DR KISSINGER REPORTS FROM TABA, EGYPT

After the Cairo Conference of March 24th to March 27th I decided to go across the Sinai Desert to Taba which is a small coastal resort on the Gulf of Aqaba at the very end of Egypt. My journey through the Sinai from Cairo was somewhat reminiscent of Iraq when I was there in 2001. There are pictures of President Hosni Mubarak everywhere – just like Saddam in pre occupation Iraq and I passed Mubarak’s massive official residence, which is comparable to a Saddam palace. The police presence both official and secret is ubiquitous and I saw some very large military barracks. The minibus I was in had to go through several internal checkpoints and one smiling guard said he thought I was from Saudi Arabia (I was wearing an Arab headdress to protect myself from the blazing sun) I don’t know if I should take that as a compliment!

The landscape was semi desert rather than full desert as in the Sahara with tufts of grass here and there and there were electricity pylons all the way. All of Egypt has electricity in contrast to Iraq which has less now than before the occupation. The roads are surprisingly good though there are no regular telephones as in British motorways. The roads are all well sign posted perhaps for the benefit of the many camels, which seem to roam wild.
I passed an old UN checkpoint in Sinai not far from the border with Israel.

I arrived in Taba mid afternoon and said goodbye to my two Egyptian guides. Actually I didn’t seem to recall the name of the town until I went to the Hilton Hotel which is being rebuilt. Cairo is a huge city with around 20 million people while Taba is little more than a village. There was something spooky about the place though and I couldn’t quite think what it was. The security at the Hotel was extremely rigid and I was given a very thorough search by apologetic hotel staff and police, “It’s for your protection, sir.” I was tired and dusty and decided to spend the night there even though it was a little expensive. What was it about such a small town that could be so spooky? Then I remembered – Taba is where Al Qaeda bombed the Hilton Hotel in October last year killing 28 people. The hotel is popular with Israelis who live just across the border in Eilat; they come to gamble at the casino in Taba, as gambling is illegal in Israel.

I went to Eilat today (Sunday 3rd April) through first the Egyptian border and then the Israeli border. The queue at the Egyptian side was very long and they searched me thoroughly even making me take off my shoes to go thorough a metal detector screen. Somewhat surprisingly the Israeli immigration was much less thorough and did not even look inside the bag I was carrying. I had been apprehensive as I had an old Iraqi banknote in my wallet with a picture of Saddam Hussein on it. Luckily they did not look. The Israeli immigration staff are largely young females – in their early twenties. I passed through without too much fuss and tried to walk to Eilat which I though was a few hundred metres away. Actually it is about 7 kilometres. I ended up getting a taxi, which cost 20 shekels (about $5.00). The town of Eilat is like Taba only bigger, population about 5,000, with lots of hotels and shops and an airport which is amazingly enough right in the centre of the town.

I spent a few hours in Eilat before returning to Taba. There seemed little sign of any animosity between Israelis and Egpytians although of course my visit to both towns was very brief. I hope to visit the West Bank and Jerusalem later, which may be a different story. We will see.

I spent an hour or so watching the 27 channels I have in my hotel room. This is Egypt remember but they don’t seem to have any Islamic channels like Al Jazeera. There is a distinct pro Western feel to the TV here with lots of adverts for cosmetics and consumer goods. CNN is available as is BBC `prime` and Sky news. There is a station called MBC which while in Arabic featured a miniskirted presenter – hardly traditional Islamic female dress. There were European channels, German, French and `Euronews`. There were many American movies with Arabic subtitles. There were several Israeli channels, as you would expect due to the proximity to Israel. There was teletext available on CNN but not on BBC `prime` - which is something I haven’t seen before. There was Keifer Sutherland in `24` with Arabic subtitles and a music channel called `Melody Hits`. There seemed to be Eastern European channels including one that looked like the Romanian version of `Blind Date`. There was one that sounded like Swedish and a German version of `Big Brother`. TV5 Orient, which is French, was there but only one that looked in any way Islamic which I think was Al Arabiya. I’m pretty sure Al Jazeera wasn’t there.

The part of the world I am in now is a crossroads with 4 countries, Egypt, Israel, Jordan and Saudi Arabia all cheek by jowl at the Gulf of Aqaba. It was all a bit confusing to me and I’m sure even Dr K would have been puzzled. Can it really be 30 years since his `shuttle diplomacy` when he was US secretary of State under Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford?

What is the future for the region? I will investigate and keep you updated on my thoughts and observations.



Salam (peace) from Taba, Egypt.

7 labelled photos are attached.




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