Ambassador of Egypt Nabil Fahmy Walking a Fine Line in Arab World by Larry Luxner When the ambassador of the Arab worldís most populous and influential country talks, people listen. These days, theyíre paying particularly close attention to Nabil Fahmy, Egyptís envoy to the United States. Cairoís blessing is absolutely crucial to the American-led war against Osama bin Laden and international terrorism, and Fahmyówho has represented his nation of 67 million in Washington, D.C., since November 1999ómakes it clear where Egypt stands in this new war. "Our position is quite simple: Terrorists are criminals, and you have to deal with them in that context," he says. "We direct towards them the full force of the lawónothing more, nothing less." In Egypt, that generally means the death penalty for members of the Muslim Brotherhood and other anti-government groups who have been convicted of terrorist activity in the name of Islam. Fundamentalists opposed to Egyptís 1979 peace treaty with Israel shot and killed President Anwar Sadat in 1981 and were put to death, as were those connected to the Novemb er 1997 slaughter of 58 foreign tourists in Luxoróa particularly gruesome attack the Egyptian government believes was financed by bin Ladenís Al-Qaeda network. "Regrettably, weíve had some experience in dealing with terrorism in our own country," said Fahmy. "Terrorist activities were quite intensive in the late í80s and í90s. They peaked in 1995, although we did have that very tragic incident in Luxor in 1997. We have been engaged in an aggressive, intensive effort to stop and eradicate terrorism in Egypt." Yet Egypt, as the undisputed leader of the Arab world, has been put in a delicate position with regard to the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan. The recipient of $2 billion a year in U.S. assistanceósecond-largest in the world after IsraelóEgypt clearly needs the United States to succeed in its battle against poverty. And the United States needs Egypt too. Since Sept. 11, the Bush administration has been counting on Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and his moderating influence throughout the Arab world. So far, Fahmy has been quite vocal in his support of the Pentagonís bombing campaign against Afghanistanís Taliban leaders, even during the holy month of Ramadan. He supports Egyptís sharing of intelligence with Washington and in early November told CBS-TVís "Face the Nation" that Osama bin Laden "has been trying to take advantage of Islam, distorting Islam to take on moderate regimes in the Middle East," and that "Islam has nothing to do with what he is propagating." Yet Muslims in several countries, most notably Pakistan, are growing increasingly uneasy over the deaths of innocent civilians in Afghanistan, where bin Laden is hiding out. Until now, protests in Egypt have been fairly muted, even though the war has cost Egypt hundreds of millions of dollars in lost tourism revenuesóimpoverishing a country whose people are already among the poorest in the Arab world. "Most Egyptians understand that precise, targeted action against military targets is acceptable," says Fahmy. "The Egyptian people were sincerely touched by President Bushís references to mosques in his speech and by his visit to the Islamic Center in Washington. They hear him saying over and over that this is not a war against Islam. But ultimately, if you have a lot of civilian casualties, people will begin to question him. You will have to explain much more, and youíll see increased anxiety in the Mideast and here as well." Fahmy, an articulate diplomat who speaks English almost without an accent, is well positioned to be Mubarakís man in Washington. Born in Cairo, he has lived in the United States off and on for 17 years. Fahmy went to junior high school in Manhattan, earned both his bachelorís and masterís degrees from the American University in Cairo and went on to serve in the Egyptian Foreign Ministry, specializing in the issue of nuclear proliferationóa topic on which he wrote several books. He returned to New York in 1986 as a diplomat at Egyptís mission to the United Nations. "I understand both Egypt and the United States reasonably well," Fahmy told The Washington Diplomat during a lengthy interview last month. "I am 100 percent Egyptian, but in a globalized society, you tend to have an affinity for both cultures. Frankly, it allows both societies to tolerate me." Thereís no question that being Egyptís envoy to the United States is the most prestigious posting in Washington any Middle Eastern diplomat could hope for, given Egyptís status as the largest of 22 Arab nations in population and its overwhelming influence on Arab politics, literature, film and popular culture. The job is also a useful springboard for bigger and better things. Fahmyís predecessor in Washington, Ahmed Maher El-Sayed (who was interviewed by the Diplomat three years ago) has since become Egyptís foreign minister. Asked how he spends his time, the 50-year-old Fahmy replies: "The best definition of what I do is promotion. Last week, for example, I attended a childrenís function at the Mall with WorldVision because I thought it was important to show the flag. I also spoke to a group from the United Jewish Federation, visited the National Security Council, met with Arab-Americans and hosted a number of social events. I spend one-third of my time dealing with congressional issues. U.S. government issues take another third, and the remaining third is a mixture of different promotional issues." Since Sept. 11, however, "itís been mostly bad news," starting with rumors that many of the 19 hijackers involved in attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were Egyptian citizens. Later on, it turned out that the majority were Saudi nationals. Even so, says Fahmy, "the fact that one of them was Egyptian did ultimately result in negative press. But the names and organizations mentioned do not operate out of Egypt. These were people we tried to arrest and who had court verdicts against them. We had wanted to extradite all of them." Fahmy concedes that since Sept. 11, the Egyptian Embassy in Washington has been the target of various threats, on which he declined to elaborate. "We take them seriously, and weíve informed the authorities," he says. "Our security people more and more insist on controlling what I do, but ultimately you have to keep working." Fahmy adds: "Weíre just now starting to get back into the normal sequence of events. Iíve had a tremendous amount of effort directed towards community problems and consular activities. Discrimination, where it exists, is against Arabs. Americans donít ask whether youíre a Muslim or a Christian. For them, youíre an Arab," says Fahmy, noting that a Christian-Egyptian-American man was murdered in California just two days after the attacks, although the incident was not clearly determined to be a hate crime. But he adds that heís "quite comfortable with how the U.S. has turned around" on this issue. "Our relations are fundamentally sound. Support for Egypt is quite solid, and we respect our differences of opinion where they exist," he says. "In Egypt, thereís no statistically important support for terrorist attacks against the United States. On the other hand, people in the Middle East do feel that the American position is too close to the Israelis and not forthcoming enough to the Palestinians. Thatís the perception. My disappointment is that criticism of the U.S. and its Middle East policies is misinterpreted as support for terrorism against the United States." Fahmy says the money Washington gives his country is well spent. This year, Egypt is getting $2 billionó$1.35 billion in military aid and $650 million in economic assistance. "If Egypt had not developed over the last 20 years into a modern society that provides opportunities for average Egyptians, the government would not have been able to combat terrorism as it did or be a partner with the U.S. opposing the Iraqi invasion. It would not have been able to help," he says. "Your country has made a good investment in Egypt, which we appreciated. I find it quite understandable that people would also be appreciative." Israel receives even more U.S. financial assistance than Egypt. Even though the two neighbors have officially been at peace since the Camp David accord of 1979, bilateral trade is negligible and bilateral tourism is nearly nonexistent, especially since the latest Palestinian uprising began more than a year ago. One telling indication of this so-called "cold peace" is in the selection of historic photographs lining a wall of the Egyptian Embassy. Dozens of black-and-white shots depict Sadat and Mubarak meeting various U.S. and world statesmen, including Richard Nixon, Henry Kissinger , Margaret Thatcher and Jimmy Carteróbut thereís not a single photo of Sadat, Carter and Israelís Menachem Begin signing the famous Camp David accord. Nor is any other Israeli leader, including the late Yitzhak Rabin, represented in the display. In attempting to explain Egyptís reluctance to warm up to Israel, Fahmy said his people are frustrated that nearly 30 years after the last Egyptian-Israeli war in 1973, the conflict between Arabs and Jews still continues, and that as ambassador, he has to be responsive to the mood on the street. "During the first 25 years of life, I lived through four Arab-Israeli wars. Todayís Egyptians who are 23 years old or younger have not lived through a single Arab-Israeli war," he says. On the other hand, "These wars were never something personal between Egyptians and Israelis. They were wars between armies on the border. Today, with CNN, satellite TV and the Internet, every person killed is in your bedroom within five minutes. So while this young generation has not lived through a war, theyíve been tormented by this on a personal basis much more than I have." Yet the ill feeling apparently doesnít affect Fahmyís relationship with David Ivry, Israelís ambassador to the United States. The two diplomats arrived in Washington at about the same time and serve at their respective embassies a few hundred feet from each other along International Drive. "David and I know each other quite well. We were counterparts at the Middle East arms control talks. It goes back well before our assignments in Washington," he says. "We have a very civilized relationship, and weíre professional colleagues, but this is not about our personalities. We do have a peace treaty with Israel, and we intend to keep it." As for Israelís frequent complaints that the official Egyptian media is not only anti-Israeli but also blatantly anti-Semitic, Fahmy says thereís little the government can do without opening itself up to charges of censoring Egyptís government-subsidized radio and TV stations and newspapers. "We do not see what they print before they print it, nor do we force them to change what they write afterwards," he says. "The difference is that these statements do not come from Egyptian officials. We have told our Israeli friends that they can criticize our press and we can criticize theirs. But the name game is not going to help. Letís try instead to preach tolerance between our peoples." Fahmy points out that there hasnít been a single agreement between Israel and the Palestinian Authority that has not been negotiated, signed or resigned in Egypt. "Every single agreement had to pass through Egypt," he says. "This is not because we are a superpower. Itís because we have a long-standing commitment to peace in the Middle East. This is in our national interest." Also in Egyptís national interest is jump-starting the countryís unhealthy economy, which Fahmy says has taken a big hit since the current hostilities began. "Before Sept. 11 we were doing reasonably well, but not well enough. We need to create more than 550,000 new jobs a year. To do that, our [gross domestic product] has to grow 7 percent to 8 percent over a sustained period," he says. "In 2000, we reached 5.3 percent. This year, itíll be much lower." Tourist arrivals are expected to show a significant drop from the 5.2 million tourists (including 170,000 Americans) who visited last year. Remittances from Egyptians working overseas have also fallen quite a bit from the early 1990s, when more than 2 million Egyptians were working in Iraq and other oil-rich Gulf states. Egypt is a net oil and gas exporter as well, but its productive sector is largely geared toward domestic consumption. One way to boost the countryís per-capita gross domestic product of $1,400 a year, says Fahmy, is to make better use of Egyptís vast land area. Five years ago, nearly all of Egyptís people were squeezed into the crowded Nile Delta, which encompasses only 4 percent of the countryís territory. "Today, weíre living on 7 percent of our territory, but what we need to do is expand beyond the Nile Delta," he says. "Within 10 years, we plan to move into 15 percent of our territory. To do that, you have to provide tremendous infrastructure. You cannot just tell people to live in the desert. The population increase used to be 3 percent a year, now itís down to 1.9 percent. To meet the demands of the population, we need to move from traditional sectors, like tourism or planting cotton, into value-added sectors, like information technology. The potential for job creation in the [information technology] sector is tremendous." Fahmyís main concern at the moment, though, is getting Egypt through this difficult periodóand preserving the friendship that has made Egypt one of Americaís best friends in the Arab world. "Our record stands on its own merits," says Fahmy. "Weíre a well-balanced country with reasonable positions. We donít have to agree with the U.S. all the time. On the other hand, there will always be people who want to pile on their own agenda. What more can we do?" Larry Luxner, who has visited Egypt six times, is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat. He can be reached at larry@luxner.com.