It is somewhat reassuring to read that Egyptians, generally speaking, were horrified by the events in NY and Washington. At this point, I would hope that the information now coming out will have sufficiently convinced Mr Montasser that this cowardly act was indeed comitted by fanatics from the Arab and Moslem world. A retraction would be nice as well as some insight as to what would drive so many human beings to act like animals. And, please, enough of this nonsense about US support for Israel. Why not place the blame where it truly belongs? On the Arab governments themselves.
I was born in Egypt in 1946 to a Jewish Sephardic family that had lived there for untold generations. I am but one of the nearly one million (1,000,000) Jews from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, Iraq, Iran, Kuwait, Ethiopia, and Saudi Arabia who, subsequent to the establishment of the State of Israel - (in line with the United Nations' vote on the partition of Israel which none of the Arab countries agreed with), had to leave the countries of our birth because life had become so difficult for us.Jews, dear Sir, unlike their Arab cousins, helped each others integrate comfortably into the free and democratic nations such as the US, Europe, Canada, and Australia. You, oil rich Arabs, placed your Palestinian brothers and sisters in squalid camps in Lebanon, Gaza, and the West Bank. You fed them hate and kept promising your Palestinian brethren that the day will eventually come when you will push all the Jews out of Israel / Palestine and into the sea. The squalid conditions, the lack of democracy, the hatred you fed them has caused their despair and brought them to the point where only Arab countries (and those countries you can blackmail with your oil) support them. The rest of the world, dear Sir, only views them as intractable fanatics with whom there is absolutely no sense to negotiate with. The Palestinians could have had their independent state in 1948. They could have formed it while their territories were under the governance of Egypt and Jordan. They could have had it only this past summer when the Israeli Government of Prime Minister Barak offered them 95% of everything they wanted including their piece of Jerusalem. Instead, they have demonstrated to the world that that is not what they truly want. What they want is all of Israel. Hence, the US - that bastion of democracy and fair play, stands resolutely with their Israeli friends as supporters and providers of resources including the means of defending themselves from their jealous Arab neighbors who covet the quality of life that exists in Israel because of democracy. If there were no Israel, the Arab world would still be fomenting troubles. Witness the troubles in Algeria where there are no Jews. Witness the wars between Morocco and Algeria, Tunisia and Libya, Syria and Jordan, the Moslems and Christians of Lebanon, the Shiites and Sunnis, the Kurds against almost everyone else. Witness that Saddam Hussein, who invaded his neighbor Kuwait, gassed his own people, fought a needless war against Iran, killed his own sons-in-law and untold other Iraqi dissidents, is still a hero in so many parts of the Arab world. The list goes on and on. Witness the disparity between the Egyptian economy and that of the Republic of South Korea. In 1952,both Egypt and Korea's GDP were roughly the same. Both came out of 1952 shattered from war and revolution. While Korea addressed its problems and diligently worked to better the plight of its citizens, Egypt embarked on a senseless policy of Socialism and squandering billions of dollars towards armaments that ultimately proved to be worthless against their better educated and better motivated Israeli counterparts. Today, one can buy cars, high-tech computers, steel, boats, televisions, clothing etc Made in Korea. In my nearly 45 years out of Egypt I have yet to find and buy a product that is Made in Egypt that is not of cotton. You make nothing that the rest of the world wants. I was there for 2 weeks this past December. You have no discipline. Your traffic is the most chaotic in the world. There is absolutely no respect for traffic signs or lights. Your houses are all unfinished. Your streets are filthy. Your people, kind and hospitable, are but beggars. Every corner has its bored men in uniforms often seeking baksheesh. You are the recipients of 2 Billion US dollars of aid per year. What do you do with that money?
Would as venerable a publication as Al Ahram have the temerity (and courage!) to publish my message? Probably not. Egyptians have never been comfortable with the truth. The lies have been going on for so long that you have convinced yourselves that they are true. They are not! You have been deluding yourselves for too long. I fear for the future of your peoples. The rest of the world is advancing and you are regressing. Matters will not get better unless you place the blame squarely where it belongs: YOURSELVES.
Respectfully,
Leon M. Wahba
formerly of 12 Suleiman Pasha Street in Cairo |
