Mona Eltahawy at PostGlobal

Mona Eltahawy

New York City, NY, USA

Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning syndicated columnist and an international lecturer on Arab and Muslim issues. Before she moved to the U.S. in 2000, she was a news reporter in the Middle East, including in Cairo and Jerusalem as a Reuters correspondent. She also reported from the region for Britain's The Guardian and U.S. News and World Report. She has lived in Egypt, the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, and is currently based in New York. Close.

Mona Eltahawy

New York City, NY, USA

Mona Eltahawy is an award-winning syndicated columnist and an international lecturer on Arab and Muslim issues. Before she moved to the U.S. in 2000, she was a news reporter in the Middle East, including in Cairo and Jerusalem as a Reuters correspondent. She also reported from the region for Britain's The Guardian and U.S. News and World Report. She has lived in Egypt, the UK, Saudi Arabia, and Israel, and is currently based in New York. more »

Main Page | Mona Eltahawy Archives | PostGlobal Archives


The Annapolis Summit
Retracing Sadat's Footsteps to Israel

Annapolis needs a present-day Anwar Sadat. Will anyone be so bold?

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All Comments (28)

conscience-to-the-world:

WE ARE LIVING IN A WORLD FULL WITH IRRELEVANCES CREATED BY CRAZY MEN, RELIGION AND CULTURE!
HEADSCARVES, BURGAS ARE SUCH THE MEANINGLESS AND VALUELESS THINGS CREATED BY CRAZY MEN! IN THE PREHISTORIC-REMAINING CULTURE!

yochanan:

jews were in the land of israel long before the state of Israel, jews were in most of the arab countries as well. 600,000 safardic and misrahi jews were refuges to israel from muslim countries.

i wish there would be peace but i doubt it since i don't see islam as accepting jews as equals

abdo:

انا عبدة وامنية حياتى اشوفكى ياحلى بنوتة فى اللدنيا

abdo:

انا عبدة وامنية حياتى اشوفكى ياحلى بنوتة فى اللدنيا

tarek:

have fun
wegar wishes

Tarek Zaky:

have fun
and regard wishes

Muhamed Ibrahim Elgoharry :


لو كان لديكم القدرة علي ايجاد وظيفه لي اكون شاكر جدا انا اسمي محمد ابراهيم الجوهري ومش قريب محمود الجوهري خالص يعني بدون واسطه او زي ما بيقولوا مفيش كوسه اصل تمنها ارتفع اوي اليومين دول لزيادة الطلب عليها
ولكم جزيل الشكر
Personal Information :

Name : MOHAMED IBRAHIM HASSAN ELGOHARRY
Date of Birth : February 6th 1980
Marital Status : Single
Religion : Moslem
Native Country : Egypt
Address : 75th Elgameiah st , Abo Dawod Elenab , Aga , Dakahliah
Telephone No : Home: 050/9151075 Cell: 0108640245
Email Address : momazad2004@yahoo.com , momazad2004@hotmail.com


Education Qualification :

- B. Sc in Commerce ( Economic Study ) from Azhar University , 2003 with accumulated grade ( Very Good )
- Pre Master of Economic (Faculty of Economics and Political Sciences ) Cairo University .

Professional Study and Trading Course :

Computer operating systems courses: (Windows, Word, Excel, Power Point, Eviews )

Languages:

Arabic : Mother tongue
English: Good (written and spoken )

Anonymous:

hi
my naims ragaee from egypt my phone +20106523304

sameh egyptian:

مدام منى انا بتصفح مجلة النيزوويك ومن المعجبين بيك بشكل خاص هل من الممكن التواصل وانا ارغب فى السفر ومن مدينة الاسكندرية مصر وممكن ابعث لحضرتك موبايلى لنتواصل بالهاتف ومن الممكن ان تكون البداية الجميلة بيننا وشكرا

abdo5180@yahoo.com:

lov woman sax hot mona

David Zohar:

Ahlan wasahlan/Shalom to Miss al Tahawy

I had the pleasure of hearing you address a meeting the other day at Tel Aviv University and found your description of a younger generation of Egyptians and Saudis most interesting.

From 1991 to 1995 I worked in Alexandria as Consul General of Israel - and also visited Port Said, your birthplace.My mission there was to implement the peace treaty at grassroots level, which is quite different from negotiations between lawyers and politicians or photo-ops at the White House.

Although much of my work was in the commercial field, seeking mutual interests that would benefit Egyptians and Israelis, I found-as you would expect- that I had to overcome psychological barriers too. My wife and I faced much hostility at first, but four years later our Moslem and Coptic friends- who by then numbered in the hundreds- gave us a total of 13 farewell parties, and I shall never forget the Egyptian General who told me that I had made it so difficult for him to hate Israelis. That was praise indeed.

But what worries me is that you spoke of how a younger generation who did not know war continues to be so negative about their Israeli neighbours. At TAU together we saw the horrific propaganda films being made in Egypt notwithstanding the peace treaty. One may contrast Ä girl from Israel with its crude message of hate with the gentle Israeli film about a sadly fictitious visit by an Egyptian brass band to Israel- fictitious because it expressed the hope of many Israelis for real cultural ties with Egypt that are forbidden by the Egyptian side.

I could tell you many things about the obstacles my wife , my young son and I had to overcome in order to function normally as an Israeli family in
Alexandria, and the severe strains we lived under.

In a way I am sorry for the Egyptian people who have to live as they do. Perhaps a free flow of visitors and ideas will one day break down the taboos that govern Egyptian thinking about Israel.
But as long as they live in fear of their own government and of each other(never knowing who might inform on them to the authorities? I was strongly reminded of the East German regime in this regard) then not much will happen.

It is easy to blame the Israelis- we Jews are used to being scapegoats for the last 2000 years- but I have yet to see people like Nagib Mahfuz or Naim Takla- two intellectuals who spoke out bravely in favour of friendship with Israel. They were just two Egyptians out of tens of millions. Yet it is their voices that I prefer to recall when I think of Egypt.

Maá a-Salaama

David Zohar
Jerusalem


davidzohar@yahoo.com

Baqi Barzani:

Peace is achievable only through mutual respect and understanding. One of the prerequisite of attaining this goal is by completely denouncing violence, putting a stop to it and resuming talks. Both parties must be willing to sit down and reconcile. The Annapolis peace summit was a very affirmative initiative and hopefully it will bear some constructive results for both Palestinians and Israelis

Taylor:


The PALISRA solution is the only one that makes sense, at least to a western mind.

I'd called it Abrahimia.

Joseph:

Don't forget that when Sadat went to Israel, he went to an Israel that had been convinced by the 1973 War that belligerency with Egypt was not a good plan for their future. There is no such pressure on Israel with regard to the Palestinians, and so I expect nothing material to come of the conference. The participants will likely do enough that Bush and Rice can claim some sort of accomplishment, and then they will all hold their hands out for American money.

mohammad allam:

there are fallcy in your arguement on the following points.
1If Mahmood Abbas is elected one then what you tell about Mr hania-the elected Priminister of palestian people.?Why he should not be a part of peace process?
2 One thing is very clear that in secret the whole saudian and syrian can go to Telaviv but in open they cannot do what saadat had done.Their act will be final triumph of osama Bin laden who trying to project the saudian establishment as anti islam and anti muslim.The same can be said about syrian.
3In my opinion the aim of this summit is
1 to isolate Hamas group and faciliate the civcil war between hamas and abbas al-fatah.
2 isolate syria and iran before strike of hawk on iran and syria under the same policy which previously followed by America and allies.Thi s policy is to play with the sentiment of rabs in the name of palestine peace ,get their support and destroy iran.syria or pakistan.what previoulsy done by calling middle east peace process just before strike on Iraq.here American policy is to get palestine but hand over the three to us and keep quit.
3 another aim is to provide the legality to israeli action in Gaza and syria.
let hope better but past experience hsow that israel cannot accept an enemy state palestine at any cost.
can any body tell me that who will Arab saadat from side of Israel,America and allies and accept the palestine as a state,right of returning to palestine and Yerusalem as capital of palestine.?

Rick:

Maryanne:

As you say, the Jews were absent from the land of Palestine for almost two millennia. Then they return (with the aid of the world’s superpowers) to retake the land by force over the past 100 years, from the families whose ancestors have tended their flocks and orchards, and farmed the land for millennia. You want to force these people out of their homes and off their land at the point of gun. Is that your idea of justice? Shame!

Sam (Anonymous @ November 27, 2007 3:06 PM),

Excellent post! You have the best and only solution, the single-state solution, with Palestinian right of return:

“…All citizens of the new state, PALISRA (Palestine +Israel), would enjoy equal rights and bear the same responsibilities…”

Nabil Dajani:

Nice arousing (rather long) piece that tells me about the family background and recent travels as well as interpersonal encounters of Ms Eltahawy but where is the “beef”?

ahmed:

ممكن اعرف انتم بتتكلموا عن اية
انا مش فاهم حاجة ممكن تفهمينى 0182285370

ahmed:

ممكن اعرف انتم بتتكلموا عن اية
انا مش فاهم حاجة ممكن تفهمينى 0182285370

Anonymous:

PALISRA is the only feasible and lasting solution to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.Both Israelis and Palestinians have been fighting and killing each other for more than 60 years now and unfortunately, no light could be seen at the end of this dark tunnel.
The geography and demography of the area that extends between River Jordan and the Mediterranean indicate the complexity of the current situation. Every party is trying hard to grab by mere force what is in the hand of the other. Many wars have been waged and thousands of innocent lives have been shed for this purpose.
Nowadays, almost everybody is talking about setting up two countries for both Israelis and Palestinians. This simply means that the land of historical Palestine will be divided between the two parties, Israelis and Palestinians.
I doubt very much that either party will be satisfied with his share of the cake. There are chronic problems like Jerusalem, refugees, settlements, borders, water resources that nobody on earth can sort out to the satisfaction of both parties.
The short vision of setting up two separate states could sow the seeds for more bloody conflicts in the future. Nobody can guarantee or secure permanent and lasting peace under this proposition.
A far better viable solution that should satisfy both parties and put an end to all complicated issues is available. It is the establishment of one secular country for all on the whole territory of historical Palestine that includes the West Bank and Gaza besides Israel. Jerusalem will remain united for both parties, settlements could remain where they are now provided an appropriate compensation is made to the original land owners, natural geographical borders are already in place for the whole country and the issue of refugees could be settled by allowing all refugees to return home and to be compensated for the 60 years of misery they had to spend at refugee camps. All citizens of the new state, PALISRA (Palestine +Israel), would enjoy equal rights and bear the same responsibilities.
The newly established state, PALISRA will emerge as a prosperous and safe country within a very short period of time, and citizens of this state will learn how to tolerate,respect and even cherish each other. PALISRA will become a key player and an integral part of the Middle East as yesterday's enemies will become today's friends and allies for ever.

gopre:

u are cool

omop.:


To the moderator.

Insulting and bigoted comments by the individual named Joseph [see above] belittle all those whose efforts are to promote rational and humane treatments of ALL human beings regardless of religious beliefs.

Louis:

MaryAnne:

I've always found the media's obsession with the Israeli's rather mild treatment of hostile Arabs ludicrous in relation to how their fellows handle them. Anyone who is interested can Google a little known incident in recent Syrian history for an example: The Hama massacre

And more recently:

Iraqi cousins behead their aunt and uncle: Accused deemed their relative an infidel because he didn't pray

http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=2f055ac4-6876-46fa-a1e6-a35385f9cd5f

Maryanne:

Unfortunately, there can be no lasting peace until the Arab peoples--and the rest of the world--recognize the Land of Israel as the ancient and historic homeland of the Jewish People.

How, truly, can Israel be colonialist or illegitimate??

The Jews were the original inhabitants of the Holy Land.

The earliest reference to Israel is from the Funerary Stela of the Egyptian Pharaoh Merneptah in 1209 B.C.! (And its sitting in museum in Cairo, by the way)

Indeed, ironic perhaps, but Jews' closest genetic cousins are Syrian. (The fact that most of these tests were done at Oxford is maybe even more ironic...)

After all, Jesus was a Jew--as was Isaac and Jacob, Jeremiah and Isaiah, all the Prophets, Kings David and Solomon, Mary, Josheph, John the Baptist, all the Disciples, etc....

The Jews were kicked out of their land by the Roman Empire and forced into Exile for nearly two thousand years.

One would think that this tiny group (there are 13.2 Million Jews in the world, compared to 2 Billion Christians and 1.6 Billion Muslims), expelled by Empire, exiled, and then returned to their original homeland after mass destruction in Europe and final expulsion from the Arab world would elicit sympathy and support among "Liberals."

Unfortunately, for those who believe in supersessionist philosophy--that Christianity and Islam superseded or replaced their mother faith community, the Jewish People--its rather a problem that the Jews returned to Jerusalem.

That means all the tenets that have been taught over the centuries--that Jews are no longer Chosen but in fact cursed and destined to live in exile, that all the promises of the Hebrew Scriptures relating to Israel and Judah now belong to the Church or, as stated in the Koran, the followers of Mohammad---might ring false.

Thus, most of the world can't stand the idea of Jews controlling their own country in their own ancestral homeland and returning to power in the city of their ancient Kings, Jerusalem.

Lebanon can shell Palestinian camps all day long--No one cares.

Jordan killed more Palestinians in Black September then Israel in all her history--No one said a word.

Iran persecutes more then a million Sunni Arabs within their borders, Syria forces its Kurds into abject poverty, etc., etc.....There are no protests.

As a Palestinian in East Jerusalem once told me, "the truth is, if we were to admit it to ourselves, is that people only pay attention to us because they hate the Jews."

josef:

i think your a completely fukked up idoit
this land is ours
if you want to fight for it then fight like a fukkin man and not make your own kill themselves!!!

omop.:


This better be the final attempt and successful play by the US/Saudi to resolve the Israeli/Palestinian issue a la UN Res. 242.

For any success to occur a time schedule must be defined signed and adhered to by both sides. [should not take more than 5 years to complete implementation.

Its either that screenplay or none. Cause it seems like the Arab/Muslim world is in what is a homely in the US of "homie dont play that game anymo".

The Arab/Muslim world is not the one of 1948, or 1967 or even the one of 2000.

Wish them the best of luck though.

Lisa:

Bold? I will settle for honorable thing to do at this point...Arab leaders need to use this opportunity to press for Marwan Baghouti's release from prison....and then let's just get this day over with so that Mubarak can get back to his bed rest, Olmert can get back to his lawyers fighting his indictments, Abbas (with the help of Israel and Jordan )to building his police state, and the Gulf Monarchs have to prepare for the GCC next week and plan what the heck to do with US dollar...somebody please get Marwan freed!

Index_on_censorship:

Anwar Sadat was promised that Israel will return all the Egyptian Territory which Israel occupied - The Sinai - before he went to Jerusalem. In return, Menachem Begin got Sadat to turn its back on the Palestinian people and not to sue for compensations for billions of Dollars in Oil Revenues which Israel pumped in Sinai from 1968 to 1977.

The U.S. got one enemy off Israel's back, and turned Egypt from the [Jamal abd-E- Nasr] "Arab Socialism" to a pro-American corrupt dictators, La Vache Qui Rit - The Smiling Cow - as many of the Egyptian Intellegentsia call Mubarak.

The Middle-East is still paying the price of separate peace deals between Arab rulers and the Zionists who control Israel.

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