasphemous of the other. In other words to deny the divinity of Jesus and simply label him a wise man maybe as offensive to a Christian as telling a Muslim Mohammad was a wise and good man but not a messenger of God. Belief in Islam by definition is blasphemy of Christianity and vice versa, the same applies to Judaism and other religious beliefs.

“O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. Indeed, the most noble of you in the sight of Allah (God)  is the most righteous of you. Indeed, Allah (God) is Knowing and Acquainted.”  The Holly Quran 49:13

“There shall be no compulsion in [acceptance of] the religion. The right course has become clear from the wrong. So whoever disbelieves in Taghut and believes in Allah (God) has grasped the most trustworthy handhold with no break in it. And Allah (God) is Hearing and Knowing.” The Holly Quran 2:256

The beauty of Islam, with its fundamental advocacy for equality, justice and freedom is virtually absent from the language of those who speak in its name calling for punishment of atheists and whose language focuses almost exclusively on the limitation of equality, limitation of freedoms and selective justice.

So, as I look at my personal belief in Islam and the recent Muslim rage events, I find myself reflecting on two very different but related questions: first is there a distinction between representation of religious figures, offensive or not, and incitement against the killing of fellow human beings of whatever faith? And a   second question: would a new international law banning blasphemy towards Jesus outlaw the teaching of Islam to our kids in the west? Answers to both questions are blatantly obvious: incitement to kill someone for their beliefs, no matter how distasteful to others, is wrong! And so would be banning the teaching or preaching of a religion because it disagrees with the basic tenants of another majority faith.

So while many call for change in international laws to punish those who publish material deemed offensive to religion, I find myself wondering how Islamic is it, to ban such material and punish its makers. Thus, I actually call for changing Egypt’s laws to allow such cheap rubbish as the Innocence of Muslims to be made in Egypt itself.  And for its makers to go about their sorry hateful lives in peace as long as they are are not inciting violence. Would such freedom hurt Egypt or Islam? Would Muslims anywhere rush away from Islam believing the trashy material shown on the video? Would Egyptians then not have the right to boycott people, businesses and TV channels that promote such insulting material?

Would a disgruntled unhappy Islam hater take advantage of this law then produce more hateful anti Islam material? Maybe, but let them! We each have our own narratives and our Islam becomes stronger not weaker with freedom!

Legalize offending religious beliefs for the sake of Islam, please!

AA

September 23, 2012

The Grey Zone

On this anniversary of the Holocaust remembrance, I recall a rather obscure, movie called The Grey Zone that I saw nearly ten years ago. The movie was based on the true story of an Hungarian doctor and on his life with the brigades of Jewish workers in Nazi concentration camps. Those Jewish slave workers cleaned the gas chambers and operated the cremation ovens. They were grey all over from the ashes, so hence The Grey Zone. Typically these workers were exterminated after few months, so for their effort they were given an extra three to four months of life and a modicum of concentration camp comforts such as better sleeping arrangements, more food and cigarettes.

While the much better known Stephen Spielberg’s Schindler'sList left me tearful, The Grey Zone left me in a state of deep and intense sadness; actually agony; but with remarkable clarity. The Grey Zone delivered all the shocking images that I could only guess at, but frankly dared not imagine. Here they were, right there before our eyes; hordes of people; entry into the gas chambers, the gas, the bodies piled up, the ovens, the ashes ...the whole thing. Not just the crowded trains, frightened faces and tired little hands clutching personal treasures , remnants of normal times, necklaces or photos of loved ones, but rather the full graphic details.

I am deeply saddened that that in my native Egypt, books of Holocaust deniers or those allocating much of the blame for the Holocaust to the Jews themselves, are increasingly widely accepted as the truth. It saddens me that movies like Schindler’s List have, to my knowledge, not been shown on Egyptian TV; while at the same time Egyptian State TV under Mubarak dictatorship serialized a drama based on the discredited Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

I am also saddened that most Egyptians today are unaware of the very honorable role Egypt played receiving boatfuls of Jews escaping from Nazi controlled Europe at a time when Jews were still being turned away from the United States. Sadly, to my knowledge the honorable contribution of Egypt saving Jews escaping Nazi receives no mention in Yad Vashem in Jerusalem either or in other places commemorating the Holocaust. So as we remember the Holocaust today, I want more people to remember Alexandria as a willing safe haven for Jews and to honor Egypt’s role.

The Grey Zone left me with heightened clarity on some fundamental ideas. Humans are capable of great horrors; normally decent human beings, in the face of mortal danger, will resort to unspeakable acts to save their own skin, even for a short while! …and hate survives on the fear of its would be victims and on the silence of those who witness it.

As we remember I hope we look deep inside and attempt to cleanse ourselves from hate, prejudice and fear!

AA

January 27, 2012

The "I'm not alone"s of Egypt

One day, perhaps ten or twenty years from now, sociologists, psychologists and other experts will look at the amazing developments unleashed in the Egyptian society following the January 25, 2011 Revolution. I will attempt to address a couple of observations, one perhaps over discussed right now and another less so.

First, the revolt against authority across society, in the home, at schools and universities, in work places; from factories to ports to hospitals, to courts and within security establishment itself, even within established political movements and religious institutions. Egypt has seen doctors and judges strike, central security conscripts strike and the established Muslim Brotherhood has seen several of its youth split out into new parties more closely aligned with other revolutionary youth movements. Egyptian families have seen their sons and daughters defy them to camp out for days at Tharir Square protests. 

For decades, and perhaps for centuries, Egyptian society has been patriarchal and hierarchical. Under the series of military rulers since the overthrow of King Farouk in 1952 the added element of corruption grew reaching nauseating levels under Mubarak. The excesses of authoritarian behavior and corruption permeated every aspect of the society from former president Mubarak and his family down to the tiniest organizational unit, be it a small school, factory, or government clinic.

The success of the revolution in gathering the support of millions and eventually the overthrow of Mubarak has opened the lid on explosive levels of frustrations and sense of deep injustice against unreasonableness and authoritarianism everywhere. Egyptians have become hard to contain anywhere, there have been problems and protests against Saudi authorities and airlines dealing with Egyptian pilgrims; Egyptians no longer put up with much in their usual silence and patience.

Second and perhaps less noticed phenomena is what I call "I'm not alone" syndrome! Before January 25, 2011 a swath of Egyptian society felt isolated and angry, against the society at large, not just the regime itself. I recall the words of an explosive 2008 rap, railing against the Government, “ded el hekomah” or ”ضد الحكومه” where Ramy Donjewan cries out against the Government and those who accept to be insulted, those who accept their dignity be trampled upon. The sense of anger was so pervasive, that the amazing outpouring of happiness and pride, in my view, was not just from the success of overthrow of Mubarak, but also from seeing how many like minded people were out there.

Unlike the revolt against authority " I'm not alone" is far from universality within Egypt. Many are fully occupied with daily struggles of life, feeding a family, making ends meet and rarely have time, energy or inclination to pay attention to other issues and there are those who are focused achieving own personal goals or being entertained without much interest in societal or intellectual pursuits. A clear majority of Egyptians clearly belong to those two categories. The first category struggles for survival is clearly the poor, the later is often described nowadays in Egypt as the The Couch Party or Hezb El Kanabah حزب الكنبه those happily sitting on their sofas watching the events.

I will carve out a further category of Egyptians , those active supporters of religious movements or associations be them Muslim Brothers, Salafis or Copts. These groups already knew they were not alone, even before January 25, 2011. Generally their primary identifications are with their groups as “brothers” true Muslims or “Copts” and less so with the society or Egypt as a whole.

With the above exclusions, I have indeed reduced those I wish to label by "I'm not alone" to fewer than 10% of the population. So a few million Egyptians who thought they were alone, or almost alone, have discovered like-minded thousands within their immediate districts, millions across the country. It was amazing to see, in Tahrir Square, few months after the revolution, over fifty thousand people cheering Ramy Essam, yell out ( madanniya madanniya ) or civil civil calling out for a secular democratic state. Ramy Essam, the young man from Mansoura, brought his guitar as his weapon against the brutality of Mubarak police and thugs during the days of revolution last winter and became known as the Singer of the Revolution.

It is this group of leftists, liberals and unaffiliated who care, really care that found its voice and knew it was not alone after the revolution. Many are pious Muslim or Copts, few are atheist, some are very political and have been for years. The “I’m not alone”s are far from uniform combining people with very differing views and some would even find more in common with Islamists than with each other. The liberals within the group are often more perfectly aligned with Muslim Brotherhood on economic matters, whereas the Egyptian Left would make common cause with the Brotherhood on hatred for Israel.

Yet it is this group, the "I'm not alone"s that are now the most reluctant to give up the joy they found in the revolution and have become the biggest critics of the Egyptian Army Generals who control the country. And it is indeed this group that has been suffering the brunt of the excessive suppression at the hands of the army. Revolution Singer Ramy Essam was tortured at the hands of the army several months ago and despite of promises of investigation and justice this remains to happen.

As I write these words, a couple of prominent “I’m not alone”s come to mind. From the pro west liberal camp Maikel Nabil remains on hunger strike for staggering 85 days, in army prison since March, currently awaiting retrial after an initial sentence of three year prison has been annulled by the military itself. Amazingly, he has not been released, even on bail, pending his retrial for his anti military blogpost. Maikel Nabil has been classified as Prisoner of Conscience by Amnesty International and so has Alaa Abdelfatteh who is more aligned with the Egyptian left wing. Alaa too is currently languishing in prison awaiting military trial. Maikel and Alaa have refused to cooperate with the military tribunal system and are being severely punished for their daring to challenge the military courts jurisdiction over them as civilians. It is amazing that the Army rulers have shown significant leniency towards Islamists and indeed some who were serving sentences for the murder of late President Sadat were freed or allowed to return from exile.

The "I'm not alone"s took their celebrations from cyberspace into the streets. So rather than just tweeting 140 characters in cyberspace, the very same Alaa Abdelfatteh pioneered the concept of Tweetnadwa where people stood up and expressed their views on selected topics in 140 seconds. So not only did Egyptians perfect the use of social networks for revolution, they did not stop and moved beyond converging the cyber and physical worlds.

The "I'm not alone"s have produced amazing creativity in street arts, songs, poetry and most recently nude photography. A young Egyptian girl published totally nude artistic photos of herself in defiance of conservative customs to the utter bewilderment and anger at some Salafi ultra orthodox Islamists who advocate covering not only women’s hair but also face and hands. I heard of the daring Allia el Mahdi and her blog on the very same day I heard of a Salafi leader refusing to be interviewed by TV journalist unless she covered herself; what a contrast between the two acts. Allia speaks openly of her atheism and of her boy friend Kareem Amer, who was jailed and tortured for his atheism and her rejection of forced religiosity. Alia and Kareem are certainly in a very tiny minority in conservative Egypt but they are not alone and they know it.

The amazing courage and perhaps naiveté of the young Egyptian "I'm not alone"s of various strips create conflicted feelings in me, I am so proud of them, of all of them, even the ones I disagree with, I am so hopeful for Egypt, because a country with such great human wealth, with so much youth talent and courage, truly, has amazing potential; but I am also so scared for them and desperately want them to be free, safe and happy!

AA
November 18, 2011

Inconvenient History: tales of lesser discussed history of Egypt & Israel

As Egypt's relationship with Israel takes central stage for both countries, a look at some interesting little known historical facts may be beneficial for Egyptians and Israelis to explore. While I am in no position to offer ironclad guarantees of the accuracy of the various events and I lack the skill and knowledge necessary to offer various citations and references, I do however believe that the events cited here have indeed occurred largely as described. Oftentimes there are layers of fog surrounding events of the type covered here; less so with those here, most have just tended to get buried or be ignored, with the hope, that they fade away completely.


Egyptian popular mission representing the leading Muslim & Christian families traveled to Palestine to congratulate the Jews of Palestine following the Balfour declaration:

Contrary to the wide spread belief, the Balfour Declaration of 1917, was not, at the time, seen by most Egyptian intellectuals as a sentence against the Palestinians. Interestingly enough some Egyptian Muslim and Christian families held parties to celebrate the Declaration, the Muslim Governor of Alexandria sent a telegram of appreciation to Lord Balfour. A delegation of Egyptian Muslims and Christians led by another Egyptian Muslim, whose paper strongly advocated the then minority position of Arab Nationalism, traveled to congratulate the Jews of Palestine. Majority of Egyptians leaders didn't consider an Arab affiliation for Egypt at the time. The people who participated in that retrospectively misguided delegation were not received back as traitors or sellouts when they returned to Egypt. The majority of Egyptians who held more Egyptian nationalist views also saw the declaration as positive news. Perhaps those Egyptian intellectuals focused on the Decleration's guarantees of the rights of the native population of Palestine or saw certain positive aspects in Jewish nationalism the way Americans do today! This topic will be examined later.

As New York turned back Jews fleeing Nazi Europe, Alexandria welcomed them to Egypt, one of , just, four ports globally open to take in Jews escaping from Nazi atrocities

Sadly few highlight this historical fact. Yad Vashem, other memorials and Holocaust history in general offer no special recognition of the role that independent Egypt played saving Jewish lives. A disgusting byproduct of the recent rise of anti-Semitism in Egypt with the wide circulation of books of Holocaust deniers, few Egyptians are actually aware of this important generosity that Egypt and all Egyptians should be proud of.

Amazingly as large numbers of European Jews arrived in Egypt escaping Nazi Europe few wealthy Egyptian Sephardic Jews worried about backlash

While this was by no means wide spread, it is important to note the disproportionate attention certain Jew haters such as the marginal figure of Hussieni the Mufti of Jerusalem receives who some groups even absurdly suggest that his influence reached Egypt. Could a non Jew argue that the memory of the Holocaust should not be used for short term propaganda gains?

In reading about World War II and the horrors faced by the Jews at the hands of advancing Nazi armies, nationalist partisans be them Russian, Ukrainian, Serbian or just the local populations; it is amazing that Alexandria, the city with the largest Jewish population in Egypt, did not record attacks on Jewish property and lives when Hitler’s army was only 70 miles to the west.

As Alexandria’s western suburbs were being bombed, Alexandrians wanting to rid themselves of the British occupation attacked British soldiers but no real signs of hate or anger against Jews surfaced. The Jews of Alexandria worried about the advancing Nazi army but did not fear their Egyptian neighbors. This is strange when so much of the hate propaganda would have us believe that Egyptians and Jews are natural enemies.

While the then non peaceful Muslim Brotherhood had indeed started to attack Jews in graffiti around 1939 in certain cities, there appears to have been no such attacks at all during the time of impending entry of Hitler’s army into Alexandria.

Israeli Mossad Operation Susannah widely known as the Lavon affair: Six years after the establishment of the State of Israel, Egyptian Jews largely stayed put and minimal immigration to Israel occurred. Israeli Intelligence, in order to spur their immigration, as well as attempting to derail Egyptian American relationship, carried out a number of terrorist attacks in Cairo in 1954. The Mossad agents were caught, tried and imprisoned in Egypt. Following the defeat of Egypt in the 1967 war, the imprisoned Mossad agents were exchanged for Egyptian POWs and later, were treated to official welcomes by the Israeli Government and more honors as recent as 2005.

Many Egyptians would now be shocked to read the text of the speech of Zakriyah Mohieddean, Egypt's vice-president at the time talking of Egypt’s Jewish sons. The language of monkeys and pigs was hardly heard before the Mubarak era.

Various attempts to rewrite the history of the Lavon affair continued even into the twenty-first century. Israelis will at some point need to come to terms with the bloody history of their nation. Egyptians will need to learn that anti-Semitism plays to the hands of the Israel’s right wing which consistently advocates exclusivity as the only way to defend Jews from ever hateful enemies.

UK and France admitted conspiracy in 1956 Suez War, yet Israel continue to label it “war of self defense”. It is truly absurd that while the British and French have come clean about this trilateral aggression on Egypt and numerous books and archieves have now been made available for over two decades, Israel’s official version remains that the invasion of Egypt in 1956 was a war of self defense or just totally omitted from history.

This is probably one of the most blatant examples that show the need for Israel to come clean with its history. The Jewish and Israeli people will be more willing to make the concessions necessary for peace when they are more aware of facts. There are many disputed facts in the history of the various Israeli conflicts, perhaps the lies associated with the 1956 Suez war would allow more Israel supporters to look beyond state propaganda. We often hear of school books in Palestine and elsewhere teaching hate of Israel, this shows that history books need changing on all sides.

Not one Egyptian Jew lost his or her citizenship for being Jewish, yet many native Egyptian Jews left because of bigotry and distrust.

Egyptian citizenship laws were first introduced in 1929. With the collapse of the Ottoman Empire residents had choices to make to become Egyptian, Turk or other nationality. Left over from the days of overt British & French domination following the invasion of Egypt in 1882, was a strange justice system that saw locals facing Egyptian Law, while foreign European minorities subject to their own laws and consular courts. Many of the affluent Jews living in Egypt for two or even three generations regarded themselves above the locals and pursued European citizenships; the Ladinos with more recent roots in Turkey or the Levant generally opted for Turkish or Egyptian citizenship. Following the Suez War citizens of France & UK were evicted from Egypt. Some Jewish families were divided as many held different European citizenships. The second wave of expulsions happened after the 1961 introduction of socialist nationalization laws which targeted foreign and Egyptian capitalists; its biggest exodus was actually for Greek and Italian Christians and included wealthy Egyptian Jewish, Christian and Muslim families.

Through the forties and fifties of the 20th century it appears that the Jews in Egypt who faced problems with the state were for reasons of communist affiliations, British or French nationality or anti capitalist laws. This would be entirely consistent with Nasser’s policies who viewed the exit of Egyptian Jews as a victory for Zionism and hence the earlier appeals for Egypt’s Jewish sons. It took few years after the Suez war for real animosity at the national level to start building up in the middle and late sixties.

Over the years I met many American Jews who told me of their Egyptian friends who were expelled from Egypt for being Jewish and it never failed that upon questioning it became clear that the friends in question never held the Egyptian nationality to start with, through their own choice, and had rejected the Egyptian citizenship for other opions and eventually left Egypt as part of a bigger story.

Yet for the ethnic Egyptian Jews, mostly “Karaite” whose mother tongue was Egyptian Arabic, were Egyptian citizens and were in all aspects part of the fabric of the “locals” ,rather than the world of the superior minorities. Egypt lost a great deal by losing its Greeks, Italians and its “foreign” Jews who were part of its cultural, industrial and merchant classes for generations. Yet Egypt's biggest loss will always be its native Jews who, those who trace their roots back thousands of years, those who wore the galabeya or tarboush, listened to Om Kalthoum music, ate mehshi and molokhiya. Ultimately it was bigotry, racism, mistrust of their fellow Egyptians that led to their gradual isolation and eventual sad departure from Egypt. Egypts’ Karaite Jews of Egypt left because of dwindling opportunity, increasing suspicion and obvious inducement for a better life. Sadly one hears of similar stories of discrimination and bigotry towards Coptic Christians nowadays.

Egyptians use Zionist as a non racist insult, Jews hear an offensive racist slur. This is not so much historical fact as an observation of current discourse, particularly post the January 25, 2011 Egyptian Revolution. The internet savvy Egyptians are trying to choose their words in Arabic and English carefully, they are forward thinking revolutionaries driven by values of freedom and justice. Egyptians use “Zionist” mostly to mean Jews who support the oppression of the people of Palestine. Yet many Egyptians proceed to use the common bigoted racist anti-Semitic slurs with the word Zionist, so we hear of Zionist monkeys and pigs and the like. The forward looking Egyptians are willing to live with Jews and make peace with Jews but not Zionists, the Salafi minority and their elk reject all other and worse of all Jews.

Yet to many Jews, Zionism is an identity, it is more about their pride as people, it has a lot to do with their affection for Israel but to most Jews and Israelis, Zionism does not equal oppression of Palestine or usurping their rights. So while some Egyptians want to use a non racist language, virtually most Jews and Israelis hear nothing but racist language. Some Egyptians have taken to hone their criticism against Israelis rather than Jews failing to note that often times, there is far more advocacy for Palestinian rights amongst Israeli Jews than non Israeli Jews.

The Mubarak era saw massive increase of media criticism of Israel and of all things Jewish including the shameful serialization of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion on Mubarak’s own State TV, the rise of anti-Semitism in Egypt was a product of the state encouragement as a sanctioned channel for venting and activism and it also served the purpose of showing the US and the west the crucial need for Mubarak and his regime for ongoing stability. Long gone were the Sadat days of actively seeking reconciliation, Mubarak’s was the cold peace at the people to people level.

But this, clearly, is not the whole story, at a time of shocking images of live round the clock news coverage and citizen journalism; Israel is seen to be seriously out of step with its continued suppression of the rights of the people of Palestine, massive reprisals and collective punishment on a population occupied for generations. Israelis cannot stay silent on what is being committed in their name, day in and day out, and expect not to be hated. The continued right wing supremacist policies of colonial settlements, house demolitions, road blocks and “facts on the ground” are eroding the possibilities of peace and with Israel being a “democracy” are coloring all of its people with one big ugly brush in the eyes of many Egyptians.

Most Egyptians today are unaware of the deep roots of Zionism in Egypt and how most Egyptian political leaders and intellectuals looked admirably on Zionism even into the early 1930’s. In 1925 ardent Egyptian Nationalist Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed represented Egypt in the opening ceremony of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Some of the leaders of the Wafed Party in 1919 Revolution were also well known leaders of Zionist Associations in Cairo & Alexandria. Back then Jews, indeed Zionist Jews and Egyptians never viewed one another as enemies but friends. The Wafed Governments did not tolerate what they termed “Palestinian propaganda” from the one lone anti Zionist paper warning against evictions of Palestinians, they shut it down, while several Zionist papers were published in Egypt. The word “Zionism” did not have the abhorrent connotation it conjures today in the mind of the average Egyptian. Yet to Jews it still has the same lofty values that colleagues of Saad Zaghloul and Ahmed Lutfi el-Sayed advocated.

The current events offer hope for change for the better but also offer a huge amount of uncertainty and fear. Perhaps looking at history we can see that the natural order is friendship between Jews and Egyptians or at the very least absence of animosity, perhaps Egyptians can learn to criticize actions and situations rather than labels and Jews and Israelis can revisit the history to see why a people who supported and welcomed them for many years have become so hateful towards them.

Ayman Ashour
August 29, 2011


Recommended Readings and Sources


I received a number of requests for sources and some readers wanted to read more on the various topics.

For political history and general views of Egyptians intellectuals and political leaders, I relied on readings in Arabic and English including The Question of Palestine by Edward Said and several of his other works. Leila Ahmed's outstanding memoir Border Passage, more than any other work helped me clear my views on issues of Egyptian identity and the more recent Arab identification. Other works that stayed with me included the controversial Enemy in the Promised Land by Sanaa Hassan and works in Arabic by Abed el Rahman el Refa'ay and others. Material I have encountered along the way but think had less influence on me were works by Bernard Lewis in English, Redwa Ashour and several others in Arabic.

For the Jewish experience in Egypt, I relied on Cairo, City Victorious which extensively used rabbinical records from Egyptian synagogues. The excellent Andre Aciman's Out of Egypt touched me deeply and I have also read  few other stories of  Jewish exits from Egypt.

Joel Beinin outstanding Stanford University research titled: Egyptian Jewish identities: communitarianisms, nationalisms, nostalgias, offers a concise review of material covered in more detail elsewhere. The paper is available on the internet and I have read several critical reviews of it as well but honestly have not been moved by them, perhaps Beinin just said what I wanted to hear.

I have also, through nearly 10 years as a co-moderator of an Arab Jewish internet dialogue group, and as member of in-person dialogue group in Boston, have heard directly of Egyptian Jewish experiences and was refered to countless articles and materials. Egyptian Jewish groups on the Internet continue to offer fascinating insight too.


My attempts to understand what the Holocaust meant for Jews come primarily from accounts of children and grandchildren of Holocaust survivors in dialogue; also readings of Primo Levy touched me deeply and on the use of the memory of Holocaust for political or monetary gains on The Holocaust Industry by Norman Finkelestin. I have suffered through several books in Arabic including those translated from French that deny the Holocaust or at least its full extent as well as theories on Jewish collusion with Nazi.


Reading on what I term “applied Zionism” or rather what actually happened on the ground in Palestine includes limited readings of Benny Morris and the amazing Hannah Arendt and closer to my own perspective was the outstanding work of Fay Afaf Kenafani: Nadia, Captive of hope and In Search of Fatima by Ghada Karami.

For the Lavon Affair I have primarily relied on Internet searches, one or two articles in Arabic and the also writings by Joel Beinin of Stanford referenced above. I have read minimal amounts of similar operations carried out in Iraq for the purpose of inducing fear in the Jewish communities to emigrate to Israel.

For the Suez 1956, I read few books by British politicians of the time including Descent to Suez and relied on the website of the Jewish Agency which until few years ago described the war as “campaign of self defense” but as of yesterday appear to have deleted all reference to it, or I may have looked it elsewhere.

I have reviewed  many of the books referenced above and the reviews are on " myAmazon reviews". 

Finally, I am neither a historian nor a researcher; I just happen to be an avid reader and also have a relatively good memory. The topics have been of great interest to me and I view the reconciliation between Egypt and Israel as critical for achieving peace in the whole region, I am also deeply moved by the historic and on-going suffering of both Jews and Palestinians.

The Hymen Obsession: Inequality & Harassment in Egypt

Some ten years ago I went with my family to an Arab American convention in Washington DC, at the dinner table there was another Egyptian American family and their late teenage son & daughter who told us of their experience moving back to Egypt for a couple of years. The son loved it but the daughter complained bitterly of her experience in Egypt; I am sure you can guess why: sexual harassment! A year or so later, while on holiday in Egypt some total stranger scolded my daughter and her friend for their lack of head cover, he walked almost 50 Meters on a relatively deserted North Coast beach to deliver his little charming playful lecture leaving my daughter who was just recovering from major brain surgery and her, fresh off the plane American friend, distraught.

It is the same story over & over again everywhere in Egypt, sexual harassment! You can read warnings about it in guide books and we hear about it in the news and you could see it in sickening details in movies like Cairo Time with young men chasing a woman the age of their mothers’. Egypt is ground zero for sexual harassment! ..but why? This is a question that perhaps trained sociologists are better qualified to answer. I can only throw few guesses, from the move to separation of boys & girls in education, increased religiosity and delays in marriage age to the general oppression that Egyptians have & continue to suffer from. As an Egyptian American I can see how I am treated in Egypt depending on which passport I produce be at an Airport or hotel. We Egyptians are treated with no dignity & respect by our police, our schools, our sport coaches and in turn we treat others with little or no dignity and respect. Often times the perceived weaker sex gets the worst of it.

Is it just that, or is more to it? My guess is that there is more to it, there is a fundamental, at best discriminatory, aspect to position of women in Egyptian culture; we are brought up with it, rich and poor, educated and illiterate, Muslim and Christian alike. It is a view of women as cross between a pet, object and a lesser being. I have memories of my mother pleading with A’am Naguib the father of our Christian servant child not to take her home to their village in south of Egypt to perform the “tohor” on the then 9 or 10 year old Attiat. “tohor” is a word meaning purification, the same word used for male circumcision. Few days later after that Coptic Easter little Attiat came back not able to walk, constantly bleeding after her “purification” I remember my mother scolding the father, but his face was beaming, he achieved something important. Genital mutilation has been imposed on most Egyptian women, to my knowledge only Bedouin Arab tribes representing about 1% of the population of Egypt have normally not engaged in mutilation of their women. Many of the brave Egyptian women on Facebook & Twitter and on the streets during the protests standing up to Mubarak’s police & thugs were mutilated as children and some of the children of the current Facebook generation are destined to the same fate.

In Pre Islamic Arabia baby girls were buried alive at birth for fear of the shame they may bring upon their families as adults, was genital mutilation the Egyptian answer to the same dilemma? The shame that can be brought upon a family if their daughter or sister got pregnant could be averted by interfering and reducing the sexual pleasure of women through mutilation, so instead of burying newborn baby girls, keep them for cleaning and cooking and also be available for man’s sexual pleasure; perhaps the word “tohor” or purification now make a bit more sense. While men often complain of the sexual desire of their wives I suspect Egyptian men are not just whining, Chinese women had their feet forcibly molded to small size, Egyptian women have their sexual enjoyment forcibly curtailed or removed.

Egyptians, Muslims and Christians alike tend to be pious, devout and the vast majority highly observant of religious practice. To my knowledge Islam and Christianity both disapprove of sex outside of marriage and premarital sex is prohibited. I am, however, unaware of Islam or Christianity imposing stiffer bans or punishment on women than on men. Why is it that Egyptian families are happy and readily willing to send their young sons abroad for a semester or a post graduate education and more hesitant to send their daughters? Why do we Egyptian Americans tolerate or even approve our sons having girlfriends but freak out about our daughters having boyfriends? How many of us heard of Egyptian families shipping their daughters back to Egypt because they got “boy crazy” or were getting into that boyfriend stuff? In some cases whole families went back to Egypt or moved to some Arab Gulf country to escape the scary syndrome known as daughter’s boyfriend! The unequal application of what are essentially equal prohibitions is interesting to explore and dig into more to understand where it comes from; it is fundamental inequality drilled into us from birth.

In my own extended family over many years I have seen examples of discrimination against women as daughters, sisters and wives both dished out by men from my family and more often I have seen women relatives suffer at hands of husbands denying children visitation rights, denying divorce even where the husbands have taken second wives. Many Egyptians feel ashamed of discussing these horrible facts especially in English for fear it would damage the image of Egypt or Islam. Ask most non Islamist Egyptians on Twitter and they tell you they believe in equality, ask them if they are willing to marry a non virgin and then ask them if they have a problem with their sister or daughter having the same exact rights they had. We are not talking religions here, we are talking culture.

As a young father some 15 years ago, I was once about to leave on a long trip, I told my then 5 year old son, come on you are now the man of the house! The look on my daughter’s face, always competitive and nearly 18 months older stayed with me. I never repeated the words again; I caught myself falling into the trap of gender discrimination, what did I mean by “man of the house” was this innocent saying a harbinger for a new generation that discriminates against its women?

The Egyptian Jan25 Revolution showed amazing courage from Egyptian women starting from those who blogged and called for the protests to those who were in Tahrir for the 18 days that brought down Mubarak. Of the many amazing aspects of Jan25 was the reported absence or near absence of harassment in Tahrir; Egyptian women found their voice and place. Yet at the very same location, Tahrir Square, and almost one month after the fall of Mubarak, some 16 Egyptian women, who were protesting peacefully, were arrested, tortured and here it comes: subjected to the ultimate humiliation, state conducted mandatory virginity tests. CNN reported an army officer stated that the tests were conducted to avoid accusations of rape against the army and that that none were found to be virgin. I would have thought that showing all of them to have been virgins, even if one or two were married, would have been the exoneration the army needed to show that no "rape" per se occurred, but clearly that was not the real objective of the cruel tests. The objective was the sexual humiliation and ultimately the shame of these women. Those who conducted this shameful operation were well aware of Egyptian hymen obsession. the term counter revolution has been used a lot in Egypt recently, rarely have I seen such a clear example of blatant criminal counter revolutionary behavior, a cruel and violent attempt to take back Tahrir from these brave honorable women.

A sexual revolution in Egypt is most certainly not a goal of mine, neither am I writing to advocate premarital sex and promiscuous society. Egypt has too many pressing problems to deal with and the damage of promiscuity in terms of teen pregnancy, single parent struggle, sky high divorce rate and family disintegration are there for all to see in US and elsewhere. What is my goal then? In simple terms it is equality and real fundamental women rights, not a sexual revolution but rather an honesty revolution that allows us to get into the roots of our social ills. No society can move forward without advancement for its women, no equality is possible without owning up to the current highly unequal status of those fellow humans born with hymens. It is thought leaders of the society, men and women, young men and young women those who made Jan25 possible, the Facebook & Twitter people who can lead the change, towards real equality, not lip service equality and certainly not promiscuity.


Ayman S. Ashour
June 3, 2011

From Tahrir to Switzerland ..the Oracle physician turned hero!

I just returned from Lucerne (Luzern) Hospital here in Switzerland after spending few hours with Dr. Ahmed Ghareeb, a wonderful hero of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution. Ahmed is a physician who later studied IT and became an IT specialist with Oracle in Cairo. January 28th was one of the most violent days of the Revolution; Ahmed was trying to stop a Republican Guard armored truck from delivering what looked like tear gas canisters to the police. Ahmed thought the vehicle was regular military; he was confused as to why, when the Army was generally neutral or protecting the protestors, this particular vehicle was attempting to aid the police. Apparently the Republican Guards look like Army but receive orders directly from the Presidency. After trying to plead with the officer in charge not to aid the police, the officer, agitated, shouted “I will kill you mom’s boy!”; the vehicle ran him over. Ahmed lost consciousness immediately and was taken to a hospital. Eight days later Ahmed finally opened his eyes, he did not recognize his own mother. Following intensive treatment in Cairo hospitals during February and thanks to the support of Oracle, Ahmed’s family and many friends he was moved to the care of a specialist team in Lucerne on March 4 where he has been undergoing extensive tests and evaluations since his arrival.

I met Ahmed for the first time today, he is now able to use his laptop for short periods , talk coherently, but still not able to concentrate and has very serious damage to the left side of his face, left eye, and has lost hearing in his left ear. He will need a battery of surgeries to fix extensive nerve, bone and blood vessel damage, followed by attempts to fix hearing and repair of the damage to the eye. Ahmed’s first surgery is scheduled next week and could last up to 17 hours. Today, Ahmed was upbeat, positive, amazingly strong, courteous and so full of grace.

Ahmed Ghareeb is typical of the young people of Egypt who protested against the brutal oppressive regime of deposed President Mubarak. People from the middle and upper classes of Egypt rose for their dignity, out of a belief that Egypt deserves better than a thuggish torture ridden police state. Geeks, bloggers, employees of Oracle, of Google, university professors, dentists, writers, lawyers, singers and eventually all of Egypt rose peacefully for freedom and human rights; they made Egypt proud and the world looked on in admiration.

As Ahmed and I talked today, we discovered a common bond, our love for the Sinai Peninsula our love of the desert and Red Sea. Ahmed spoke to me about his passions with a wonderful sparkle in his right eye. Ahmed promised to show me the remains of giant whales 400 km inland in Egypt’s western desert in Wadi Hitan; a beautiful spot that Ahmed loves to camp in. I can’t wait for him to show me his favorite desert spots. With Ahmed’s determination, the support of his family and friends from Egypt and Oracle worldwide and the wonderful team of doctors who have cared for and will care for Ahmed, this will be soon, I am sure.

Ayman S. Ashour
March 18, 2011

The Egyptian Stock Exchange..What Next?

Invest in Egypt but don’t gamble against the odds on the stock market!

The Egyptian Stock Exchange has been closed since the early days of the January 25 Revolution. Following the toppling of Mr. Mubarak a chorus of calls for action, donations and investment in the stock market has been getting louder in the press, social media and even in SMS text messages from banks. The continued closure of the stock market has fueled a high level of anxiety amongst many and with so much excitement about the possibilities for change and progress the wonderful people of Egypt are willing listeners to advice that they think can help Egypt and its economy.

While I am not an economist, I have been at leadership positions of public companies in the US & Europe and I have also been an adjunct lecturer on mergers & acquisitions for a number of years. So what I express here is my personal view as a practitioner who has to deal with issues of stock price, investor sentiment and public markets in general day in and day out and as also as an educator of business students looking at how companies create value and how they are valued.

International investors evaluate numerous factors to make their decisions about expanding their investment in a company, sector or country. Egypt has many important attractions, large population, excellent strategic location, availability of foreign language friendly work force, good access to markets and so forth. However, certain factors have impacted investment in Egypt negatively, specifically corruption, arbitrary & corrupt taxation and an inefficient, slow and often corrupt justice system.

Political stability is another key issue that has affected attitude towards investment in Egypt and likely will continue to do so. I fear that the current plan chosen by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, to install a temporary constitution and only move to a permanent one after a round of presidential and parliamentary elections followed by further elections for a drafting committee and further referendums, will prolong the period of uncertainty. The Egyptian Military caution is understandable on a number of fronts and a gradual approach that allows for the building up of democratic institutions over a year or two under a relatively benign military rule has its attractions, but also its price, a price from uncertainly over process, intent and what the ultimate outcome may look like and its desirability.

In a theoretical “perfect market”, the value of a company or a business is a function of one’s view of the future cash profit that a particular company would generate for its owners; stocks or shares represent fraction ownership of a company. Obviously people can have differing views on what the future may hold for a company and thus there will be those willing to buy and others willing to sell. If we assume company in the tourism industry in Egypt, the prospects for future profit and cash generation would have been seen as promising over the last few years, however, today there is little doubt that 2011 will be a difficult one for the tourism sector in Egypt. Companies in the tourism sector may actually make less profit or actually lose money; the value of these companies and their shares is therefore reduced in a “perfect market”.

The situation in any stock market is far from that of a “perfect market”, there are other factors that affect share prices; basic supply and demand for the actual shares and expectations of this supply and demand. If one hears that a shareholder in a specific company will be selling a large block of shares, it is likely that this could affect the price per share. So as we look at a company like Ezzsteel with its Chairman and Managing Director Mr. Ahmed Ezz in prison facing a number of charges, it is unlikely that many investors will be wanting to acquire shares in Ezzsteel when the market does eventually open, arguably many would want to sell shares. The prospects of the steel industry may not have materially changed by the January 25 Revolutions yet, the supply and demand situation of the shares has likely changed. The ownership of a significant percentage of companies listed on the Egyptian Stock Market is concentrated in the hands of large shareholders and it is the perceived and the actual attitude of these large shareholders that could have a decisive effect of the share prices of their companies.

The stock market when it does open in Egypt will likely see a drastic reduction in value because of the expected economic weakness at least for 2011, because of the uncertainty surrounding several prominent business families with large controlling blocks in many listed companies and there will likely be further penalty associated with a perceived higher political instability risk. The positive sentiment associated with the competent corruption fighting government of the new Egyptian Prime Minster will likely not be enough to counter the three big negatives. So there are good reasons for the stock market to go down.

Experience has shown that betting against economic fundamentals can only work in the short term but rarely so in the long term. People who want to avoid or minimize the collapse in the Egyptian stock market need to focus their effort on the three causes; the share prices are the outcome, just the symptoms. A campaign to encourage buying Egyptian made products domestically and internationally would contribute to the health of Egyptian companies more than buying few shares from co-investors of Mr. Ahmed Ezz while his own shares remain frozen. Promoting tourism in an intelligent campaign with significant price reductions and improvement in service is critical to save jobs and businesses in the tourism sector.
Most importantly, is the further thoughtful review of the plans to achieve the objectives of the January 25 Revolution as adopted by the Military. Plans and process to rid Egypt from corruption fix the justice and dispute resolution system and remove the old dictatorial system of Government need to be transparent and inclusive.

Egypt today stands at a high place, admired by the people of the world for its peaceful revolutions and while the army may have hesitated and bungled a number of important matters, it continues to be seen positively globally. In short there is tremendous goodwill by the world Government, people and investment community towards Egypt; now the key priority to focus on the fundamentals.

AA
March 12, 2011

The Amazing Tahrir

Wisdom of the ancient Egyptians is contained in the famous Book of The Dead. Egyptians celebrate feasts going to cemeteries, the world grandest tombs are our pyramids, when it comes to death, we excel, right? I always thought being Egyptian American was the ultimate philosophical contradiction in terms of outlook on life and death! Wrong, the Egypt that I saw on Twitter and Facebook for the past few months and specially since "#Jan25" or the January 25, 2011 Revolution is very much alive, not cynical but open, optimistic, tolerant, inclusive and vital. The outpouring of positive energy and creativity in all facets of life is beyond description and imagination. Enough adjectives and here are highlights of my seven hours in Tahrir Square.

On arrival ID checks and two patdowns, searches, organized, smiling, apologized for search and a big “Welcome to Tahrir”. ID checks to confirm not employed by police or other undesirable internal security apparatus for those are the trouble makers in post Jan25 Egypt! Traveling from Cairo Airport to nearby suburb Naser City to downtown, I saw virtually no police, amazing when they are normally ultra visible. Funnily enough, I only saw just limited military on my way to the airport, one tank and 3 soldiers to be accurate; yet Cairo felt more organized and safe than normal!

Inside Tahrir it felt like being in a surreal world, like being in a concert, carnival or even an amusement park. People selling flags, drinks, all types of foods and souvenirs; all handing out lots of smiles. Occasional spontaneous chants and mini marches memorizing martyrs, mocking or calling for the trial of former regime members or wanting their money. In normally classist Egypt, people were mixing easily, chatting and always smiling. I always thought Egyptians while having a wicked sense of humor were normally sad and subdued, in fact Egyptians normally ask forgiveness of God whenever they have a good laugh with the short prayer for God to make this laughter for a good thing or “Allah yegaloh khier”; the Egyptians in Tahrir were smiling and laughing unapologetically and optimistically; it was their right to be happy, finally!

Lots of people were passing leaflets; some rejecting the proposed constitution, others offering help to clarify their constitutional views, another for some presidential candidate with a ten point plan: number 9 was "A considered and thoughtful plan to reduce the number of spinsters". The big emphasis from most is ending detentions, ending the hated State Security apparatus and the new constitution.

My own brother insisted on buying a Libyan revolution flag when he saw someone walking by carrying one. He wanted to show solidarity. By noon the area was getting very full of people when the Muslim friday prayers were held. Amazingly people knelt down for prayers all mixed up, men, women, Christians, Muslims; some men asked women to sit down for prayers, some did, others didn't. It was relaxed and comfortable and the Imam addressed the sermon to Egyptians Muslims and Christians and called on the Shiekh of Al Azhar to be an elected not appointed post.

Women who were very visible in this revolution were also visible in Tahrir, the majority had their hair covered, many didn't and some had the once dreaded face cover. My own prejudices against the veil fell apart as I saw assertive activist women taking part in the revolution fully, no back seats and many if not most calling for a secular civil state.

For me, one of the main faces of the revolution is the wonderful and articulate Asma Mahfouz, an activist blogger whose courage, determination in her video blogs helped galvanize the movement and actually got people out on Jan 25. This modest girl with the headscarf shamed the nation into getting out to protest against Mubarak as she recounted stories of being a girl amongst a handful of protestors in the face of truckloads of Central Security. I didn't see Asma in person but I saw many like her.

While sitting on a curb facing the "Mogamma" the central administrative building of the state on Tahrir Square, another young Asma with a large tatterd bag came collecting the empty bottles, cans and food wrappings; an hour later a young man came in for the same purpose. They went about their tasks silently, unobtrusively, not complaining, not uttering a word. I found myself rushing ahead of them to collect the garbage with my hands to put in their white bags. I felt humbled by the courage, organization and dedication of those beautiful young people of Egypt. For Jan25 is a revolutions that cares about what it leaves behind, it cleans after itself.

At about 1 pm, the newly appointed Prime Minister of this country of 85 Million people walked by us with no visible guards to the make shift stage at the edge of the Square. I saw him and took few photos with my phone, but the audio did not cooperate, I could not hear what he said and the crowd was intense. Fireworks in the midday sun of Cairo and loud chants erupted, I found out later it was his pledge to achieve the will of the people. Closer to 3pm I walked around the rest of the Square listening to many speeches by men and women in the different corners of this wonderful Republic of Tahrir ...all people believing in a better future. Doubtless the various factions that brought Egypt to this success will splinter into Socialist, Arabist, Liberal, Islamist, Egyptian Nationalist and others, one has to feel a certain amount of gratitude towards the hated Mubarak for making it possible for these various groups to unite and learn to work together so well.

Many thoughts and fears still crowd my head, but I wanted to communicate what I saw, perhaps still a bit raw and full of emotion and excitement. I still hear the young man who was selling flags and painting faces lamenting that Friday March 4 was likely the last big protest, I hope he is right and being Egyptian American and now mainly a Tahriri, I have to be optimistic.

AA
March 6, 2011

Amir Eid and friends Sout Al Hourya CNN interview