Camp David\'s Treaty in a Preacher\'s Viewpoint When Young and Now

By:Najeh Ibrahim.. I was born in a religious patrioticfamily. My father was a small employee; however, he was alwaysconcerned with his countries problems. My elder brother fought in1973 war and was injured. My cousin was martyred in the same war andwas one of the nine who took the supreme military medal of theEgyptian army which is "Sinai star".

Wewere young and we were occupied by great issues like resistingoccupation and liberating Palestine even before joining the IslamicGroup.

Wewere attracted to patriotic songs then to Islamic songs whichencouraged us to sacrifice every thing to our religion.

Wedreamed and are still dreaming of the day when we see Palestine, fromthe river to the sea, free of occupation. We hope to enter Jerusalemand pray in Al Aqsa mosque.

WhenI was young, I thought that all the wars between Egypt and Israelwere to liberate Palestine but this was not true. At that time, I didnot have enough knowledge of the history of the Arab-Israeli wars.However, when I was in prison, I studied them carefully starting fromthe 1948 war to 1973 war. I was thinking that freeing Palestine is asimple mission that Egypt can do alone as it defeated the Mongol andthe crusaders before.

Thiswas a superficial view for great efforts were exerted by SalahEl-Deen and then by Qotoz with the help of scholars and reformers toprepare the Arab and Muslim peoples to achieve such a victory. Thisvictory was reached after long years of wars, reconciliation,fighting and truces and after uniting Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and SaudiArabia, which is difficult now according to the present situation.

WhenI was a new student in the faculty of medicine, I volunteered to jointhe army in 1973 war but I was denied because I did not have enoughtraining.

Whenpresident Saddat went to Jerusalem then signed the peace treaty withIsrael, the Islamic movement along with the National movement refusedand attacked the agreement fiercely. We held conferences anddemonstrations in universities and mosques everywhere. The majorityof preachers, in the past and now, are against the treaty.

SomeIslamist journalists asked me about my opinion, now, concerning thepeace treaty with Israel and whether I have changed my mind and why.

Thesequestions occur to my mind every anniversary of Camp David's accord.I always refused to answer them for fear my answers may be misused bytwo parties; the press, which sometimes highlights things and ignoresothers for excitement, and the immature youth, who may misunderstandmy words.

However,I have consulted Allah and intended to write my opinion, which I haveexplained to my brothers in jail before and they were happy with it.May Allah benefits the Muslim youth by it.

NowI will start:

WhenCamp David's accord was signed in 1979, the Islamic movement and thepolitical opposition rejected it. We, the members of the Islamicmovement, held conferences in some universities to present thedisadvantages of this treaty such as:

a-Reconciliation with Israel is not allowed by Sharia.

b-Signing such a treaty gives Israel the right to continue controllingthe Palestinian territories.

c-The treaty prevents Egypt from defending Palestine or any other Arabcountry in case of war.

d-The treaty gives Israel and the US more advantages in Sinai and givesEgypt partial sovereignty on it.

e-The treaty transfers Egypt from the Arab Islamic camp to the Westerncamp.

Butafter a deep study of the Arab-Israeli conflict, the Islamic fiqh(jurisprudence) and the international law, it was obvious to me, asan individual not expressing the Islamic Group's opinion, that:

1-Sharia (Islamic law) permits making peace treaties with anybodywhether Muslim or not.

2-The condition of reconciliation is to gain as much advantages aspossible. Therefore, jurisprudents allow making treaties with theenemy, even on unjust conditions, as long as it is in Muslims'advantage. They take the Prophet's acceptance of Al-Hudaibiya treatyas an evidence of that.

3-Peace treaties express the power not the right of every party. Forexample, the Israeli occupation of Palestine is illegal and haram(not allowed by Sharia) but it is a reality. Realizing Israel as astate by Egypt does not give it legitimacy, it just acknowledges astatus quo. Salah El Deen and Nour El Deen have concluded manytreaties with the crusaders by which the later can keep someterritories they have occupied. Moreover, Muslim scholars and juriesdid not oppose these decisions at that time.

4-After many long years of study, Camp David's treaty, despite thenumerous disadvantages, has proved to be the best option Egypt hadthen. Egypt could not afford for a lasting continuous war. It doesnot have the military, political or economic ability to liberatePalestine. Moreover, Egypt did not enter any of its wars with Israelfor the liberation of Palestine. All these wars were to achievepolitical, military and economic targets for Egypt. Those who believethat Egypt has joined 1948 war just for freeing Palestine are wrong.They can refer to the records of the supreme headquarters of theEgyptian army. King Farouk, the commander-in-chief, said openly tohis soldiers "I did not want to join this war but the Arableaders embarrassed me. So, I do not want you to go into seriousfighting with the Israeli army". However, they foughtcourageously and unless the weak arming, things would have beendifferent.

5-Rejecting a treaty is not a positive solution. We must introduce analternative.

6-It is necessary to make balances especially when harm mixes withbenefits since it is impossible to get pure benefit or prevent pureharm. But idealistic youth does not make such balances, therefore,they objected the agreement.

7-It is well known in politics that peace treaties do not create aneverlasting situation. They just reflect the power of each party. So,"when you become more powerful, you can tear this treaty andmake another one" as general Amin Huady, the former chief of theEgyptian intelligence and former Defense minister, said. The Japaneseexperience is an example. The empire of Japan was forced to surrenderin World War 2 and signed an unjust peace treaty. However, Japanesepeople worked hard to develop their country and create a new bettersituation. And now, after some seven decades, Japan is one of themost developed countries in the world; a position that they havenever dreamed of.

IsCamp David treaty worse than the treaty Japan signed after the war,by which it was denied the right to have weapons? Is Camp David'streaty the reason of our recession? Why did not we exploit the stateof peace to develop our country? Did the rest of the Arab countries,which did not sign the peace treaty, make progress? So why do wealways accuse the peace treaty for all the problems we have? Turkey,for example, has good relations with Israel and the West, however, itis progressing every day.

Isay these words to show those who blame the peace treaty with Israelfor all the problems we suffer that it is our fault, not thetreaty's, to be an under development country.

Translatedby: Fatima Suleiman

Back to Current Affairs