Egypt, after the exodus…

PAULA SLIER

But no-one’s joking much in Egypt today. Except perhaps Mubarak, who was recently freed from prison after an upset in Egyptian politics that saw him kicked out of power at the start of the Arab Spring six years ago.

But while Mubarak might have been overthrown with a roar, this time around, most Egyptians were mute about his homecoming. Many of the tens of thousands of passionate youngsters who thronged Tahrir Square in the early months of the revolution sit in prison. Fear is back. Resignation has replaced optimism.

It’s a far cry from the dreams Egyptians shared with me about their country as I mingled among the crowds that would never leave the streets in those hopeful, heady, years. Former American President Barak Obama backed up their dreams. “The people of Egypt have spoken,” he said at the time. “Their voices have been heard and Egypt will never be the same… for Egyptians have made it clear that nothing less than genuine democracy will carry the day.”

That genuine democracy, unfortunately, saw the Muslim Brotherhood, a Sunni Islamist movement of which Hamas in Gaza is an offshoot, come to power. It was no irony that for the first time in 5 000 years of Egyptian history, the first democratically elected head of state, Mohammed Morsi, was from an organisation the government had banned for most of its 85-year history.

Israelis watched with growing concern, especially as the Brotherhood’s Morsi promised easier border controls between Egypt and Gaza and weapons started flowing into the Sinai Peninsula. 

But the Egypt saga was far from over. Morsi was soon overthrown by the Egyptian army, imprisoned and preparations made to free Mubarak. Egypt must be the only country in the world where a president enters jail while those who were previously in jail enter the presidency – only for it all later to be reversed. It would be laughable if it wasn’t downright terrifying. 

And so Egypt today is right back where it started… and Jerusalem is breathing a sigh of relief. The head of the Egyptian Armed Forces, General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a former Mubarak crony, is in power. He has his hands full trying to deal with a plummeting economy and growing insurgency.

On both these scores Israel can help – as long as the country turns a blind eye to the fact that el-Sisi has led Egypt to be among the top jailers of journalists in the world and has arrested thousands of people for opposing the government.

Islamist extremism is an enemy both countries fear and IDF commanders have repeatedly said that military-to-military co-operation and intelligence sharing between the two has never been better.

El-Sisi has even offered to mediate in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – although most understand this offer to be more about Israel-Egypt relations than the Palestinian cause. 

What’s more, should the countries decide to work more closely together, it could result in renewed agricultural and technological co-operation – something Cairo desperately needs to help invigorate her economy. A growing number of Egyptians also think that their country has done more than its share to help the Palestinians and paid a heavy price for it. Perhaps it’s time to move on…

Thirty eight years ago, last week, Israel signed its first peace agreement with an Arab neighbour. And yet, still, most Egyptians dislike and distrust Israel. Those I interviewed on the streets prior, during and after the Arab Spring, were not supportive of the historic deal and there remains a deep-seated antagonism towards Israel from among the old Egyptian elites, be they Islamic or nationalistic.

Their view of history is also very different. A Cairo museum display about the Yom Kippur War details how Egypt won that war and the taxi driver who took me there gleefully recounted how he came within kilometres of Tel Aviv as a soldier.

Egypt today is a gloomy place to me – the euphoria that once lit up the streets is gone – and the Arab Spring has turned into an Arab winter. What remains to be seen is at whose seder table Mubarak will be sitting this year.

Paula Slier is the Middle East Bureau Chief of RT, the founder and CEO of NewshoundMedia and the inaugural winner of the Europcar Woman in Leadership Award of the South African Absa Jewish Achievers.