Blacks Have Long Been Involved in Egypt

In 1950 the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded its Peace Prize to the first non-White, African-American and United Nations (UN) official Ralph Bunche. Dr. Bunche sanctioned the "Middle East Problem" and won the Prize for mediations he held between Arabs and Jews in the Israeli-Arab war in 1948-1949 and agreements he brought about between the new state of Israel and four of its Arab neighbors: Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria.

The events unfolding now in Egypt are the latest example of Black leaders have been co-opted in dubious imperialists' deals. Settling Egyptian protests requires the U.S. to be "the honest broker" it has never been as each U.S. administration since World War II has dealt with Arab-Israeli conflicts.

Egypt is a North African country whose governments have a history of protecting Western powers' interests in the region. For six decades Egypt has played a vital strategic and symbolic role in world settings protecting Colonialist Countries' interests in the region. Beginning with Bunche, Blacks were played for rubes, bamboozled every step of the way. To appease the demonstrators, and really earn his claim to a Noble Peace Prize, Obama will have to change ways the U.S. has traditionally played the region's people of color.

In Noble Peace Prize ruse 2 in 1978, it was awarded to Muhammad Anwar El Sadat. Anwar El Sadat was a Black man who served as Egypt's third President, from October 1970 until his assassination October 1981. Surely, Sadat was "played" in the Camp David Accords. Sadat's negotiations with Israel and the ensuing Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty were vastly unpopular amongst Arabs, resulting in his assassination and Egypt's suspension from the Arab League. Many say Sadat was "used" in establishment of the state of Israel and the $1.5 billion Egypt is paid by the U.S.

Light-skinned Ralph Bunche was too used by the West. Bunche believed that the Palestinian Arabs were the big losers in the conflict, and that the agreements he negotiated sealed the fate of the UN's plan for an independent Palestinian state. The Palestinians were played as punks as the Israelis kept almost all land they conquered. Israel had expanded from the UN-allocated 55 percent of British ruled Palestine to 79 percent. Bunche thought that the armistice agreements were intended as the basis for peace negotiations within a year, but these never took place. The UN and the U.S. called for the rights of the Palestinian refugees to return to their homes, this never happened. Their fate remains the World's No. 1 unsolved problem.

In 2009, President Barack Obama became the latest Black victim in the Nobel Peace Prize stunt. In a move widely seen as being primarily a rebuke of his predecessor, the choice was seen as reversing many of his predecessors' unilateral policies. Now is the time for Obama to support the Egyptians by moving away from the imperialistic roles and guidelines the U.S. has used; and reaching out to the Arab & Islamic worlds by addressing the core issue in the region: bringing the Israelis and Palestinians into serious, fruitful negotiations.

Anti-Mubarak protestors are simply "sick-and-tired" of decades of American-supported shenanigans in their country. Rather than rush to label whomever the American establishment calls "terrorists", Black Americans would do well to develop a knowledgeable grasp of the history behind today's issues. Britain's Foreign Secretary says that the Egyptian unrest "underlines the need to drive ahead with the Middle East peace process. I hope that it underlines to Israeli leaders the need to do that." It's time to stray away from the White-controlled media and its typical White-American racist conservative mindset always ready to believe that the U.S. only fights for good causes. In reality, many of the world's Muslims view the U.S. as a hostile and oppressive force that blindly supports Israel at the expense of the legitimate rights of Palestinians, and that the current US's "war against global terrorism" is actually a war against Islam. Obama must break from traditions of decades of "double standards", and engage in respectful ways with moderate Arabs & Islamics.

 

William Reed is available for speaking/seminar projects via BaileyGroup.org