Hosni Mubarak
From AICbackground
Hosni Mubarak
President of Egypt
Quotes
"Poverty has existed throughout history and in every place. The root of the problem is injustice which leads to fundamentalism." -'Haaretz' December 21, 1994
"It is incumbent upon us to gradually limit any possibilities of armed conflicts among countries and groups of different kinds. Consequently, the urgent need arises to rid the entire world of the threat of nuclear weapons and all weapons of mass destruction, weapons considered to be the ultimate armed force and lethal threat against human civilization." - Speech by President Hosni Mubarak on the Occasion of the Signing of the African Nuclear Weapons Free Zone Treaty (ANWFZ), Cairo, April 11,1996
"Telling the truth is the shortest way to persuasion."
"A coalition grouping a select number of countries must not be formed since that will not permit decisive and collective international action against terrorism. It would be better to hold an international conference against terrorism under the auspices of the United Nations to adopt binding resolutions for all the countries of the world." Interview, Al-ahram, September 15, 2001.
Background Information
You were born on May 4, 1928, in Kafr el Moseilha, into an upper middle class family. Your father worked in the Ministry of Justice as inspector of local factories. After a normal secondary education, you graduated from the Egyptian Military Academy in February 1949. Pursuing a career in the military, you joined the air force in 1950, and became air force chief of staff in 1969, and commander in chief in 1972. Under your leadership, the Egyptian Air Force was able to hold its own and provide air support for much of the 1973 Arab-Israeli war. Indeed, you often are given credit for the Egyptian Army's success in that conflict. You had several military positions under President Sadat, like deputy minister of war, and you were one of his closest advisors. On May 16, 1975, Sadat appointed you Vice President of Egypt.
In 1981, after Sadat's assassination by Moslem fundamentalists, you became President of Egypt. You declared on your inauguration that you would follow the political line of Sadat, which had been one of reconciliation with the West, and peace with Israel inside internationally recognized borders. You have been reelected president by an overwhelming majority of the votes in October 1987, 1993, and then again September 26, 1999.
Since you came to power in 1981, economic growth has been relatively rapid. A significant contributor to this growth has been massive military and economic aid from the United States, the OECD countries, and the World Bank.
You were able to rapproche yourself to the Arab world while at the same time upholding the Camp David peace process and maintaining a close relationship with the U.S. In 1982, you announced Egypt's support for Palestinian self- determination, and you risked your relation with Israel by recalling the Egyptian ambassador from Tel Aviv due to the Palestinian camp massacre. By the year 1989, you were the leading statesman of the Middle East, and the champion of Yassir Arafat and his organization. Major shifts occurred throughout the Arab states towards your reconciliatory view towards Israel. In 1989, you proposed a ten - point plan for elections in the occupied West Bank, but the proposal was turned down.
In 1993, you played an important role in the acceptance of an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement, that included the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza Strip and Jericho, in the occupied West Bank, and self rule for the Palestinians in Gaza and Jericho.
In 1995, you visited Jerusalem after the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin. The replacement of the labor government of Rabin by the conservative government of newly elected Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu turned out to have catastrophic consequences for the condition of peace process in the Middle East. You and other Arab leaders united to urge the new government to stand to its commitments. You visited the United States several times in 1996, urging President Clinton to pressure Netenyahu for change in politics. However, Netenyahu didn't respond positively to many situations. Angered by the behavior of Netenyahu's refusal to be the bridge between Israel, Palestine, and the Arab states, you returned partially to the narrow anti-American, anti-Israeli nationalism of Nasser.
Egypt may actually have regressed over the past few years. In the mid-1990s, Egypt was a hot emerging market in the region. Your government signed off on the revival of the stock exchange in the early 1990s and large private businesses made a comeback. Hope of more reforms started to stir. But your government's commitment to economic liberalization faded due to your aging and your worry about your weakening power base. Challenged by Islamic militants, you clung to an overvalued currency and resisted privatization measures that would jeopardize employment. Since then, the Egyptian private sector has been mired in what seems a never-ending recession. The stock market, which peaked in February, 1997, has plunged by close to 70%.
You have also opted for the status quo in politics. While the influence of Parliament has grown, you still hold most of the real power in the country. Some analysts believe you have used the threat of terrorism as an excuse for tightening the screws on groups promoting human rights and democracy. One prominent case was that of Egyptian-American sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who was given a stiff seven-year jail sentence for accepting European Union funds to monitor elections without government permission. Ibrahim recently received a reprieve when an Egyptian court released him and ordered a retrial--after a strong protest from the Bush Administration.
Egypt's best hope for a way out of the current mess looks to be the your son, Gamal Mubarak. Gamal is a former executive with Bank of America, and has taken over your the National Democratic Party and is giving it a thorough housecleaning. He has recruited 120 leading lights from business and academia to "a higher policy committee" of the party and held a brainstorming session to come up with ideas for tackling the country's ills. Among the priorities: empowering women, improving education, lowering taxes, and eliminating bureaucratic obstacles to exports. However, you deny that your son is being groomed to succeed you. But the prospect bothers many Egyptians who like to think their country is more sophisticated than the thuggish regime in Syria, which replaced Hafez Al Assad with his son Bashar in 2000. You believe that Egypt can be a strong force in achieving peace between Israel and the Palestinians in addition to its Arab neighbors. Relations with Israel have been sourly strained as a result of the violence of the current Intifada that broke out in 2000. You are a strong supporter of the Palestinian people and believe that Israel has used a disproportionate amount of force in the territories in response to suicide bombings. As a result, you recalled the Egyptian ambassador to Israel and only returned him following Yasir Arafat�s death in late 2004.
You have sent your intelligence chief many times to be a mediator between the Palestinian resistance groups and Israel. You would like to see Egypt brokering a ceasefire between the two sides and a return to the negotiating table. In addition, you support Prime Minister Sharon�s plan to disengage from the Gaza Strip and Northern West Bank in mid-2005. You have agreed to help train Palestinian security forces, and have further agreed to have Egypt play a role in the Gaza Strip following the anticipated Israeli withdrawal.
You see peace in the Middle East as an important goal for Egypt and the international world. As a leader in the Arab world, you believe Egypt can lead the Arab world by helping to broker a peace deal, and being a bridge to the United States, with which you maintain strong ties. You understand that as a result of peace with Egypt and Israel, Egypt is the recipient of a significant amount of foreign and military aid from the United States and also maintains a strong economic relationship with the U.S.
You believe that with the help of Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian territories can eventually achieve peace based on a two-state solution and an Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. In addition, you would like to see an end to the Intifada and a return to the negotiating table. You will continue to state that you strongly support the Palestinians in their self-determination, and are sure that you can be a positive factor in the development of peace and a Palestinian state.
