Israel is anxious about the future of its 1979 peace treaty with Egypt - and for good reason
Israel has been anxiously watching developments in Egypt since January's popular uprising led to the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak's regime, the pan-Arab newspaper Al Quds Al Arabi noted in an editorial. The transition raised doubts about whether Cairo's new chiefs would honour the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty.
That pact, signed by the Egyptian president of the day Anwar El Sadat, and by the then-Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin, cost Egypt years of suspension from the Arab League. Arab states saw the signing as an act of betrayal of the Palestinian cause, which many Arabs consider to be the mother of all causes in the Middle East.
The 30-year regime of Mr Mubarak, who is currently standing trial on accusations of ordering police to open fire on unarmed protesters, was "faithful" to Israel and always worked to ensure its border security, the paper said.
It goes without saying, then, that Israel's alarms were ringing as the partial results of Egypt's first free parliamentary elections in decades started trickling in this week.
Egypt's Islamists - both the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists - have made a strong showing in these elections so far and are on course to becoming the clear winners when all voting ends in March.
"The Israelis know very well that the one thing that brings all Egyptians together - be they Islamists or liberals - is opposition to Israel, to its odious colonial plans and to its crippling and humiliating demands," the newspaper said.
"For the past decades, Israel has enjoyed a tranquillity it has never dreamed of, as Egyptian rulers decided they wanted to be its trusted border guards, keeping all infiltrators at bay, whether men of the [Palestinian] resistance or African migrants seeking economic asylum."
So it was no surprise to hear the statement this week by Benjamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, reminding his people of the need to speed up the building of a "separation barrier" along the Egyptian-Israeli border.
In an uncharacteristically mild tone - as opposed to his usually "arrogant" tone when addressing Middle Eastern leaders - Mr Netanyahu reiterated his country's hope that the forthcoming Egyptian government would honour the peace treaty between the two countries, the newspaper went on.
"Mr Netanyahu is perfectly aware of the fact that the time of Egyptian capitulation … is gone for good and that the Egyptian system now taking shape in the ballot boxes will usher in a new era for the whole region.
"And this era's main motto would be to put an end to Israel's occupation of Arab territories and to recover the Arab people's dignity."
Liberals should try to protect Egypt's future
There is no point in attacking Egypt's Islamists now; venting and politics are two different things, wrote Tariq Al Homayed, editor of the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al Awsat.
Rather than attempting to destroy or break the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafists, liberal political forces and especially the revolutionary youth, should now be focusing on the protection of the civil state and on the future of Egypt.
Egypt's youth have wasted a good deal of time and effort focusing on futile, useless issues. What they must do in this phase is to use the time as best they can to preserve Egypt, since they have already lost their opportunity at the parliamentary election.
Their goal today is to ensure that the rules of the game are clear and fair. This means more political work and fewer protests.
"The only remaining chance for those who want Egypt to remain a secular state with a well-defined future is to move to guarantee a secular constitution that preserves freedoms, justice, multiplicity, the rights of minorities and the civil nature of the state."
As long as the rules of the political game don't provide for a monopoly of power, Egypt can be secure notwithstanding the profile or the background of its rulers.
But this can be achieved only through a modern constitution that speaks to all Egyptians and their future ambitions.
Syrian opposition is still not very attractive
The Syrian president, Bashar Al Assad, remains the effective leader of the uprising against his regime, columnist Satea Noureddine argues in the Lebanese daily Assafir. This is because his security and political measures are fuelling the protests, while the opposition campaign lacks credibility.
For the opposition to become a full-fledged member of the Arab Spring they must work harder on their leadership, programmes and behaviour, in a way that enables them to offer sufficient guarantees to be seen as a valid alternative to the regime.
"Lengthy discussions with the opposition leaders abroad or scattered across Turkey give the impression that the regime can be brought down only from within as a result of its own successive mistakes," said the writer.
In fact, judging from their vague positions on issues such as sectarian divisions and foreign interference, opposition figures seem to have no answers to the concerns of Syria's minorities, who are still hesitant to announce their opposition to the regime or join the multitudes in the streets.
The opposition has a long way to go to convince the world that the time is right for a forced change in Syria, one that guarantees the protection of its precarious national unity.
* Digest compiled by The Translation Desk
translation@thenational.ae
Recent winners
2002 Giselle Khoury (Colombia)
2004 Nathalie Nasralla (France)
2005 Catherine Abboud (Oceania)
2007 Grace Bijjani (Mexico)
2008 Carina El-Keddissi (Brazil)
2009 Sara Mansour (Brazil)
2010 Daniella Rahme (Australia)
2011 Maria Farah (Canada)
2012 Cynthia Moukarzel (Kuwait)
2013 Layla Yarak (Australia)
2014 Lia Saad (UAE)
2015 Cynthia Farah (Australia)
2016 Yosmely Massaad (Venezuela)
2017 Dima Safi (Ivory Coast)
2018 Rachel Younan (Australia)
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Mohammed bin Zayed Majlis
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Profile of Hala Insurance
Date Started: September 2018
Founders: Walid and Karim Dib
Based: Abu Dhabi
Employees: Nine
Amount raised: $1.2 million
Funders: Oman Technology Fund, AB Accelerator, 500 Startups, private backers
Other key dates
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Finals draw: December 2
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Finals (including semi-finals and third-placed game): June 5–9, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-off draw: November 22, 2019
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Euro 2020 play-offs: March 26–31, 2020
No Shame
Lily Allen
(Parlophone)
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
Company profile
Company: Rent Your Wardrobe
Date started: May 2021
Founder: Mamta Arora
Based: Dubai
Sector: Clothes rental subscription
Stage: Bootstrapped, self-funded
COMPANY%20PROFILE%20
%3Cp%3EName%3A%20DarDoc%3Cbr%3EBased%3A%20Abu%20Dhabi%3Cbr%3EFounders%3A%20Samer%20Masri%2C%20Keswin%20Suresh%3Cbr%3ESector%3A%20HealthTech%3Cbr%3ETotal%20funding%3A%20%24800%2C000%3Cbr%3EInvestors%3A%20Flat6Labs%2C%20angel%20investors%20%2B%20Incubated%20by%20Hub71%2C%20Abu%20Dhabi's%20Department%20of%20Health%3Cbr%3ENumber%20of%20employees%3A%2010%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Scoreline
Abu Dhabi Harlequins 17
Jebel Ali Dragons 20
Harlequins Tries: Kinivilliame, Stevenson; Cons: Stevenson 2; Pen: Stevenson
Dragons Tries: Naisau, Fourie; Cons: Love 2; Pens: Love 2