Egypt and Israel are two nations that
fascinate most creative writers and even observers of
international affairs because of a variety of cogent and
verifiable reasons. Israel is the homeland of the Jews who
were mostly persecuted and were indeed almost annihilated
during the Second World War in the early 1940's because of
the ambition of one demonic mind-Adolphus Hitler who dreamt
of establishing a World Order where freedom, justice, equity
and respect for the fundamental human rights would be
subjugated, suppressed and oppressed and the rule of the
brutes, dictators and absolute tyrants would become the order
of the day. Luckily for humanity, the civilized World rose in
unison and dramatically defeated General Hitler of the then
Eastern Germany.
Egypt is known as the cradle of ancient
civilization and for most practicing Christians, Egypt holds
a special place in their hearts and minds because it was
there that the little Jesus Christ, in his human form was
taken by his Biblical Parents Joseph the worker and Virgin
Mary, to shield him from imminent danger of death by the
absolute monarch- King Herod who was frightened at the
prospect of losing his authorities to the coming peoples'
Messiah. Egypt is one place that most people in most parts of
the World would ordinarily grow up to know in their formative
educational years because of the many historical facts
associated with that nation. I, for one would remember Egypt
as one of the earliest places I ever learnt about and
attached so much importance in history as a Child.
Since the formation of modern State of
Israel in 1948 and up until the late 1970's, the two
neighbors -Egypt and Israel fought several wars over
disagreements bordering on ownership rights over the River
Niles and other adjourning border towns. The Egyptian
administration are also known to have deep sympathy to the
Palestinian Cause over the true owner of the most
historically significant segments of Jerusalem. But the
sporadic wars came to an end with a truce agreement entered
into by the political and military leadership of both nations
in 1978. The venue of this solemn peace accord was Camp
David. Camp David is the Country retreat of the President of
the United State of America and his guests. Located in Low
wooded hills about 100 kilometers [62m1] North-North West of
Washington DC on the property of Catoctin Mountain Park in unincorporated
Fredrick County, Maryland, near Thurmount,, according to the
writers of the wikipedia, the free online encyclopedia. The
natural beauty and scenery of this Camp David is underscored
by the pristine fact that it is located at an elevation of
approximately 560 meters [1,840 feets].
Camp David in officialdom, in the United
States of America, the World's Super-power, is known as Naval
Support facility Thurmont, and is technically a military
installation, staffing is primarily provided by the United
States Navy and the United States Marine Corps. America is a
strong ally of the Israeli people and also maintains strong
presence in Egypt which is a strategic segment of the Arab
World because Egypt has the largest population of Arabs in
the World. The symbolic importance of Egypt made it necessary
for an American University to be built in Egypt which
incidentally is the institution whereby the Wife of the
deposed Egyptian strongman Mr. Hosni Mubarak [a retired Air
Force General and the longest President of Egypt] Mrs.
Suzzane, [a half United Kingdom citizen by virtue of a Welsh
mother] attended. Suzzanne obtained both her first degree and
post-graduate degree from the American University and the two
sons of former President Mubarak also spent time at the
American University.
What I am driving at by mentioning the
presence of the American University in Cairo, Egypt is to
demonstrate the close affinity and diplomatic friendship of the
United States and Egypt traditionally and by extension, the
Government of the United States of America will be at the
forefront of Global governments that would support continuous
peace between the two nations of Egypt and Israel. President
Barrack Obama, the first ever Black American President in the
United States of America visited Egypt as part of the series
of foreign trips to Islamic Arab Countries and nations
considered Islamic in an effort to bridge the gap between the
United States of America and the Moslem World following the
perception that the war on terror launched by President
George Bush following the September 2001 terrorist attack of
the United States was targeted at the Moslems.
But a big historical event happened on
Sunday June 24th 2012 when the much awaited results from the
re-run poll of the Presidential election was declared and the
candidate of the Freedom and Justice party, the political
wing of the formerly banned Moslem Brotherhood- Mohammed
Morsi won by a slight margin thereby defeating the candidate
that is closely affiliated with the military and the last
Prime Minister under the popularly dethroned regime of Mr.
Hosni Mubarak, Mr. Ahmed Shafik who retired as a military
General. The general mood among the establishment in the state
of Israel is that of 'wait -and- see' because of the earlier
commitment made by the President -elect of Egypt of the
Moslem Brotherhood in which he promised not to tamper with
the existing peace accord with the state of Israel.
Moreover, before the declaration of the
results of the Presidential re-run poll, the powerful
military hierarchy in Egypt succeeded in thwarting the powers
of the now elected President by getting the highest court in
the land- the constitutional court to invalidate the newly inaugurated
Egyptian parliament made up mostly of parliamentarians
affiliated to the Moslem Brotherhood and the nation has no
valid constitution thereby making it possible for the
military to manipulate the tenure of the now elected
President. The Egyptian military did not stop at making sure
that whomsoever emerged on Sunday June 24th 2012 did not only
transmute into a sitting dock toothless President with little
or no executive powers, but they also got two
extra-constitutional decrees passed which grants them the
total powers over foreign and defence affairs of Egypt
meaning that though the elected civilian President of Egypt
would preside over as the Chairman of the National Defence
Council made up largely of several serving military Generals
but the President does not have any commanding power or
influence. The President of Egypt under the new arrangement
will not have the unilateral power of revoking the Camp David
peace accord with the State of Israel.
I believe by so doing the American
interest has being comfortably addressed and protected since
the Egyptian military which controls several commercial
ventures in Egypt including Tourism sector also enjoys
unfettered access to several billions of United States
Dollars of foreign technical assistance from the Government
of the United States, would not ordinarily encourage any
decision by the incoming administration in Egypt to roll out
and implement any anti-American foreign policy and since the
American interest seems inter-twined with the Israeli interest
because of their long standing affinity, it stands to reason
that for the foreseeable future, the Camp David accord
between Egypt and Israel may remain sacrosanct.
The concern of this writer with the
emergence of the first Islamist elected leader in the entire
Arab World in the person of the Moslem Brotherhood produced
President -elect of Egypt- Mohammed Morsi, is whether the
fundamental human/civil rights of minorities like Christians
and Women of Egypt would be respected because looking at how
these segments of the society are reduced into the ranks of
second or even third class citizens in Islamist Theocratic
and/or Monarchical regimes in the rest of the Arab World
including Iran, one would be left wondering whether these new
big boys of Egypt will not throw the hands of the clock back
by several decades by establishing a dictatorship that would
subjugate the rights of Women and minorities in the affairs
of Egypt. The rights of women to property rights and other
sexual rights must be protected.
A friend who recently returned from Iran
told me a story of how the Iranian Women are refused some
basic rights which are freely given to their men counterparts
like participation in sporting activities and even
participating actively in partisan politics. It was not long
ago that Women were allowed to drive in Saudi Arabia. With
such basic rights like prohibition of Female genital
Mutilation, prohibition of early or child marriage and the
absolute prohibition of other serious sexual abuses of women
that were in place during the Hosni Mubarak regime, it is
feared that the coming of the Moslem Brotherhood on the
political stage may demolish all these basic rights of women
and even the right to freedom of worship enjoyed for ages
under the Mubarak administration by the Christian minorities.
It is noteworthy to remark here that
people are already expressing fears that the new regime in
Egypt may remove some of these fundamental human rights that
are universally accepted as human rights for all humanity.
Happily, Mohammed Morsi, who graduated with a prestigious
doctorate degree in Engineering from one of the best
Universities in the United States of American and has two
daughters born in the United States with United States
citizenship, has already assured the frightened observers
around the World that his Government would respect the
fundamental human rights of all persons including minorities
and women. The World is watching to see whether the popular
revolution which deposed the former dictator Hosni Mubarak
has been further consolidated with the emergence of the first
ever elected head of state in the Arab World or whether this
is an unfortunate throwback to the primitive era whereby the
rights of women and minorities would be abused with ignominy.
Mohammed Morsi, the newly elected President of Egypt told
Chirtien Amomphor of the Cable Network News of the United
States of America that there is nothing like Islamic
democracy but one universally recognized democracy which
recognizes all the fundamental rights of all human beings as
sacrosanct. It is hoped that the new President will respect
this solemn social contract with the people of Egypt.
But again, the fact that the winner of the
hotly contested Presidential election in Egypt won with a
very slim margin[Mohammed Morsi won with 13,230,131 to defeat
Ahmed Shafik who scored 12, 347,380] shows how divided the
Egyptian society is and it is left for the new Government to
begin a transparent national process of reconciliation to
bridge the gap between the supporters of the elected
President and those of the other critical segments of the
Egyptian society like the Secularists, the free thinkers,
Women and religious minorities. Egypt cannot afford to
retrogress because of the historical importance of that
nation to almost all members of the human race and because of
the singular fact that it was the bastion of ancient
civilization. It is expected that the leadership will
separate religion from politics and allow the basic
fundamental freedoms to grow in view of the fact that the name
of the political party that produced Mohammed Morsi is called
Freedom and Justice party. Although it is yet to be known for
how long Dr. Morsi will last as the President of Egypt
because for now there is no constitution and the Military is
expected to play a dominant role in the writing of the new
constitution for Egypt following the annulment of the
National Parliament, most people around the World and
especially in Africa and the Arab World expect that the
rights of all persons must and should be protected and
guarded jealously because Africa and the Arab World cannot
afford to have another nation like Iran or Syria under the
current President Assad's murderous dictatorship who are
unleashing divergent violence and muzzling of opposition
voices in their respective countries. As I watched the
international television live program whereby the Chairman of
the Presidential Election Commission Justice Farouk Sultan
announced the victory of the Moslem brotherhood, I saw a
joyous crowds of people in Tariq Square in Cairo- Egypt who
jubilated and also wished that the revolution which they
started last year will not after all turn out as a big fluke.
Revolution by the people should restore popular democracy
whereby zero-tolerance to corruption and dictatorship would
become the order of the day. That is my wish for the people
of Egypt but the rights of all persons must be respected as
sacrosanct and inviolable.
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