Arab-Israeli Conflict: Perspective from an American living in Egypt

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I don't know where to even start with the war on Gaza, but I feel that it is important to share with you, my perspective living in the region.

In the past couple weeks, I have engaged in conversations with co-workers and friends to gain a better understanding of what Arabs think of the situation. In a conversation with a coworker, I learned that the general Arab population does not like the Palestinian people. My coworker is of Palestinian origin, but was raised in Jordan and Kuwait and faced discrimination in both countries. This is important to point out because I believe many American's believe that people in this region are accepting of the Palestinians. The culture and language varies (different dialects of Arabic) from each country in the Middle East. As a result, there are varying opinions by Egyptians about the war. Some are in support of the Palestinian people, while others are against.

Egypt has been targeted by many other Arab countries because it refuses to officially open the border crossing at Gaza. However, there have been reports of Palestinians able to cross into Egypt. I can understand why others are angry at Egypt for keeping its borders closed, but I can also understand the other side's reasoning. Egypt is a developing country, as are all the countries near or surrounding Gaza. These countries have problems of there own, and most, if not all, cannot support even their own people. How would a developing country deal with a flood of immigrants? That is not to say that Egypt should turn a blind-eye and ignore the humanitarian crisis that is present in Gaza.

I have been working from the downtown office for the past couple days and I miss it. Since "officially" moving to the new campus outside of Cairo, my visits to downtown have decreased. Just after the ground attack on Gaza, there has been an increase in police in the streets of Cairo: prepared to take on any riots that might break out in support of Palestine. There have been several demonstrations in Cairo and Egypt. Some having a large turn out, while others have been unsuccessful (30 people), but the newspapers report hundreds of protestors, according to one of the research fellows at the Center (who attended an unsuccessful demonstration). This false reporting is interesting to point out and displays the control government has over the media (not only in Egypt but in the US and other countries as well).

I was extremely upset to hear that the US was still in support of the Israeli ground attacks even after the UN buildings were destroyed. I was also disgusted by the videos of pro-Israeli demonstrations in New York City, with big-time New York political figures in attendance to show support of Israeli ground attacks on Gaza and calls for "Wiping Out Palestinians," found here . It is one thing to attack to protect your people, but it is another to use excessive forces on an area that has limited resources from the beginning. During these past several weeks I wanted to shed my American identity, and claimed that I was from Poland if anyone asked. I was ashamed because America, the most powerful country in the world, stood and watched as thousands of people were killed.

I'm trying to remember something I heard from a friend and read in the news. Please correct me if Im wrong, but men above the age of 18 are not considered civilians in the death toll. Therefore, the number of civilian casualties reported is skewed.

I gave up on Bush, but Obama...do you want to say something?

It is essential that major stakeholders moderate peace talks between Palestine and Israeli, as well as create a strategic plan to help Gaza recover from the attacks.

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Comments

[Karim Beltaji]

My view on the conflict
I have lived in Egypt my whole life but my father is actually a palestine refuges who was brought up in jordan because of this ongoing conflict. Even though i may feel sympathy to who i could consider to be my home, i feel that by keeping the borders closed, egypt have done the right thing. By opening any borders not only will u have many refugees into egypt's suffering economy but also, the repercutions this would have on the egyptian israeli peace but also egyptian american relations, which to be frank the egyptian goverment and economy can not do without at the moment.