The Arab World: All Quiet Under the Pyramids

By David Aikman/Cairo

As rescue workers pulled corpses out of the Baghdad rubble last week, Jordan's King Hussein denounced the allied bombing that caused the deaths and called for an immediate cease-fire. Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali declared a "day of mourning in memory of the innocent civilian victims," while Sudan's Foreign Ministry called the episode a "hideous, bloody massacre." Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, however, sounded a different note. "It is inconceivable for a ruler to make propaganda from the corpses of his citizens," he said. "I am very sorry to see civilians dying, but unfortunately, these things happen sometimes in war."

Since Saddam Hussein seized Kuwait last August, much of the Arab world at the grass-roots level has divided into supporters and opponents of Iraq. But by far the most outspoken critic of Saddam has been Hosni Mubarak. The Egyptian President has backed his rhetoric with muscle by contributing 38,500 troops to the allied coalition. What is surprising is that, contrary to some reports, most of Mubarak's 56 million countrymen support his stance on the war and have not fallen sway to Saddam's attempts to turn the conflict into a battle of Arab vs. West. Ordinary Egyptians show no inclination to mob the streets in support of Iraq as hundreds of thousands of other Arabs have done in cities from Amman to Nouakchott. When a small band of demonstrators assembled in Cairo two weeks ago for a march on the presidential palace, bystanders watched approvingly as police broke up the protest with nightsticks. Observed Jordan's Ambassador Nabih Nimr: "Apparently the majority of Egyptians are either quiet or support Mubarak."

Egyptian resentment of Saddam runs deep. During Iraq's eight-year war with Iran, 1.5 million Egyptians worked in Iraq, sending back to their country an estimated $1 billion a year. Peace came in 1988, and a triumphant but broke Iraq froze the wages of foreign workers and forbade funds to be sent out of the country. Thousands of Egyptians suddenly began facing job competition from demobilized soldiers. Many were ill-treated by Iraqis, some getting impressed into the Iraqi army, others enduring beatings, robbings and even murder. For ) several months last year the Egyptian press reported almost daily the number of returning coffins of Egyptians who had died in suspicious circumstances in Iraq.

Egypt's opposition press, which is stridently antigovernment and hostile to Mubarak's role in the coalition, has not chosen to challenge the public disgust with Saddam. Even the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, while calling the coalition's bombing of civilians a "heinous crime," has described the Iraqi regime as "hateful" and has scorned Saddam's efforts to lead a jihad against the West.

The failure of ordinary Egyptians to demonstrate against the gulf war also stems from a reluctance to be lumped together with other Arabs. Many Egyptians are so proud of their country's more than 5,000 years of history and culture that they are uncomfortable acknowledging any connection with their Arab brethren. Says Hoda el-Sobky, 19, an economics major at the American University in Cairo: "I feel pure Egyptian. We are originally pharaohs. There is no blood relation between us and the Arabs." A surprising number of ordinary Egyptians also seem to feel warmly toward the West. Said Abul Yazid Tawfiq, a taxi driver: "I feel closer to the West than the Arabs. Westerners are straightforward. They want to work with us."

Most Egyptians also feel they paid a disproportionate price on behalf of the Arab cause during the five brutal wars waged with Israel since the Jewish state was founded in 1948. Military and civilian losses during these conflicts amounted to more than 20,000. "Arabs are traitors," says Tawfiq. "You cannot feel secure with them. We fought for them, but they did not do anything for us."

In 1979, after Egypt became the first and so far only Arab country to make formal peace with Israel, most of the Arab world broke relations with Cairo. Mubarak, who became President in 1981 after Anwar Sadat was assassinated, has concentrated on establishing a mood of moderation at home while mending ties with fellow Arabs. Of 21 members in the Arab League, all 18 that broke diplomatic relations with Egypt then have since resumed them. Last week Mubarak further demonstrated his diplomatic skills by playing host first to Libya's mercurial Muammar Gaddafi, whom he has wooed diplomatically for two years, and then to the foreign ministers of six gulf states and Syria. Says Walid Kazziha, a political scientist at the American University in Cairo: "During the past 10 years Mubarak has wanted to reintroduce Egypt into the Arab world. I think to some extent he has succeeded."

As leader of the world's most populous Arab country, Mubarak cannot afford to fail. If Iraq is defeated badly, Egypt will emerge as the dominant Arab military power in both the gulf and the Middle East region. How skillfully Mubarak exercises that leadership will help determine whether the region recovers from the crisis triggered by Saddam Hussein or descends into a nightmare of disorder.

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CREDIT: TIME Chart

CAPTION: Of all Arabs, Egyptians are by far the largest single group

With reporting by Amany Radwan/Cairo