Moody's upgrades Saudi Arabia's credit rating to Aa3 with stable outlook    Riyadh Metro to begin partial operations next Wednesday: Report    Al Okhdood halts Al Shabab's winning streak with a 1-1 draw in Saudi Pro League    Mahrez leads Al Ahli to victory over Al Fayha in Saudi Pro League    Al Qadsiah hands Al Nassr their first defeat in the Saudi Pro League    Saudi musical marvels takes center stage in Tokyo's iconic opera hall    Downing Street indicates Netanyahu faces arrest if he enters UK    London's Gatwick airport reopens terminal after bomb scare evacuation    Civil Defense warns of thunderstorms across Saudi Arabia until Tuesday    Saudi Arabia, Japan strengthen cultural collaboration with new MoU    Slovak president meets Saudi delegation to bolster trade and investment ties    Saudi defense minister meets with Swedish state secretary    Navigating healthcare's future: Solutions for a sustainable system    Al Khaleej qualifies for Asian Men's Club League Handball Championship final    Sixth foreign tourist dies of suspected methanol poisoning in Laos    Katy Perry v Katie Perry: Singer wins right to use name in Australia    Trump picks Pam Bondi as attorney general after Matt Gaetz withdraws    Al-Jasser: Saudi Arabia to expand rail network to over 8,000 km    Sitting too much linked to heart disease –– even if you work out    Denmark's Victoria Kjær Theilvig wins Miss Universe 2024    Order vs. Morality: Lessons from New York's 1977 Blackout    India puts blockbuster Pakistani film on hold    The Vikings and the Islamic world    Filipino pilgrim's incredible evolution from an enemy of Islam to its staunch advocate    Exotic Taif Roses Simulation Performed at Taif Rose Festival    Asian shares mixed Tuesday    Weather Forecast for Tuesday    Saudi Tourism Authority Participates in Arabian Travel Market Exhibition in Dubai    Minister of Industry Announces 50 Investment Opportunities Worth over SAR 96 Billion in Machinery, Equipment Sector    HRH Crown Prince Offers Condolences to Crown Prince of Kuwait on Death of Sheikh Fawaz Salman Abdullah Al-Ali Al-Malek Al-Sabah    HRH Crown Prince Congratulates Santiago Peña on Winning Presidential Election in Paraguay    SDAIA Launches 1st Phase of 'Elevate Program' to Train 1,000 Women on Data, AI    41 Saudi Citizens and 171 Others from Brotherly and Friendly Countries Arrive in Saudi Arabia from Sudan    Saudi Arabia Hosts 1st Meeting of Arab Authorities Controlling Medicines    General Directorate of Narcotics Control Foils Attempt to Smuggle over 5 Million Amphetamine Pills    NAVI Javelins Crowned as Champions of Women's Counter-Strike: Global Offensive (CS:GO) Competitions    Saudi Karate Team Wins Four Medals in World Youth League Championship    Third Edition of FIFA Forward Program Kicks off in Riyadh    Evacuated from Sudan, 187 Nationals from Several Countries Arrive in Jeddah    SPA Documents Thajjud Prayer at Prophet's Mosque in Madinah    SFDA Recommends to Test Blood Sugar at Home Two or Three Hours after Meals    SFDA Offers Various Recommendations for Safe Food Frying    SFDA Provides Five Tips for Using Home Blood Pressure Monitor    SFDA: Instant Soup Contains Large Amounts of Salt    Mawani: New shipping service to connect Jubail Commercial Port to 11 global ports    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Delivers Speech to Pilgrims, Citizens, Residents and Muslims around the World    Sheikh Al-Issa in Arafah's Sermon: Allaah Blessed You by Making It Easy for You to Carry out This Obligation. Thus, Ensure Following the Guidance of Your Prophet    Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques addresses citizens and all Muslims on the occasion of the Holy month of Ramadan    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



“The Embassy… in the Building”
Published in AL HAYAT on 22 - 08 - 2011

Very innocent, pure and chaste are the feelings of pride that erupted among Egyptians when a young man was able to climb the tall building, the last floor of which is occupied by the Israeli embassy, bringing down the flag of the Hebrew state and raising the Egyptian flag in its stead. For more than quarter of a century, walking alongside the building or near it remained an endeavor rife with danger (the embassy was located in Iran Street in the Dokki district, before it moved to a building overlooking the Nile in Giza). And if one were to raise their head to look at the Israeli flag, they would perhaps be exposed to questioning, or they might find themselves lowering their gaze in shame or to avoid seeing something they would not like. The young man Ahmed Shehata, who is one from among the thousands of young people protesting in the “rise of Egypt square” near the building, climbed 18 stories, pursued by yells of support and cries of joy, while the army's armored vehicles and the soldiers of the Military Police watched the scene, and perhaps approved of it. And after completing his task, having brought down the Israeli flag and raised that of his country, he climbed atop an armored vehicle to receive congratulations.
Before that, young people were trying to burn the flag by firing flares and fireworks that can cross distances, but they failed, after earning the honor of having tried. It was thus inevitable for one of them to fly up without a plane and remove the flag to raise another. Indeed, Israel takes pride in its unmanned planes, while Egyptians rejoiced in the man who flew without a plane. Certainly the embassy will raise another Israeli flag, but this means that the hatred will increase. Indeed, Shehata and the thousands of people who protested in front of the building are not just those who saw the scene or participated in it, or were part of it, but the majority of Egyptians, who encouraged it and took pride in it.
Egyptians excelled at drawing comparisons and returning to their memories. They compared bringing down the Israeli flag from the top of the building in Giza, and bringing it down at the Bar Lev line in the war of October 1973, and mixed between how Shehata climbed the building from the front and how Egyptian soldiers climbed the Bar Lev line on the coast of the Suez Canal to remove a flag and raise another.
Far from the kind of excess or political adolescence that overlooks international laws or the balance of power and the rules that govern relations between states, the most important of what was revealed by the events of the past few days in Giza or at Egypt's Eastern border is that the peace treaty between Egypt and the Hebrew state was very unfair to Egypt, and that the Camp David framework on the basis of which the treaty was ratified gave Israel every guarantee while overlooking most of the rights of Egyptians. Yes, one might hear in the streets those demanding war, shutting down the embassy, expelling the ambassador or increasing the number of troops in the Sinai, and these are all calls that find their source in feelings that had remained repressed and that exploded with the Revolution or as a result of it. Yet wishes alone do not sustain nations. Indeed, the Sinai, which has been neglected for over three decades, needs Egyptians to rebuild, reconsider and form views that exceed the statements of officials in the press and their displays in front of cameras and projectors on satellite television. Israel will not be pleased with the development of the Sinai or with gathering millions of Egyptians to work and live there. Indeed, the peninsula is for the Hebrew state the scene of a potential future war, and a stage for displaying its capabilities and military might to the world if a clash were to take place with Egypt under the restrictions imposed by the peace treaty on Egyptian military presence there.
Rising tension at the border certainly works in favor of Israel, and when attacks by unknown individuals took place against police stations and security centers in the Sinai, it was noted that the attacks occurred on the same day in which Islamists made a strong appearance on Tahrir Square on the “Friday of Unity”. Does the matter not call for wondering and asking questions? Would it not be possible for Israeli intelligence services to infiltrate local Egyptian groups and organizations, drive them to disturb the peace and smear the Islamists, or frighten the world from the “peaceful” scene in Tahrir and the military scene in the Sinai? Does Israel not seek to restore the situation at the Rafah crossing to what it had been before the Revolution, so that it may always be closed to Palestinians from both sides? Egypt after the Revolution needs to rebuild what was “swept away” by a regime which for 30 years continued to deal with the Sinai only as a resort or as a potential “refuge”. And until Egypt restores its influence, “the embassy in the building” will remain. But other young men will appear who will fly… without planes.


Clic here to read the story from its source.