ARTICLES FROM THE CURRY COUNTY REPORTER, GOLD BEACH, OREGON -
MARCH 29, APRIL 5 & 12 1989
By Bob Van Leer

  In this and last week's issue of the Curry County Reporter are several columns I wrote on a recent trip to Egypt. The tour was sponsored by the American Egyptian Cooperation Foundation for myself and five other journalists from small towns around the U. S. Our host was Dr. Said Seif-Elyazal, the director of the foundation, an Egyptian by birth who now has dual citizenship.

  The trip was a great opportunity for exposure to another culture in an area of the world that has occupied much of the news for more than a generation.

  The week-long trip was preceded by an intense study of Egypt and the region from materials sent to us. Our own resident Moslem, David X Mohammed, also supplied me with background information on the Moslem religion that was very helpful. 

  Pres. Jimmy Carter arranged the truce between Egypt and Israel 10 years ago. It continues until today and, from what we heard, will continue indefinitely. There was no sabre rattling at all. Indeed, Egypt has cut its armed forces in half in the last 10 years and is still continuing to do so.

  The Israeli Star of David flag flies high over downtown Cairo on top the Israeli embassy. The peace is not cheap for the U. S. We are paying 2.2 billion dollars a year for military and economic aid to Egypt and over 3 billion dollars a year to Israel. And Maj. Gen. Abdel Moneim Tawil, Ministry of Defense. told us frankly that if the U. S. wants peace in the region it will have to pay for it. It's difficultly picture this level of aid continuing indefinitely but it is probably cheaper than financing Israel In still another Mideast war.

  A real peace (as opposed to truce) between Egypt and lsrael will depend on solving the Palestinian problem. This problem poisons everything in this region. The lsraelis can't continue indefinitely killing an Arab or two a day in the Occupied Territories.

  Egypt is in one of those vicious cycles in trying to get ahead economically. Every step forward is eaten up by the 2.7 percent birth rate. The country won't able to progress much until the Egyptians get a handle on the birth rate. It's a poor country, the average annual income is only $750, and an increase in the standard of living depends a lot on a lower birth rate.

  Our economic aid mostly appears to be going for projects with long-term benefits instead of monuments, infrastructure instead of showplace manufacturing plants. But there are exceptions.

  A clinic we visited is built in the shape of a pyramid which leaves a great amount of unuseable space inside. The well built, inexpensive schools make up for the occasional lapse.

   There are cultural differences, gaps that are unbridgeable. Our group was unable to understand Moslem reaction to the book by Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses, that brought Rushdie a death sentence from Iran. The Egyptians don't agree with the death sentence but still do not understand how we consider publishing the book as freedom of speech. The U. S.

wants Egypt to make economic changes before giving over more of the cash transfer foreign aid.

  The Egyptians are in general agreement with the changes but think the U. S. and the international Monetary Fund want the changes to come too fast and would disrupt the economy. The Egyptians have an untranslateable all-purpose word "malesh'', to sum up the situation. Basically it translates to "don't get too excited about things".

  Egypt has a tremendous potential for increasing tourism but this, too, depends a lot on solution of the Palestinian problem. The hijacking of the cruise ship Achille Largo several years ago and the killing of one American passenger cut tourist business in half overnight. The civilization is over 5000 years old with unbelievable art treasures. Cairo is a city that lives up to expectations, a whole different world. But tourists are nervous over possible hijackings.

  Yet, on the ground, Cairo is safer than staying home. We wondered around in some back alleys that looked as if they came out of an old movie set, yet never felt uncomfortable. I wouldn't do the same thing in New York, or, for that matter, in Northeast Portland.

  So, in Egypt, if the truce holds, the birthrate is brought under control and the desert made to bloom with Nile water, the country may have a bright future. But, in the meantime, ''Malesh''.