A New Era for Egypt and the Middle East
The Israel Palestine Mission Network (IPMN) of the Presbyterian Church (USA) joins with the world community in celebration of the dawn of a new era in Egypt. We rejoice in the resignation of Hosni Mubarak and the dismantling of his three decades-old police state, in favor of building a democratic one. The people marching in the streets of Cairo and other Egyptian cities cried out for freedom through peaceful demonstration and non-violence. The amazing truth in which we rejoice is that peace and non-violence ultimately won in this struggle for an unfettered voice among all the peoples of Egypt. We mourn the loss of life that occurred as a result of Mubarak’s final efforts to remain in power, and we pray for those who have been injured as a result. We pray also for all Christians, Muslims and Jews in a land where in unison they have sounded the cry: “Let our people go!”
The IPMN is glad to see that the U.S. government stepped up and called for a peaceful transition towards a destiny that can be decided only by hearing the voices of all Egyptians. Our network calls upon our own government leaders to now engage in a process in which the interests being served are truly those of the entire Egyptian people rather than those of a local elite or external geo-political calculations. As the U.S. demonstrates such fidelity to the principles of freedom and self-rule, we hope that this sincerity and integrity will not only be recognized and embraced in Egypt but throughout the Middle East.
We also call upon our government to be mindful of other such movements in the Middle East, as well as in other developing nations in the world, and more quickly offer the kind of support we are now offering the Egyptians. The political changes in Egypt send a clear message that military aid in billions of dollars that the U.S. can no longer afford, bought a “stability” that was in fact tyranny to another people.
It is now time for President Obama, Secretary of State Clinton, and the United States Congress to recognize that the Egyptian cry for freedom is the same cry that has been heard coming from Palestine for over half a century. Once again, the IPMN calls for an end to the illegal blockade of Gaza where millions have been living under an imprisonment imposed by collusion between Israel and the Mubarak regime, undergirded by military aid from the United States to both sides. Let us put the Palestinian struggle for self-determination into a regional and world context and acknowledge their inalienable human rights to self-determination.
The IPMN heralds the emancipation of Egypt as a clear example of a new day coming for those who have longed for peace with justice among all peoples, and especially in Israel-Palestine.