Nostalgia Sunday – End of an Era

February 13, 2011 - 9:24 PM by · Leave a Comment
Filed under: A New Reality, coexistence, education, General, History and Culture, Life, News, Nostalgia Sunday, Politics, Profiles, War 

The events in Egypt over the past two weeks, which culminated in the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak, are being watched with no little trepidation in Israel. The media, both international and local, have focused on Mubarak to the exclusion of anything that came before, as if there was no Sadat, no Nasser, no King Farouk, no British Mandate, no Ottoman Empire… in short, reportage without historical context.

Before history is forgotten completely, this would be a good time to dig into the Israel National Photo Archive for a glimpse at relations between Israel and Egypt over the years.

In 1956, for example, this float at the annual Purim Adloyada parade featured paper mache figures of Israel’s David Ben Gurion shaking hands with Egypt’s Gamal Abdel Nasser above a banner emblazoned with the ironic, “Prophecy of the End of Days”.

Photo by Moshe Pridan

And yet, peace with Egypt did come. In 1977, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat made his historic visit to Israel and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin then visited Egypt.

Photo by Yaacov Saar

In 1979, peace talks were held at Beer Sheva, led by Begin and Sadat, who was accompanied by his then-Vice President Hosni Mubarak.

Photo courtesy of Ben Gurion University of the Negev

Begin and Mubarak met again at the funeral of Sadat who was assassinated in 1981.

Photo by Chanania Herman

Mubarak became president and continued to maintain Egypt’s commitment to peace with Israel. Together with Jordan’s King Hussein and US President Bill Clinton, he oversaw the signing of the Oslo Accords by Israel’s Yitzhak Rabin and the PLO’s Yasser Arafat.

Photo by Avi Ohayon

Mubarak’s only other visit to Israel was in 1995, to attend the funeral of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. (He is shown here with interim Prime Minister Shimon Peres).

Photo by Tsvika Israeli

It is too early to tell whether the current days mark a watershed in our relations with Egypt. But as the age of Mubarak comes to a close, we can look back fondly to the time when the impossible suddenly became possible; the day in 1979, for example, when the Israeli-Egyptian air corridor was inaugurated, Sadat, Mubarak and Begin took to the skies and the smiles — at least for that moment — were real.

Photo by Yaacov Saar

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A video of Gilad

October 1, 2009 - 1:46 AM by · 4 Comments
Filed under: A New Reality, General, Israeliness, Life, War 

giladThe news that Hamas is going to hand over a one-minute video tape of captive IDF soldier Gilad Schalit has been dominating the news today.

According to the Egyptian and German teams that helped broker the deal that will see 20 Palestinian female prisoners released from Israeli jails in exchange for the tape, it will provide enequivocal evidence that Schalit, who has been in captivity for more than three years, is alive and reasonably well.

It will be the first time that Schalit’s family will be seeing images of Gilad since he was captured in Gaza by Palestinian gunmen.

While it’s a far cry from seeing him released, I’m sure the family will be spending sleepless nights until they receive the tape on Friday. They issued a statement Wednesday night saying, “We wish to stress that although this is a first step in the right direction, the family will not rest until Gilad is freed after almost 1,200 days in which he has been held in a Hamas prison. Both sides must continue the determined process that has recently begun until the final result is quickly achieved.”

It’s bound to be quite a shock when they do finally see the video, as it’s certain that the Gilad Schalit who’s been held prisoner for so long will bear little resemblance to the 18-year-old boy that the country has come to know as their own in the ensuing three years.

The intensity with which the story was covered on Wednesday reflected the emotional baggage the entire country carries with it having lived with the burden of one of its soldiers held prisoner. In times like this, it’s almost safe to say that the cliche that we’re all one country is really true.

Let’s hope the release of the Gilad Schalit video is beginning of movement that will quickly see the release of Gilad Schalit, the human being.

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