The road to Mideast peace will be built through economic development between nations, leading to increased cultural exchanges and mutual understanding.
That’s according to Wael Adel Nasr, the S.F.-based deputy consul general of Egypt.
Stepping in for Consul General Hagar Islambouly, Hagar recently accepted an invitation by Rabbi Gerald Raiskin of Temple Sholom in Burlingame to join him and temple members for an evening of dialogue.
The spirited, wide-ranging discussion on a stormy night last month focused on relations between Israel and Egypt, past and present, and Mideast issues.
The rabbi has been conducting such dialogues between his community and international policymakers or spokespersons for 15 years.
Nasr, who was greeted politely by about 40 people, qualified the roadmap to peace that he outlined.
“It might take a while,” he said. “People are emotionally afraid.”
Nasr also charged that the “recent Israeli government” of Likud’s Benjamin Netanyahu “makes cultural exchange difficult” between Egypt and Israel.
Since Netanyahu was elected in May, Egyptian-Israeli ties — never warm since their 1979 peace treaty — have deteriorated further. The government-run Egyptian press has continually blasted Netantyahu, and President Hosni Mubarak declined to attend a Washington, D.C., summit aimed at defusing Israeli-Palestinian tensions.
Asked whether he can pinpoint what “Israel [is] doing right, if anything?” Nasr maintained business and economic exchanges continue to operate well.
Nasr also urged Netanyahu to “fulfill the peace agreements. It is no good for him to blow the trumpets of war.”
Israel’s security zone in southern Lebanon also came under fire by Nasr.
“They call it a `security belt,'” he said. “What does that mean? They have no right. It would be like the U.S. occupying Canada or Mexico.”
An audience member suggested that the Israelis in Lebanon “are pulling back. Why not the Syrians?”
Syria “is not an occupying force, but a friend keeping the peace,” replied Nasr.
One audience member said that after seeing the Golan Heights and the vulnerability of Israeli territory, he’d revised his position and did not think Israel could safely relinquish the Golan.
Nasr replied that Israel has the only nuclear arsenal in the area. It faces no danger in pulling out of the Golan Heights, he said.
The Golan could become a demilitarized zone, administered by the United States, he added.
“Is it such a big problem that it should take generations to be solved? People don’t want war. No good could come of it.”
Nasr also put in a pitch for Egyptian tourism. Asked whether Jewish tourists are welcome there, he replied: “Egypt is a very safe place.”
In fact, Nasr blamed the U.S. media for exaggerating any danger posed by Islamic militant fundamentalists.
“The number of crime victims in all of Egypt in the last five or six years is not equal to that of one state in the U.S.,” he said.
Raiskin noted that he had recently traveled to Egypt and enjoyed himself without any problems.
Nasr noted that Israelis travel to Egypt and Turkey in larger numbers than come from the other direction. He blamed Israel’s high prices for lower tourism to Israel.
Overall, Nasr remained hopeful about the prospects for peace.
“The whole issue is not religious but political: Our two religions actually have much in common. That is a strong asset that could push forward the whole [peace] process.”