Al-Ahram: Egypt’s Options, Lutfi El-Kholi

The following are selections from articles which appeared in the Egyptian English weekly, “Al-Ahram” of Al-Ahram Weekly, 2nd – 8th July, 1998

[Heading:] Dina Ezzat explores Egypt’s options beyond a defunct peace process

As the deadlock in Middle East peace-making persists and inter-Arab differences re-surface, Egypt is faced with the difficult task of preventing these factors from eroding its role as a regional power broker.

“If Egypt does not make a significant contribution to the peace process and if it fails to deal with inter-Arab divisions, then it is destined for marginalisation in the region,” said one official.

… Syria wants a significant scaling-down of Arab-Israeli economic cooperation but Jordan feels that this will hurt its own interests,” a source said. In fact, the source added, there are serious concerns that Jordan may soon join Israel and Turkey in some sort of military alliance.

But Cairo is not giving up yet. Over the past few weeks, diplomatic sources said, it has stepped up efforts to contain inter-Arab divisions, particularly those between Syrians, Jordanians and Palestinians. Saudi Arabia co-sponsored the Egyptian effort. Sources told Al-Ahram Weekly that the foreign ministers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Syria have held at least two secret meetings to look at the possibility of organising a limited summit of the Arab states bordering Israel plus Saudi Arabia. Another possibility that was discussed was a tripartite Egyptian-Syrian-Saudi summit.

… Egyptian and European officials agree that if no agreement on a West Bank withdrawal is reached by the end of July, when the Israeli Knesset starts its summer recess, The Egyptian-French initiative will have to move ahead more forcefully.

On the other hand, Egyptian efforts to lobby the Israeli opposition have not yielded any significant results. Actually, Egyptian officials are aware that when push comes to shove, the Labour and Likud parties are likely to adopt similar policies on the broad lines of a final settlement.

During a visit to Cairo last month, Labour leader Ehud Barak agreed with the Likud policy of providing Israeli settlers with weapons, describing it as “technical security arrangements”. Barak also refused to accept the existence of a full-fledged Palestinian state, at any stage, arguing that a Palestinian state with an army would be a violation of the “red line” of Israeli security.

In fact, Egyptian officials said that Netanyahu’s policies are beginning to gather enough local support to carry him through the term and secure him a decent chance of winning a second term in the year 2000.

[Heading:] Political commentator, columnist, writer, activist, and above all survivor: he’s done it all, seen it through and he’s still coming back for more

For over four decades, beginning in the early 1940s, El-Kholi has written, criticising the regime, the establishment, or the extremists.

… Mohamed Hassanein Heikal, Nasser’s confidant and the popular and highly acclaimed former chief editor of Al-Ahram… hand-picked El-Kholi for the plum job of editor-in-chief of Al-Tali’a (The Vanguard). The highly esteemed journal was to become something of a repository for independent socialist thinking in Egypt and throughout the Arab world.

… El-Kholi, as chief-editor, basked in the limelight until his unceremonious sacking in February 1977 by the late president, Anwar El-Sadat.

… El-Kholi himself, however, has not been immune to criticism. He is a key advocate of dialogue between Arab and Israeli intellectuals, and one of the instigators of the International Alliance for Arab-Israeli Peace, established by the so-called Copenhagen Declaration, which was issued in January 1997. By championing the cause of Copenhagen, El-Kholi is going against the grain. With the prevailing international climate and Israel intransigence, few Arab intellectuals want to speak with Israelis — especially former military men. There has been a concerted effort to discredit El-Kholi in the aftermath of the initiative, but his supporters believe that he has consistently waylaid his adversaries.

Whether or not one sees eye to eye with him on the Copenhagen question, his promotion of dialogue with “enlightened” Israelis should not cloud the fact that the man himself, and the causes he espouses, are much bigger than Copenhagen. As head of the Afro-Asian Writers’ Union (AAWU), Lutfi El-Kholi, political commentator, writer-activist, and above all survivor is essentially interested in the cause of the Third World. He is now working to convene an international conference in Cairo in 1999, based on the exploration of the relationship between the West and “the rest of us”, as El-Kholi humorously puts it.

The AAWU, however, is a shadow of its former self. Gone are the days of bountiful Soviet backing. The Union no longer enjoys the support of a host of anti-imperialist Third World governments. El-Kholi sees the brighter side of the matter. “It is a miracle that, with all its financial and other problems, it survived….”