Tuesday, December 14, 2004
Mubarak moves continue
Fabulous developments have continued in Arab-Israel relations these last few days.
Under cover of a rash of sinister sneak murder attacks, the lack of television attention is a good thing, despite the likelihood that some in the media are at pains to ignore or belittle what has been a happy chain of events.
This attitude may be because
(a) of their own partisan feelings; or of the perverse dread that
(b) the Israel-Palestinian conflict may somehow not continue to be a golden source of violence headlines; and that
(c) loathed figures like the US (to Europe), Mubarak (to Islamist fanatics) and Sharon (to Euro-media) might win and deserve kudos for any outbreak of peace, such as was not achieved at the European city of Oslo.
The media hypothesis is speculation, but is anyone really fooled? The glum face of the BBC presenter last night as she reported the new - and thoroughly amazing - Egypt-Israel Trade Agreement was obvious for all to see.
Simultaneous to this agreement we hear Arafat heir-apparent Mahmoud Abbas calling for non-violence, fresh after his apology to Kuwait for Palestinian support of Saddam's attempt to swallow it.
Meanwhile prison inmate and radical Marwan Barghouti pulls out of the Palestinian presidential race, while Abbas exerts pressure to bring Palestinian military and "security" forces under one rule and one banner.
Underlining all this, Israeli PM Sharon finds himself in a battle royale with (erstwhile) Likud allies, Islamist and Palestinian nutcases are of course doing their violent (and snuff film fueled)) best to rock the apple cart, and President Mubarak's Egyptian government is taking heroic steps to bring the view of the nation's body politic into aligned focus, as previously blogged about here.
A recent example of the latter is an article in the leading Egyptian Government daily Al-Ahram ("Relations with Israel" ) in which columnist Hazem Abd Al-Rahman urges that Egypt throw off the chains of pan-Arab "prohibitions" against relations with its neighbour, and develop these as a means of exerting its own independence and of leading and influencing the process of change necessary for improvement of the Palestinian situation.
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While Egypt expands trade ties with Israel, US churches are considering massive divestiture in that country because of the "failure" of the US government to curb Israel's "aggressive" policies (like building a security barrier to stop murder lemming attacks).
You can vote now in an on-line Christian Science Monitor poll on this issue. The poll is adjective-loaded, as described.
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Mahmoud Abbas's calls for demilitarisation seem to be resonating amongst Palestinians:
"(A) survey of 1,200 Palestinians this month found that 52 percent opposed "military operations" against Israel, believing that they were harmful to Palestinian interests.
"That was nearly double the figure in June, 27 percent, according to the Jerusalem Media and Communication Center, the Palestinian group that conducted the poll, and it was the first time in four years that a majority of Palestinians opposed attacks."
