Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 5, 1987 Page: 2 of 20
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TEXAS JEWISH POST THURSDAY, MARCH 5, 1987 PAGE 2
the cutting edcie
Bassion
BY EDWIN BLACK
hen Mohammad Bassiony told his wife
Mevwa in February 1980 that he would be soon
stationed in the new Egyptian Embassy in Tel
Aviv, Mevwa declared she "wouldn’t be coming
with." Reared in a staunchly nationalistic Syrian
family, Mevwa "was not psychologically prepared
for the move," recalls Bassiony. Leaving his wife
behind, he took up his post as a consular official
anyway, eventually rising through the ranks, until
his appointment last year as Egypt’s Ambassador
to Israel.
"Then I was shvttSng between
Cairo and Damascus preparing
for war," he says, "but now I
shuttle between Cairo and Tel
Aviv preparing for peace. I am
like a soldier. My country may
send me to any front, and it will
be my honor to serve. In fact,
I think I'm doing the same job
—before with tanks. . .but
now fighting in a passive way
for a comprehensive peace."
— Mohammad Bassiony
During the past six years, Bassiony has learned
to be comfortable in Israel. A year after his
arrival, his wife finally joined him. By now, the
couple have become leading bon vivants of the
Tel Aviv social circuit. But all that is superficial.
Despite his highly gregarious lifestyle, Egypt's
longest serving diplomat in Israel remains a man
who sees his presence in Tel Aviv as a "sacrifice
for the Arab nation.” Indeed, even his position
as ambassador, in his eyes, is no more than a
soldier responding to orders.
In 1973, Bassiony couldn’t have dreamed he
would be posted in Tel Aviv. At the time, he was
Egypt’s military attache in Syria, coordinating
Arab plans for the Yom Kippur War. "Then I was
shuttling between Cairo and Damascus preparing
for war,” he says, "but now I shuttle between
Cairo and Tel Aviv preparing for peace. I am like
a soldier. My country may send me to any front,
and it will be my honor to serve. In fact, I think
I’m doing the same job — before with tanks...
but now fighting in a passive way for a com-
prehensive peace."
The words "comprehensive peace" are a fun-
damental of Egyptian diplomatic rhetoric, and a
code word meaning progress on the Palestinian
issue. "When we signed the Camp David peace
treaty, it wasn’t a separate peace,” reminds
Bassiony, "it was one step for achieving the
comprehensive peace. Our main job now is
pushing for this comprehensive, just and lasting
peace."
TWO PRONGED AGENDA
Located in a quiet, residential district of Tel
Aviv, the ramshackle Egyptian Embassy's visage
is a facade of bleak iron gates crowned by the
Egyptian national emblem. Fewer than fifty
Egyptians reside in Israel, nearly all of them
associated with the Embassy. Hence, there are
almost no Egyptian nationals to look after. The
almost autonomous, if understaffed, visa office
at side of the building handles the hordes of
anxious Israelis who queue up daily for tourist
visas. Diplomacy and the peace process, then, is
the Embassy’s dominant function. As such,
Bassiony spends his days in numberless
meetings dedicated to his two-pronged agenda:
bi-lateral normalization, and the peace process.
On one typical day, the Ambassador met with
peacenik Abie Natan about his ideas for peace;
with representatives of the Zionist youth
movement Hashomer Hatzair about improving
relations between Egyptian and Israeli
youngsters; with Meir Ben Meir, Director General
of Israel's Agriculture Ministry about cooperative
programs; with Communications Minister Amnon
Rubinstein about improving telephone and telex
service between the two nations; and with
Foreign Minister Shimon Peres' political advisor
and director general about continuing the
momentum of last year’s Alexandria summit.
Bassiony also stays in close contact with
Palestinian leaders in the Territories, including
deposed Gaza mayor Rashid Shawwa and
Bethlehem Mayor Elias Freij, "because otherwise
we cannot know the real situation in the West
Bank and the Gaza Strip.”
But Bassiony reports that he scrupulously
avoids acting as a middle man for Israel. "Never,
ever do we carry a message from any Arab coun-
try to Israel,” insists the Ambassador. Israeli
foreign ministry sources refused to contradict
the statement, but at least one Jerusalem source
asserts, "Egypt has been more helpful than she's
willing to admit, especially in clearing the way
for the (Shimon) Peres trip to (King) Hassan (in
Morocco.)"
COMMITTED TO ARAFAT
On the other hand, Egypt regularly carries
messages between Jordan and the Palestine
Liberation Organization, "because we are con-
stantly trying to bridge the gap between Jordan
and the PLO,” explains Bassiony. In that regard,
he considers PLO chairman Yasser Arafat an in-
dispensable player in the peace process. ”1 deal
with the (Palestinian) majority.. .and they are
with the PLO headed by Arafat. I consider him
the only representative of the Palestinian
people.”
As such, Egypt rejects the major leadership
challenge of Atallah Atallah, a former Arafat
colleague, now advocating cooperating between
Jordan and Israel. "I will not deal with anybody
but Arafat because he is the legal leader of the
Palestinian people,” argues Bassiony. Herein lies
the problem because King Hussein has found
Arafat to be "an unreliable partner” following
the collapse of the recent Jordanian-PLO
agreement to negotiate with Israel.
Ironically, Egypt rejects the PLO's quest for
statehood. "The last stage of the peace process
is confederation between Jordan and the
Palestinian people," says Bassiony. But he
believes this is impossible without a modus
vivendi between Arafat and King Hussein. If such
an arrangement can be accomplished, Bassiony
believes a joint Jordaman-Palestiman delegation
acceptable to Israel can be assembled "to join
the international conference."
Another fundamental of Egyptian diplomatic
rhetoric is "the international conference.” Such
a conference is now the bedrock of Egyptian
policy and not open for negotiation in Cairo’s
view. "(Egyptian) President (Hosni) Mubarek and
Mr. Peres in the summit meeting in Alexandria
in September (1986), agreed upon a preparatory
committee or talks, within an international con-
ference," Bassiony says. However, the Shamir
government rejects the Peres commitment as
"unauthorized" and non-binding. Bassiony an-
swers, "Mr. Peres was the Prime Minister of
Israel - not Shimon Peres (a private individual)
— when he came to Egypt. This is international
dealing and we must respect it. He (Peres) was
the Prime Minister of Israel. We were dealing
with the Israeli government."
Emotionally stressing his points, Bassiony
argues, "This peace conference is important.
There is no way to solve the Middle East problem
and the Palestinian problem without it." Foreign
Ministry sources and Bassiony agree that the in-
ternational conference itself does not contradict
the Israeli position, because the meeting would
only facilitate the requisite face-to-face
negotiations. They argue that given the history of
Palestinian and mideast rejectionism, no
negotiations could be considered "legitimate”
unless the framework were hammered out under
broad international auspices.
THE PAPER PEACE
In the meantime, Israel bitterly complains that
the peace it has achieved thus far is a mere
paper peace. Bilateral trade with Egypt is almost
non-existent. Despite thousands of Israelis
touring the attractions of Egypt, Israeli tourism
companies are prevented from even advertising
in Egyptian newspapers; reciprocal Egyptian
tourism into Israel is essentially non-existent.
Bassiony answers, "There are no Egyptian
government obstacles to trade with our private
sector, but we cannot force private citizens to
trade. Listen, eleven percent of our business is
with the Arab world. Three million Egyptians
work in Arab countries. If any Egyptian company
does business with Israel, they will lose 24 other
countries (because of the Arab boycott). Even
still, there are a lot of Egyptians doing business
with Israeli companies. But it is their free
choice.”
Israeli governmental sources confirm
Bassiony’s explanation, but added, "Yes it’s
true, there are no Egyptian governmental
prohibitions per se, but Egypt is not a
democracy. If they really wanted to, they could
dictate an open trade policy.”
Nonetheless, new impetus has been injected
into strictly inter-governmental commerce.
Bassiony confirms that the long sought after
direct telephone line from Israel to Egypt will be
operational by June 1987. Telex and telegram
communications are soon to be inaugurated via
Italy; at the same time, Egypt will complete a
direct cross-Sinai cable by mid- 1988.
Egyptian people; they like to stay hi
you cannot compare the standard cl
ween Egypt and Israel. Can you imajH
from Israel to Egypt, staying in a fifl
Sheraton hotel eight days and seven nights’
eluding transportation and the visa, only $T|
For Israelis, it's cheaper than staying at horf
Yesterday alone we processed 1200 visa
plications for Israeli tourists. But you can’t m^
ch those prices here, it’s much more expensiv
Egyptians simply can't afford to travel in Israel."
Bassiony did however raise a dynamo
possibility: millions of Egyptian Coptic pilgrim^
visiting their holy shrine Der Sultan ini
Jerusalem. "Their religion requires them to visit
the church,” explains Bassiony, "but in 1970]
the Israeli police turned over the keys to the
church (to a rival Ethiopian Coptic group). Sj
the (Coptic) Pope has given instructions to
Egyptian Copts not to go to Jerusalem until Cq
tic rights are restored.”
Israeli sources reply that the Der Sultan co
troversy is one of many long standing churc
feuds that Israel inherited after taking Eal
Jerusalem. Various factions contend bitterly fol
jurisdiction over holy sites. Israeli authorities try'
to arbitrate and generally acquiesce to the status
quo but inevitably alienate one of the parties. In
the case of Der Sultan, the alienated party is the
Egyptian Coptic church.
"But if you solve this problem (in favor of
Egyptian Copts), there will be very heavy traffic,”
promises Bassiony. "Can you imagine eight
million coming to Jerusalem?” Tourism sources
say that while "millions” is a mere figure of
speech, Coptic pilgrimage, like Christian
pilgrimage, could become a major source of
tourism, especially for the depressed East
Jerusalem hotel trade. Moreover, it would
become the first meaningful Egyptian popular
experience in Israel.
But the greatest obstacle to tourism and
general trade is the "psychological one," accor-
ding to Bassiony. "When Egyptian television
shows what happened during the Israeli invasion
of Lebanon - thank God it’s finished now, or
what is happening in the West Bank, there is the
psychological point of view."
Without progress here (the peace effort and
the conference), Egypt will not stay here (Tel
Aviv) one extra minute, not one extra second
— Mohammad Bassiony
The much talked about gas pipeline from
Egypt has also been approved in principle, as
soon as production levels saturate Egyptian's
domestic demand. "Instead of exporting the gas
to Europe,” declares Bassiony, "it will be better
for both of us to export it to Israel."
Even the concept of joint oil exploration has
been revived. "The Minister of Petrol in Egypt
and the Minister of Energy in Israel are very good
friends,” says the Ambassador, "the cooperation
between them is very good. And it means that
anything in the national interest of both coun-
tries can be done.” Headline seeking Jewish
philanthropist Armand Hammer of Occidental
Oil, has already expressed his interest in such a
venture.
LITTLE HOPE FOR TOURISM
The question of bi-lateral tourism, however,
will probably never improve. Bassiony explains
the imbalance. "First, Israeli citizens like to go
abroad, all my Israeli friends travel at least two
three times per year. You can't compare them to
Indeed, Bassiony indeed tied bi-lateral
progress on all fronts to the Palestinian issue.
"You reach the heart of the Egyptian people,"
exclaims Bassiony, "through a solution to the
Palestinian problem. Without this nothing will
happen." Going further, the Ambassador made
perfectly clear that Egypt's peace with Israel is
oaseu upon momentum m me peace process, iri
Cairo's mind, that momentum has now been
equated with "the international conference."
Pounding his fist on the table, Bassiony
declares, "Without progress here (the peace ef-
fort and the conference), Egypt will not stay here
(Tel Aviv) one extra minute, not one extra
second. But I am optimistic," he adds. "We are
closer now than ever before. This year, 1987, will
be the year.”
• • • •
Edwin Black is the author of The Transfer Agreement: The
Untold Story of the Secret Pact Between the Third Reich and
Jewish Palestine (Macmillan) winner of the Carl Sandburg
Award for the best nonfiction of 1984. His weekly syndicated
column is published by Jewish newspapers in 40 cities.
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Wisch, J. A. & Wisch, Rene. Texas Jewish Post (Fort Worth, Tex.), Vol. 41, No. 10, Ed. 1 Thursday, March 5, 1987, newspaper, March 5, 1987; Fort Worth, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth755225/m1/2/?q=Lamar+University: accessed June 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .