Brotherly Relations Between Arab Countries

Al-Masry Al-Youm, Egypt, December 8

One of the funniest situations I ever experienced in my career took place during an official visit I took with the late President Hosni Mubarak to Syria. On the day of our arrival in Damascus, President Hafez al-Assad requested to meet with the press delegation accompanying the Egyptian president, including all of the editors-in-chief of the major Egyptian newspapers. It was the first official visit of an Egyptian president in Syria since the severing of ties between the countries following the signing of the Egypt-Israel peace agreement. The meeting between the two leaders was cordial and warm. But the meeting with the journalists was slightly more tense. The Syrian president opened his remarks by reprimanding the Egyptian journalists for their hostile coverage of Syria during the years in which relations between the two countries took a downward turn. Assad kept his eyes focused on one of the prominent journalists in the room, Makram Mohamed Ahmed, as the subject of admonition. But to everyone else in the room, it was clear that the Syrian president was actually citing and referring to an article written by Anis Mansour, who was sitting on the other side of the room. It immediately became clear that the Syrian president confused the two individuals and didn’t understand that the person he was lambasting was actually the wrong journalist. Following the meeting, we all laughed at the strange mix-up. Anis, of course, joked about the matter that entire day. And the jokes reached President Mubarak himself who, on our flight back to Cairo, laughed at the matter and reassured us that Assad’s reproach was fraternal and gentle. Ever since that incident, I gained a deeper appreciation for the role played by a press secretary or information officer, who ensures that a leader always knows the names and faces of the people sitting in front of him at any event. But the other lesson I learned is that, despite these admonitions, Egyptian-Syrian relations remained strong. The relationships that exist between Arab countries are rooted in a deep history that can’t be brushed off by political differences between governments. Yes, there are always tensions at the surface level. But no matter our disputes or competing national interests, we all share a common culture that unites us as one people. – Mostafa Elfeki (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)