Rene — Gideon Levy — The Egyptian Masses Won't Play Ally to Israel
Topic(s): Egypt | Comments Off on Rene — Gideon Levy — The Egyptian Masses Won't Play Ally to IsraelThis was printed in Haaretz January 30th.
The Egyptian Masses Won’t Play Ally to Israel
As long as the masses in Egypt and in the entire Arab world continue
seeing the images of tyranny and violence from the occupied
territories, Israel will not be able to be accepted, even it is
acceptable to a few regimes.
By Gideon Levy
January 30, 2011 “Haaretz” – – Three or four days ago, Egypt was still
in our hands. The army of pundits, including our top expert on Egypt,
Benjamin Ben-Eliezer, said that “everything is under control,” that
Cairo is not Tunis and that Mubarak is strong. Ben-Eliezer said that
he had spoken on the phone with a senior Egyptian official, and he
assured him that there’s nothing to worry about. You can count on Fuad
and Hosni, both about to become has-beens.
On Friday night everything changed. It turned out that the Israeli
intelligence estimates, which were recited ad nauseum by the court
analysts, were again, shall we say, not the epitome of accuracy. The
people of Egypt had their say, and had the nerve not to fall in line
with Israeli wishes. A moment before Mubarak’s fate is sealed, the
time has come for drawing the Israeli conclusions.
Not a plague of darkness in Egypt but the light of the Nile: the end
of a regime propped up by bayonets is foretold. It can go on for
years, and the downfall sometimes comes at the least expected time,
but in the end it will happen. Not only Damascus and Amman, Tripoli
and Rabat, Tehran and Pyongyang: Ramallah and Gaza are also destined
to be shaken.
The hypocritical and sanctimonious division of countries by the U.S.
and the West between the “axis of evil” on the one hand, and the
“moderates” on the other, has collapsed. If there is an axis of evil,
then it includes all the non-democratic regimes, including the
“moderates” and the “stable” and the “pro-Western.” Today Egypt,
tomorrow Palestine. Yesterday Tunis, tomorrow Gaza.
Not only is the Fatah regime in Ramallah and the Hamas regime in Gaza
destined to fall, but perhaps also, one day, the Israeli occupation,
which certainly meets all the criteria of criminal tyranny and an evil
regime. It too relies only on guns. It too is hated by all levels of
the ruled people, even if they stands helpless, unorganized and
unequipped, facing a big army. The first conclusion: Better to end it
well, with agreements based on justice and not on power, a moment
before the masses have their say and succeed in banishing the
darkness.
A second, no less important conclusion: Alliances with unpopular
regimes can be torn up overnight. As long as the masses in Egypt and
in the entire Arab world continue seeing the images of tyranny and
violence from the occupied territories, Israel will not be able to be
accepted, even it is acceptable to a few regimes.
The Egyptian regime became an ally of the Israeli occupation. The
joint siege of Gaza is irrefutable proof of that. The Egyptian people
didn’t like it. They never liked the peace agreement with Israel, in
which Israel committed itself to “respect the legitimate rights of the
Palestinian people” but never kept its word. Instead, the people of
Egypt got the scenes of Operation Cast Lead.
It is not enough to have a handful of embassies in order to be
accepted in the region. There also have to be embassies of goodwill, a
just image and a state that is not an occupier. Israel has to make its
way into the hearts of the Arab peoples, who will never agree to the
continued repression of their brothers, even if their intelligence
ministers will continue to cooperate with Israel.
If there’s one thing shared by all factions of the Egyptian
opposition, it is their seething hatred of Israel. Now their
representatives will rise to power, and Israel will find itself in a
difficult situation. Neither will anything remain of the virtual
achievement that Netanyahu often paraded – the alliance with the
“moderate” Arab regimes against Iran. A real alliance with Egypt and
its sister-states can only be based on the end of the occupation, as
desired by the Egyptian people, and not on a common enemy, as an
interest of its regime.
The masses of the Egyptian people – please note: on all levels – took
their fate in their hands. There is something impressive and cheering
in that. No power, not even that of Mubarak, who Ben-Eliezer likes so
much, can overcome them. In Washington the gravity of the moment has
already been understood, and they were quick to dissociate from
Mubarak and tried to find favor in the eyes of his people. That should
happen at some point in Jerusalem.