By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani
"CAIRO, May 26 (IPS) - The anniversary of Israel's 60th year of nationhood this month drew hearty congratulations from capitals around the world. But in Egypt, official acceptance of the Hebrew state contrasts starkly with popular disgust over Israel's continued mistreatment of the Palestinian people.
"When it comes to Israel, the position of most Arab regimes -- including Cairo -- is directly opposed to that of the people," Abdel Wahab al-Masiri, prominent historian and author of a three-volume Arabic-language encyclopaedia on Zionism told IPS. "After 60 years, the Arab public still broadly rejects Israel and its policies."......
On May 15, 1948, an estimated 750,000 Palestinians were driven out from their homes by invading Zionist forces -- often by means of terrorism. As hundreds of thousands were turned into refugees overnight, the event has been referred to ever since as "al-nakba" -- Arabic for "the catastrophe".
"Israel was, and remains to this day, founded on the criminal occupation of Palestinian land," Essam al-Arian, prominent member of Muslim Brotherhood, which controls the largest opposition bloc in Egypt's parliament, told IPS.
According to al-Masiri, Israel's foundation in 1948 "coincided with the ethnic cleansing of Palestine's original inhabitants."......
Another 30 years on, however, the peace remains a cold one. Although Egypt and Israel maintain formal diplomatic relations, vast swathes of Egyptian public opinion is still consistently outraged by Israeli policies vis-à-vis the Palestinian people.
These policies include regular military assaults on the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, usually resulting in high civilian death tolls among Palestinians, the ongoing siege of the Gaza Strip (which shares a border with Egypt), continued settlement-building on occupied Palestinian land, and efforts to "Judaise" the city of Jerusalem......
"The current negotiations will never lead anywhere," Abdel-Halim Kandil, political analyst and former editor-in-chief of opposition weekly al-Karama told IPS. "Abbas has abandoned armed resistance -- the only means of extracting concessions from Israel -- for fruitless talks."
In a stark indication of the gap between official and popular attitudes, the local independent press -- citing Israeli sources -- reported on May 11 that President Hosni Mubarak had sent a congratulatory telegram to Israeli President Shimon Perez on the occasion of the Hebrew state's anniversary.
"That Mubarak would send a letter of congratulations to Perez reveals the level of the Arab regimes' subservience to Israel," said al-Masiri......
In any event, said al-Arian, most Arab governments are hardly representative of the popular Arab will -- especially when it comes to Israel.
"These regimes represent small ruling elites that were never elected by the public," he said. "If governments were elected democratically, they -- like the people -- would most assuredly reject the state of Israel.""
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