http://www.aawsat.com/english/news.asp?section=2&id=21519
Using the Issue of Normalization to Pressure the Egyptians
05/07/2010
By Ali Salem
Ali Salem
Ali Salem is a renowned Egyptian playwright and humorist. He is the
author of several books, including "Journey into Israel." He is based in Cairo.
Previous Articles
Are You in Favor of the Resistance?
Mr. Najib Mahfuz, God have mercy on his soul, considered peace to be the
natural relationship between men. However, in a society that has suffered for a
long time from the lack of what is natural in the field of politics as a result
of decades of consecutive revolutionary governments, it is inevitable that the
elite will feel afraid of a natural relationship with unknown dimensions with
Israel.
>From this stemmed all the movements of confrontation and resisting the
>normalization between Egypt and Israel. The most prominent slogan raised in
>this field is that the normalization card is the last card we have in the
>Arab-Israeli conflict to exert pressure on Israel to compel it to proceed
>along the way of peace with the ultimate aim of establishing the Palestinian
>State.
This means that non-normalization is not an end in itself, but it is nearly an
ultimate means to exert pressure on Israel. Thus we can understand without a
clear announcement by these movements that peace between Egypt and Israel is
the strategy they pursue. As war, according to Clausewitz, is an extension of
peace through other means, the peace activists in Egypt - who naturally are a
minority - consider that the peace relations make it imperative to have new
political relations between the two sides in order to remove the shadow of war,
and consolidate confidence between the two sides so that Egypt can dedicate
itself to solving its problems, which are well known to every man on the face
of the earth.
However, any close or distant observer of the movement of the Egyptian society
will discover easily that the problem of normalization does not represent an
Egyptian preoccupation. This is in the sense that it does not occupy an area of
the thinking of the Egyptian people as one of the people's pressing problems.
So far we have not heard of an Egyptian citizen who woke up in the morning
disconcerted and gloomy, asking with perplexity and pain: O God, what will I do
about the problem of normalization?
Moreover, I also claim that it does not constitute a preoccupation for the
intelligentsia, but it is merely an interest to which they restricted their
activities as an alternative to commitment to public work, and as a way to
escape from the real battles imposed by the peace relations in the fields of
knowledge, culture, arts, sports, scientific research, commerce, and industry.
Obviously, all this does not hinder the real struggle to establish the
Palestinian State; it even might give this struggle a strong push forward.
When we look carefully into the story of the alleged pressure, we will notice
that hostility to normalization does not constitute, and has not constituted
from the beginning a pressure card on the Israelis. It only has been restricted
to being an extremely strong pressure card on the Egyptians outside the
official circles, i.e. in the fields of arts, ideas, and culture; all these
keys are not in the pockets of the intelligentsia, and even if they were with
the intelligentsia, the safety valves are in the offices of the officials.
There are commercial projects in any fields between Egypt and Israel, and there
is cooperation in the Al-Kuwayz project in exporting duty-free goods to the
United States. However, the movements resisting normalization are not concerned
about these issues, because their keys are not in their hands, and hence they
escape the hammer of non-normalization.
The strongest heavy blow has been the call to strip the Egyptians working in
Israel and married to Israeli women of their Egyptian nationality; what is
meant by Israeli women are Muslim and Christian Palestinian Arab women,
naturally in addition to those married to Jewish women. The aim of this - as
they think - is to protect the national security. Here, you will realize that
the "pressure" is imposed on the Egyptian Government, on the Egyptians, and on
women belonging to the three religions who are married to Egyptians. This is a
clear step aimed at ruining the homes of the Egyptians working there.
So far, you will fail to find any kind of pressure imposed on Israel, as a
state or as a government.
Here, we come to the field of arts. An Egyptian actor participates in a US film
in which an Israeli actor or actress takes part; immediately voices rise, and
with them the hammer: Hold it, here is a normalizationist; O actors' syndicate,
hold it, interrogate him, and fire him.
Immediately the syndicate official appears and says: Of course, do you think we
will leave him alone? If it appears that he knew that she was an Israeli, and
acted with her in one scene, or even in the same film, we will immediately fire
him. No one should sacrifice the Palestinian people for the sake of
international stardom.
It is as if when a star is asked to play a role in a foreign film, he is
required to ensure that all those working in the film have nothing to do with
Israel from near or far. Do you see any pressure in this on anyone other than
the Egyptians?
Then we come to football. An Egyptian player signed a contract with a Belgian
club, but the research and investigation branch of the anti-normalization
groups discovers that a player with Israeli nationality plays for the Belgian
club. Again the pressure hammer is raised, and the voices are raised: Hold it,
a normalizationist; where is the Football Association? Are we going to let this
undisciplined player cause the loss of the Palestinian cause?
When we reached this level of absurdity, some writers took the risk and started
to denounce this strange behavior that prevents the Egyptians from progress and
movement. However all these writers are doing so with the sword of
normalization charges pointing at their necks, and the normalization hammer
hovering over their heads. Therefore, they are keen to start their article with
a "password," which is the famous phrase: I am against normalization; however...
If the front for steadfastness against and confrontation of normalization
allows me to work as its adviser, as I am an old normalization expert, I will
advise them about what they should do so that people will appreciate their
activities. It is not appropriate in front of the world to prevent an actor
from working in a film in which an Israeli actor or technician works, but we
can issue a resolution that the director should adhere to not filming the two
together, i.e. he can film each of them alone and then combine the scene during
the montage stage. In case of an Israeli actress, the Egyptian actor should
refuse the role if he is required to love her or even to treat her amicably in
the film; it would be better that he kills her in the film. In case the film is
introduced at Cannes Film Festival, the star refrains from walking on the red
carpet with any actor or actress; he has to walk on the ground outside the
carpet, or on the opposite pavement.
As for the field of football, the Football Association ought to have a standard
contract we impose on all the clubs of the world, in which we allow the
Egyptian player to play in a team that includes one Israeli player, on
condition that he does not "pass" the ball to him, and neither does he receive
it from him, even if the Egyptian player is in front of the "goal post" and can
score a goal from it; and if the Israeli player passes the ball to the Egyptian
in order to entrap him into normalization, the Egyptian is obliged to send it
immediately outside the field.
Do you think that I am joking? By God, no; it is only you who are making us the
laughingstock for all God's creatures.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
