Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Nabil El Araby : Our relations with Israel Should be Normal

El-Araby at Tahrir
"Source unknown"
Our new FM Nabil El Araby has spent less than a month or two months and yet I think he could fix a lot of damage caused by the Mubarak regime when it comes to our foreign policies.
The man has got a lot of files and a lot of challenges starting from the treatment of Egyptians at their embassies abroad to the biggest challenges of all  times : The river Nile water share.
Since the appointment of Al Araby and Israeli media seems to be hostile towards the man who attended and participated at the peace negotiations at Camp David in a strange way even without waiting to see his policies. Of course the fact that he widely and openly criticized the war on Gaza makes him unwelcomed personality to Israel !! Added to that his warning to Israel from any military operation against Gaza and his historical statement that Iran is not an enemy state made them hate him more and more unreasonably !!
Anyhow here is the interview with Mona El-Shazly on Dream TV last “ Dream TV should add English Dubbing to important interviews like that one”

First of all I love that photo of him , Amr Moussa , Mohamed ElBaradei and Nabil Fahmy at the UN which was included at introductory report. I really love it :)
Second to the things that really matters :
  • The minister made it clear that Egypt will not violate the Camp David peace accords , already the armed forces council made it clear.
  • The minister made it clear that the only change will take place in our relation with Israel that Egypt will treat it according to Camp David accords . We will have a normal relation with Israel not ‘a special relation’ as before in Time of Mubarak. I do not know why Israel is angry of being treated normally !!? Already this special status made more people angry from Israel and Mubarak.
  • The minister hinted that the exported gas prices to Israel will be reviewed.
  • He also spoke about the Peace accords and explained important articles about the Egyptian army’s existence at Sinai. He elaborated about two important articles or rights for Egypt we did not use yet : 1) We can have a real UN peacekeeper forces not MFO as the Arab states are no longer standing against Egypt. 2) The existence of Egyptian forces. As a realistic man he said that Israel can approve on the first but will reject the second immediately.
  • He hinted that there was that article Egypt has not used against Israel all that time for unknown reason regarding compensations. It turned out that Israel should compensate for us for things like stealing our oil during its occupation to Sinai or stealing ancient Egyptian artifacts or destroying the turquoise mines or even better and better the murder of POWs. He only mentioned the oil case but I remember that one of the Sadats clan bringing up this article when the Egyptian POWs brought up.
  • He is totally against Mubarak’s policy in Gaza and he wants to end it.
  • He slammed the Madrid peace conference as it overshadowed the important 242 resolution, he also slammed that term of land for peace despite it is based upon 242 resolution.
  • The minister made it clear that Iran is not an enemy country , it is an important country in the region which should cooperate with. Already we have diplomatic representation in Tehran and in Cairo. Already El-Araby played a role in restoring back our relations.
  • There is nothing bad that Turkey and Iran are trying playing a greater role than they used to play in the past.
  • There is a problem indeed when it comes to the treatment of Egyptians at our embassies abroad , also the level and number of representation. The level of representation problem was shown clearly in Libya , an embassy and consulate only serving more than one million Egypt. He did not speak about Libya thought as it should.
  • We are going back to Africa and the visit to Sudan whether the North or the South was very promising. North and South Sudan are with in the same boat when it comes to the Nile water share.
  • He called the young diplomats to serve in hot and important countries like Sudan.
To Qaddafi and to Armed forces councilThe interview was too short , there were many questions that should be asked still this can be the interview that introduces Nabil El Araby to millions of Egyptians. I hope that his perspective about that real national security council to be considered now or at least in the future.
The fact that he was chosen to head the ministry of foreign affairs makes more optimistic about the future comparing to the damage Mubarak and his men had shamefully made all those years in our regional and foreign policies.
I hope that he has a plan about the allegations of using Egyptians as human shields in Libya as they are his responsibility along with the armed forces council. Turkey sent a ship protected by Turkish air forces to Miisurata , we can do the same thing , we can send those scary F16 Mubarak threatened us with accompanied with one of our ships to evacuate those thousands stuck there.

10 comments:

  1. It is naive to think of Iran as a friendly neutral country because their covert actions in the Gulf states, Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Iraq and other countries in the region is a strong indication of their geopolitical plans.
    I anticipate a conflict will develop in the near future between the Arab countries led by Saudi Arabia and Iran in which Egypt may become a major player.
    The Canadian.

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  2. But we don't stand to gain anything from ignoring them either

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  3. @Z, "Dream TV should add English Dubbing" Subtitles, please. Not dubbing. Also, it should be to all major network broadcasts in Arabic. Arabic is a niche language, some say a dying language.

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  4. so you don't have a problem with being buddies with the repressive regime in iran that slaughters their own people in the streets if they even THINK about protesting…. but america is the great satan for recognizing and supporting such regimes…yeah?

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  5. Arabic will never be a dying language! Dream on Jason :)

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  6. In the late 70's early 80's the Mujahiddinnes were given arms to fight the Russians then themselves became the bad guys and afghanistan was swallowed. Then the Iraq's were given deadly weapons and persuaded to fight the Iranians both rich in oil, millions died on both sides and the economies wrecked and development repressed for decades, so both lost, Iraq was swallowed and Iran banished internationally. Now we are talking about a war between Iran and the Arabs again both rich in oil, and I guess the Arabs will be given loads of weapons just like Iraq, but in the end both will lose and both will in turn be swallowed. My view is that Iran will be stupid to have a bomb or engage in a war against the Arabs knowing that if they do so they are in it for at least a couple of decades of attrition and neither they nor the Arabs will win in the end just like Iraq and Afghanistan. Much better for both to develop their political systems, education, economies, social structure health and much more, then to kill each other like barbarians. Iranians and Arabs stop it right now, go back to school or read a book or something, but calm down and do not fight.

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  7. @ anonymous #4, no America is the "great satan" because of its history of manipulating countries for geopolitical interests. The US conveniently downplays Saudi & Gulf oppression (which is significantly worse than Iran's) because they are allies of those states. The US conveniently ignores the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, but has the spotlight on "enemy" countries. And conveniently, almost every dictator in the Muslim World is one way or another supported by the US administration. Iran's revolution itself was a reaction to US imperialism. Before removing reactionary Ayatollahs, I would much rather see US presence from the region removed.

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  8. @ Anonymous 4/07/2011 01:20:00 PM America is the "great satan"... US imperialism... blah blah blah...

    I like comments like this. They save me the trouble of ridiculing them, because they are already self-parodies.

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  9. No normalization with Israel! And I could care less about the US. It is a failing empire

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  10. Sudanese Optimist4/08/2011 04:19:00 AM

    Dr Sharaf has won many of the Sudanese over with his humility and honesty and down to earth mannerisms.

    We feel that he meant what he said when he stated that he was opening a new page in relations...

    However, the Egyptian delegation was scheduled to meet with the opposition in North Sudan and this did not take place...

    They did not meet the two biggest components of the opposition - the Umma Party of al-Imam Al-Sadiq al-Mahdi and the Sudan Peoples' Liberation Movement Northern Sector headed by Yassir Arman who got the second largest share of votes in the last elections.

    Both parties most definitely have different views on the Nile issue than the National Congress Party that has been in power for over 20 years...

    Dr Arabi stated in Khartoum that Egypt would do whatever Sudan wants...

    A couple of days after President Mubarak's resignation, Presidential Advisor and Head of the Eastern Front Musa Muhammad Ahmad called on the new Egyptian government to rectify former President Mubarak's blunder and to withdraw its troops of military annexation from Halayeb.

    His statement was met by calls of temperance by the ruling National Congress Party who stated that the demand was just but the timing was premature as Egypt's caretaker government had pressing domestic issues to resolve...

    I sincerely hope that his political acumen will lead him to overseeing the withdrawal of Egyptian troops from the forcibly militarily annexed Halayeb triangle - after all he is a man with extensive experience in this area - he took part in the arbitration with Israel over Taba and was employed by the Sudanese government in their recent arbitration with the South over Abyei.

    Once Egyptian troops withdraw from Halayeb and its sovereignty is returned to its normal state, then we will all be able to truthfully say that a new page in relations has been turned, a page of mutual respect, mutual interests and complimentary cooperation.

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