I apologize for all who
blamed me for not writing for two weeks. It may not be a justifiable excuse if
I said that the writer may need some time to rest and review his stance; in
order to correct, change, or even to affirm it. On the other side, some may say
“fine he did”. In the last two week I went to Dendera in Upper Egypt. It’s the
second time for me in less than a year as the first was when I was invited to
the second Dendera cultural forum titled “identity of the South”. I shall write
about this in a separate article later.
In the last two weeks, a
lot of incidents took place; some were good and benevolent while some others
were ill-intentioned. However, all compelled me to engage; where exchanging thoughts
is the battlefield, pen is the weapon, and accumulated linguistic and cultural
knowledge is the ammunition. To be honest to the reader, what really pushed and
disturbed me was what was written about the Egyptian army as an entity
occupying Egypt. Although my colleague and friend Hamdi Rizq replied as it should
be, I’d like to add more to this.
During fierce disputes
running regarding Tiran and Sanafir islands, I was about to publish an
important document that is not directly related to the matter. Actually, it has
to do with the Egyptian-Saudi relations in the 60s. I hoped this document could
be part of a wider much-needed debate that exceeds the two islands’ issue as
some of those who enflamed the crisis echoed the poor relations’ history
between the two countries during the 50s and 60s, and even cited such long-time
history to call for current-time clash and dispute.
This document we have is
a brief of the first session’s record of the negotiations that ran between
president Gamal Abdel Nasser and King Faisal on December 18, 1969. The
following are some paragraphs that are literally excerpted from the document:
Nasser:
This meeting is
important to review some issues that are crucial for both of us. I’d like to
mention that we, in Egypt, have been working hard since 1967 to have strong
mutual relations between us. People here have welcomed this visit… since we
feel there is some kind of tension that has to be resolved… for the Arabs’
benefit, our mutual relations have to be normal.
Throughout years, we had
good relations tying us; Egypt and Saudi Arabia. I believe it would be
beneficial if we should clear all disputes in this visit to prevent anyone from
fishing in troubled water. We believe that a meeting between Egypt and Saudi
Arabia would affect Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the Arab nation, and the world.
It was Yemen that worsened
the relations in the first place… and this is over now… once again, I’d like to
welcome brother King Faisal and his fellows… and I hope this meeting is for the
good of both our countries... I also hope it would help the conference of Rabat
succeed.
Faisal:
All what your Excellency
has said is right… disagreeing is not normal… what is normal is to act and
cooperate like brothers. Relations have been strong and normal since King Abdul-Aziz.
What happened afterwards was abnormal. I have already told you Mr. President;
if any dispute occurred, that would always be due to a third party.
We hope mutual normal
relations are restored… it’s our duty now that we both should work hard to
achieve. Interests of our countries – either religious or national – require that
we unite in one… those in charge should make all that is possible to make this
happen… we seek God’s help in this and God do not accept but collective good
deeds.
Nasser:
Actually, since Yemen war
that started in 1962 and lasted for 5 years, there have been some incidents that
affected our mutual relations… those incidents went in a way that we hadn’t
planned for and neither did you.
We consider our meeting
in 1967 in Khartoum a decisive point in our relation. I gave my orders to all
our branches not to interfere in the domestic affairs of any Arab country
whatever happens. Since 1967, we had nothing to do with this issue… our target
is Israel.
Media outlets may think
we have poor relations and they may act accordingly.
I sent Hussien Abbas
twice to make all issues and policies clear regarding all aspects and I sent
the invitation. Abbas talked to me and I told him: if any one did anything
after 1967, we shall prosecute him before you do and even send him to you for
prosecution because these were not my orders. There are always people who try
to make use out of this and I wanted to declare this in the aired meeting.
Faisal:
After our meeting in
Khartoum, some issues were left unsettled that some tried to worsen. For the
benefits of both our countries, we should put an end to this now.
Some were arrested
recently in Saudi Arabia who claimed they had connections with some individuals
or entities in Egypt… it’s what they said. We didn’t know what to do to them?
Should we prosecute them? If we do, they may give their statements during trial
and this affects us… Should we issue verdicts without trial and just let them
go? …We had to postpone our action.
First, it was a limited
group of communists and then they went far in their testimonies and said they
had connections and communications with Egypt and other entities and countries.
I postponed the decision and hoped not to stir it once again.
Nasser:
We have no party offshoots
in the Arab world and we haven’t agreed to such thing… like al-Baath party.
Faisal:
God damn el-Baath party!
Nasser:
We refused to have any offshoot,
not even in resistance movements… like in Syria… so we formed the Special
Forces. Our stance regarding communism is clear, the Arab nationalists have
turned communists.
Faisal:
I have documents that
say a top official working in the presidency is involved, it’s Sami Sharaf. He
works as per your orders.
Nasser:
We are ready to take
whatever necessary steps to make everything clear after the conference.
Otherwise, we will keep doubting each other’s intentions and send someone here
or there to investigate this or that issue.
Faisal:
Regarding behavior… Al
Ahram for example, it’s said that it’s the official spokesman for President
Nasser in person… All foreign radios, presidents and Prime Ministers know this.
Nasser:
What is written in Al
Ahram does not represent me… it may sometimes state Zakaria Niel’s opinion.
Nawwaf:
Mr. President… beg your
pardon but Al Ahram was the first to announce this visit.
Nasser:
Actually, the official
newspaper is al-Gumhuriya. Riad Mahmoud could have been mistaken when he
didn’t publish the news. Al Ahram is a professional newspaper that has a lot of
resources and Heikal is an active journalist; he stays for 12 hours in the
newspaper.
For example, it’s said
that we support southern Yemen while we don’t have good relations with it. I
believe there is still some letdown in the scene that we should work to tackle
and I think visits help do such task.
Faisal:
I hope everything would
go better and we live up to the expectations of the masses who met us today.
Nasser:
We talked about the Arab
nation and agenda of Rabat conference. Tomorrow morning we shall continue. I
told the king we are ready to sign a brotherhood and friendship treaty.
***
The document ended. However,
I think it still has a significant political importance until this moment
despite the fact that it dates back to 1969; meaning such conversation took
place 47 years ago! The political significance in my opinion – as a student
still studying history – lies in certain points, one of them is that a man like
Nasser could assume another policy critical to the one he used to adopt before
and then his endeavors to change such policy according to what he thought was
self-correctness. Faisal had the same capacity to do the same thing as well.
Two men like Nasser and Faisal were able to affirm that mutual relations are
pivotal in any proper and normal Arab and international relations. They also
pointed to third parties who always fish in troubled water between the two
countries and here came the hint at el-Baath party.
Another significance is
that it encourages those who take Egypt’s stances in the period extending from
1958 to 1967 as a standard to weigh many stances and political phenomena
without paying attention to the updates mentioned in this document and others
that are not yet published.
In my opinion, the
Egyptian-Saudi relations right now and in the future have to rely on solid
basis of continuity and institutions’ cooperation. In such way, they will not
be subject to casual or limited disputes, or affected by moody officials here
or there. In this regard, there are a lot of details that I will try to mention
later.
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
Translated into English by: Dalia Elnaggar
This
article was published in Al Ahram newspaper on May 11, 2016.
To
see the Arabic version, go to:
#alahram
#ahmed_elgammal #Nasser #king_faisal #Egypt #Saudi_Arabia
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