Cairo - Egyptians have celebrated Israel's 1989 return of
the northern Sinai resort town of Taba to Egyptian jurisdiction for
years, albeit unofficially.
Over the years, children sang nationalist songs in school to mark
the date. The renowned Egyptian singer Fatima Ahmad Kamal, better
known by her stage name, Shadia, memorialized the occasion in her
song, 'Egypt is celebrating today,' and performed it for Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak. State-owned television stations usually ran
wall-to-wall coverage on the anniversary.
So why is Egypt celebrating it as a national holiday for the first
time this year?
On Thursday, by order of Mubarak, Egyptians celebrated the 'Feast
of Freedom,' the newest of 16 public holidays, for the first time.
The holiday commemorates the return of Taba, which Israel had held
for seven years after returning the rest of Sinai to Egypt in 1982.
The return came only after protracted negotiations between an Israeli
delegate, an Egyptian delegate, and three international arbitrators.
Some greeted the holiday, which applies only to students and
teachers, with bemusement.
'This may pique our appetite for still more holidays,' Bilal Fadl
quipped in Cairo's leading independent daily al-Masri al-Youm on
Thursday. 'Let us also have a holiday for all of the president's
historical achievements, as a token of our appreciation for him for
making most of our days holidays.'
Quips aside, the holiday has an important and a timely message,
Abdel-Moneim Said, director of Cairo's government-funded al-Ahram
Centre for Political and Strategic Studies, told Deutsche Presse-
Agentur dpa on Thursday.
'The holiday is a promotion of peace for the Egyptian people,
particularly after emotions ran high during Gaza, and because of the
rise of right-wing parties in Israel,' he said.
'Taba is not a life-or-death issue for most Egyptians,' Said
allowed. 'Egyptians tend to focus on Palestinian issues when there is
a crisis, and to focus on domestic issues the rest of the time. This
holiday's message is that peace is possible, and there are many ways
to achieve it? Taba is Mubarak's legacy.'
'Egypt was wounded during the Israeli attacks on Gaza and was
subject to an organized campaign to portray it as complicit in the
Israeli invasion,' said Ammar Ali Hassan, former director of the
Middle East Studies and Research Centre in Cairo.
'The holiday has a dual message,' he said. 'For Egyptians, it's
meant to refresh their memories of Mubarak's accomplishments through
dialogue. For the extremist powers in Israel, its message is that
Egypt, which has declared a holiday to mark the return of a small
piece of its land, will not allow anyone to take one inch of its
land.'
Nonetheless, Fadl, of the daily al-Masri al-Youm, seemed
unimpressed by such explanations.
'Wouldn't it be unfair and unjust not to take a vacation for
President Mubarak's birthday as well?' he asked. 'Shouldn't we also
commemorate his appointment as vice president, and his appointment as
president?'
'And wouldn't it then be unfair not to take a holiday for (his
son) Gamal Mubarak's birthday, since he will be our next ruler? Or,
if my suggestion sounds exaggerated, let us then celebrate only the
occasion of his being appointed to the head of the (ruling party's)
Policies Committee, an event that changed the face of modern Egypt?'
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