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12 July 2012 By Khalid Amayreh There is no doubt that the election of Muammed
Morsi as President of Egypt is a heartening news for
all free men and women around the world. It is good news for the Arab world where Egypt
always assumed the ultimate leadership role, a role
without which the Arabs were left like disoriented
orphans, immersed in their endless tribal
preoccupations and conflicts. We also hope it is going to be good news for the
Palestinians and their enduring just cause. Needless
to say, the Palestinian cause suffered immensely when
the traditionally commanding role of Egypt was
marginalized, even neutralized, following the
conclusion of the camp David treaty with Israel . The shocking collusion between Israel and the
defunct Egyptian regime of Hosni Mubarak during that
Nazi-like aggression prompted Israeli cabinet minister
Benjamin Benalezer to remark that Egypt was Israel's
main and most important ally in the Arab world. To be sure, the road is not going to be paved with
roses for the new President of Egypt. The challenges
awaiting him or laying in wait for him are formidable.
However, with the mind of an engineer and a sense of a
wise man, Morsi should be able to tackle or at least
neutralize most of these odds. The Egyptian economy is virtually in the intensive
care unit and needs immediate revival and
recuperation. Thirty years of corruption,
mismanagement and disastrous policies, based on
favoritism, nepotism and cronyism, brought millions of
Egyptians to the brink of starvation. Egypt doesn't lack the skills needed to transform
the country from a perpetual recipient of aid into
another Turkey or even another South Korea. It just
needs an honest leadership that puts the country's
future and interests above the ruler's ambitions and
political expediency. More over, Egypt under Morsi will have to deliver
itself from the clutches of American bullying and
political and economic pressure. We are not suggesting
that the new Egypt should adopt a hostile discourse
against the United States. Far from that, friendly
relations, based on mutual respect and mutual
interests, ought to be sought with all countries. That
is the sane and wise policy to adopt. None the less, Egypt should make it sufficiently
clear to Washington that things have changed in Cairo
and much of the Arab world and that the 90 million
Egyptians and another 230 million Arabs will no longer
allow themselves to be humiliated and enslaved by a
few Jewish robber barons controlling the government
and Congress of the United States. In short, Egypt must guard its sovereignty and
national dignity, even at the expense of displeasing
Washington and other western capitals. As to Israel, the perpetual criminal aggressor and
lebensraum-seeker, Egypt must make it clear to the
Zionist leadership that Egypt can never be a friend or
peaceable neighbor of the Jewish state as long as the
Zionist regime occupies Palestine, especially
Jerusalem, and pursues its ethnic cleansing enterprise
against its people. Again, no one is suggesting that Egypt should wage
an all-out war against the criminal entity. However,
Egypt under the new leadership can't and must not
allow Zionist terrorists and gangsters to have a free
season on the Palestinians with impunity. Egypt is also advised to renegotiate its peace
treaty with Israel since that oblique and disgraceful
treaty effectively deprived Egypt of its sovereignty
over the Sinai peninsula. In addition, Egypt must strengthen itself
militarily in order to repulse all actual and
potential predators. This necessarily means that Egypt
must seek the possession of a strategic deterrent if
only to protect its people and their vital interests
from the morbid vagaries and sick tendencies of
Israel. Finally, Egypt must lend a helping hand to all Arab
peoples seeking freedom and liberation from their
tyrannical regimes as in Syria where a decidedly
criminal minority sectarian regime is effectively
exterminating its people in order to stay in power. In 1968, the late British writer and journalist,
Peter Mansfield, wrote that the Muslim Brotherhood was
a spent force and that it wouldn't see the light of
the day again, thanks to Nasser's repression of the
group. The fact that the MB has been able to recuperate
and even reach the helm of power in the most important
and populous Arab country testifies to the Islamic
movement's resilience and enduring vigor. We hope and pray that this great event, the first
of its kind since the downfall of the Ottoman state in
1924, will herald an entirely new era for this region,
an era of freedom, true democracy, liberation and
peace. |