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| Volume VIII, June 2001, Number 2 |
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| EXCERPT: U.S.-Egyptian Relations |
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| Abdel Moneim Said Aly and Robert H. Pelletreau |
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The following is the edited text of a discussion held
November 28, 2000, at the Sadat Forum at Brookings, cohosted by Richard Haass,
vice-president and director of Foreign-Policy Studies at the Brookings
Institution, and Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat chair for Peace and
Development at the University of Maryland.
ABDEL MONEIM SAID ALY, director, Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies
What amazes me about the
U.S.-Egyptian relationship is the large discrepancy between what leaders say and
the perception of the relationship by the elites. Whenever President Mubarak
comes to the United States or a prominent American official visits Egypt,
you'll find the relationship described as "close," as "strategic," as
"friendly." Sometimes even the word
"alliance" is used. However, when you
go down from the top leaders, you'll find a lot of apprehension about this
relationship. It looks like a bad
marriage that's about to collapse, although it’s endured for more than 27
years, or like a couple who met in a train and will depart sometime soon. That’s the logic that's reflected in Egypt
when people talk about U.S. hegemony, for instance, about U.S. double
standards, about the fact that the real intention of the United States is to
curb Egypt's regional role. We find the
same things in the United States, but in different language. There are doubts
about Egypt's role, about its sincerity towards the peace process. There is even doubt about Egypt's ability to
grow or to be a country that really can benefit from American help.
ROBERT H. PELLETREAU, former U.S. assistant secretary of state
In the wake of the U.S. and Israeli elections, perhaps the key
question to ask is whether we have a new Middle East and what it means for
Egypt. It would not be surprising if
Secretary of State Colin Powell, returning from his first trip, concludes that,
yes, we do have a new Middle East, characterized more by Palestinian-Israeli
tensions than peace negotiations and by a resilient Iraq pressing to shake off ten
years of sanctions and isolation. Jane
Perlez reports in this morning's New York Times that Powell's reception
was the coolest in Egypt. It is also
significant that Egypt was his first stop. This was intended to send two important messages: first, that the United
States recognizes the importance of Egypt in the region and, second, that the
United States recognizes the need to rebalance its relationships in the region
after the final Clinton year when the only messages that Arab leaders received
from the White House were (1) support a Palestinian-Israeli Agreement that the
Palestinian people are visibly rejecting and (2) pump more oil.
President Husni Mubarak is
moving along in his fourth six-year term as president without any clear
alternative or successor. Nasser was
president for 16 years. Mubarak is now
in his twentieth year. Remarkable. He is indisputably the leading figure of the
Arab world, but the perceived risk of assassination has made him understandably
more inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to his security advisers and
perhaps less willing to trust his own instincts, which have been superb over
the years, about the center of gravity of Egyptian public opinion.
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