Palestinian solidarity in Egypt has seen better times, according to Egyptian and Palestinian activists. Some blame Mursi, others Mubarak. The only consensus is that Egyptian fervor for the Palestinian cause has subsided. Can the movement revive itself, or will it be further stifled by the oppressive political climate?
Mahmoud Ismail has been studying in Cairo for the past four years. However, living in Egypt has become inconvenient for the 23-year-old after the ouster of President Mohamed Mursi on July 3.
“I am being harassed, exposed to humiliating and embarrassing questions whenever I say where I am from,” he said.
Ismail is from Gaza, Palestine.
Several Egyptian officials and media figures, most of whom are affiliated with the deposed Hosni Mubarak regime, have led an intense campaign against Hamas, the ruling government in the Gaza Strip. They accuse Hamas, which is ideologically affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, of being behind the unrest in Egypt.
According to Ismail, the negative discourse has not only targeted Hamas but Palestinians, too.
“The political chaos caused due to Hamas’ support for the Muslim Brotherhood is justifying the oppressing of Palestinians in Egypt, making us all members of Hamas,” said Ismail, adding that two of his compatriots were forced to leave their apartment in downtown Cairo because the neighbors refused the presence of Palestinians.
According to Ismail, the current hostile situation has also made the staging of any pro-Palestine event impossible.
“After June 30, no one dared to organize anything. Everyone was too scared to protest without a permit, and of course they won’t give Palestinians authorization,” he said. Ismail added that the only protest organized was last November, against the now-withdrawn Prawer plan, which threatened to evict thousands of Palestinian Bedouins from their homes in the Naqab desert.
Ismail said that only six people attended the protest.
Egyptian activists and veteran pro-Palestine campaigners are also finding it hard to focus on the cause amid local turmoil.
Political activist and researcher Mohamed Waked argued that it is not possible for political movements to work on the Palestinian cause amid the intensive hate-campaign against Palestinians, which has branded Palestinians criminals.
“It is really hard to convince movements to work against this negative discourse, given our priorities. The response would be, ‘Aren’t we going through enough already?’” said Waked, who believes that there’s an unfortunate lack of interest in the Palestinian cause outside the Pan-Arab and leftist circles.
Nasserist activist Hossam Moenes stressed that the negative campaigns, which target Hamas – not Palestinians, will soon cease to exist.
“During the 30 years of Mubarak’s rule, Palestinians were the target of a severe smear campaign by the regime that accused them of selling their lands and of breaking deals with the enemy. However, when the intifada broke out in 2000, all Egyptians were on the streets in support of Palestinians,” said Moenes.
According to leftist filmmaker Arab Loutfi, the main problem is a “general dissociation” from the Palestinian issue within both the region and Egypt. He said that many political movements have removed Palestine from the Egyptian national project.
“During the ‘70s, there was a strong link between Egypt’s struggle against Israel and the Palestinian struggle … There was a vision that it was one struggle, one fate, and one destiny, but now, the absence of a national project has made us lose our way,” added Loutfi.
Waked argued that detachment from the Palestinian cause and Pan-Arab issues in Egypt started in 2005 when liberal forces joined the opposition movement, initially composed of nationalists, leftists, and Islamists. He explained that most liberals don’t really care about the Palestinian issue, and some of them are even opponents.
Waked holds the Islamists – the Muslim Brotherhood in particular – responsible for vigorously harming the Palestinian cause. He said the cause came to be embodied in Hamas, placing it in “a project that only sees it as a bargaining chip.”
Osama Ahmed, a revolutionary socialist student, said Mursi’s year in power helped establish “negative thoughts regarding Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, which led to equating Palestine and Hamas with terrorism.”
“In his one-year rule he gave nothing to the Palestinians. He followed the steps of those who preceded him, not to mention that he pressured Hamas and other political factions to give concessions,” he added.
Ahmed admitted that before its rise to power, the Muslim Brotherhood played an important role in the pro-Palestine movement, but was always “on the edge of deviation” by endorsing a discourse that limited the question of Palestine to a fight between Muslims and Jews.
“In his one-year rule he gave nothing to the Palestinians. He followed the steps of those who preceded him, not to mention that he pressured Hamas and other political factions to give concessions,” he added.
Ahmed admitted that before its rise to power, the Muslim Brotherhood played an important role in the pro-Palestine movement, but was always “on the edge of deviation” by endorsing a discourse that limited the question of Palestine to a fight between Muslims and Jews.
Waked also acknowledged the Brotherhood’s role in keeping the Palestinian cause alive. Yet he accused them of “selling everything the moment they reached power.”
Deya el-Sawy, an Islamist activist and spokesperson for the Youth Against the Coup, an Islamist coalition formed to oppose Mursi’s ouster, said that before Mursi’s removal from power, he was taking “small steps in support of the Palestinian cause.”
He accused what he described as the “coup government” of overturning “all the modest privileges given to Palestinians by Mursi, such as the opening of Rafah crossing.”
Since Mursi’s ouster and the rise of militant attacks in the restive Sinai Peninsula, Egypt has intermittently closed its Rafah crossing, the main gateway to the outside world for the 1.7 million Palestinians in Gaza, citing security concerns.
The military has also waged a campaign to destroy smuggling tunnels that supply the Gaza Strip with weapons and goods, leading to a severe fuel shortage and price increases.
Waked believes that both the regime and Islamists are caught in a “fight that neither side is going win.” Their losses, he hopes, might reveal new opportunities and a change in the regional balance.
The military has also waged a campaign to destroy smuggling tunnels that supply the Gaza Strip with weapons and goods, leading to a severe fuel shortage and price increases.
Waked believes that both the regime and Islamists are caught in a “fight that neither side is going win.” Their losses, he hopes, might reveal new opportunities and a change in the regional balance.
“The moment we get a dim sign of an opportunity, the old movement will probably start working again,” said Waked. He believes the political movement can only work now to preserve its existence until deep changes occur in the region.
Until then, the Palestinian cause will not die, or else Egypt will die, said Waked, stressing that Egypt’s interests are the same as Palestine’s.
Waked further pointed out that the Palestinian cause has gone through many weaker phases, adding that this is not the first and will not be the last.
“We always believe it’s the end of the world. During the first Gulf War, I was still in university and thought this was the end. Nothing ends. Then I remembered our senior comrades who were present in 1967, during Camp David. Of course they all thought it was over,” he said. “I don’t think what is happening now is as big as what took place in 1967 and Camp David. We will defeat it.”