Tom in Egypt // توم في مصر

Just got home and found a rather annoying story via my Google Reader (I know it's 11:14 pm, I was only chatting this weekend with Son of a Duck about how compulsive Google Reader can become.)

Here's the headline: Egypt journalist’s 25 Israel visits stir debate 

In most countries of the world, journalists stick together to battle against governments for freedom of movement and freedom of expression. In Egypt, not the case. Here, it appears, the Journalists' Syndicate blackballs anyone who tries to provide decent coverage on Israel - one of the most frequently discussed topics in the Egyptian press.

Now it appears that deeply experienced journalist and deputy editor-in-chief of October magazine (one of the few state-run mags worth reading), Hussein Serag, has fallen into the same trap as poor Hala Mustafa before him. In trying to write informed and honest pieces about Israel, he - heaven forbid - actually visited the country and - even worse - spoke to Israelis. This came out in a TV interview (Serag never tried to hide it) and he has now faced a disciplinary hearing and been banned from writing for three months on the now infamous charge of encouraging "normalization".

Now, as a bit of basic background (emphasis on basic), Egypt officially recognized the state of Israel and has been at peace with its westerly neighbour since the 1978 Camp David accords and the subsequent 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty. This has, however, not meant "cultural normalization" - which is where this trouble over Mustafa and Serag comes in. The Journalists's Syndicate, along with various other institutions including the Ministry of Culture (remember Farouk Hosni's failed bid to become director-general of UNESCO?) refuses to have "normal" relations with Israel - for no doubt noble reasons.

The problem arrives when it comes to enforcing this "normalization" policy. In the furore that surrounded Mustafa's disciplinary action, the largest state-run media outfit Al Ahram instigated a boycott of Israel. According to Israeli daily Haaretz, this means:

The boycott, approved by a majority of nine board members over six following a heated debate, includes a ban on meeting with and interviewing Israelis, and a ban on participation in events (seminars, conferences, lectures) in which Israelis are taking part. According to the report, the board of directors also banned Israelis from entering the building housing the Al-Ahram offices. The ban includes Israeli diplomats stationed in Egypt.

In this vein, Serag's repeated travel to Israel (25 visits no less) is strictly prohibited, hence the ban. This begs the somewhat obvious question: How is a journalist with any integrity supposed to decently and accurately cover the hugely important issues which surround Israel, Palestine and relations between the three without meeting with or interviewing Israelis or visiting Israel? Bizarre. Ridiculous.

The total madness of the situation over "normalization" becomes painfully clear in the Al Arabiyya article:

Serag criticized what he called the manipulative stance of the Ministry of Culture when it authorized the translation of Israeli work but through an intermediate language like English and French and not directly from Hebrew.

“Translation already makes the work lose a lot of its authenticity when it is translated from the native language, let alone when there is a third language in the middle.” 

 The whole situation is just nonsense and only serves to perpetuate ignorance and inaccurate information. And for what? Does Israel suffer as a result of the lack of "normalization"? Of course not. As Serag points out, Israeli intellectuals and writers are invited each year to the Cairo International Book Fair, and Daniel Barenboim only last year conducted in Cairo Opera House. Talk about cutting your nose off to spite your face.

Mercifully, Serag is entirely unrepentant and witheringly critical of the Journalists' Syndicate (as it appears in this piece at least):

“The (journalist) union has become a safe haven for those who want to serve their personal agendas at the expense of their profession,” he told Al Arabiya. “The union should defend journalists’ freedom of movement and expression not the other way round.” 

Spot on.

NOTE: For excellent counter arguments to the Hala Mustafa controversy, read The Traveller Within's post.