Abdelhalim Kandil to Echorouk: “If Mubarak does not step down, millions of Egyptian protesters will march on the Presidential Palace”
Mr Abdelhalim Kandil, leader of Egypt's Kifaya (Enough) opposition movement, said in an interview with “Echorouk” that embattled President Mubarak's conciliatory offer not to serve a sixth term was not enough, stressing that his resignation was the only alternative now.
- “I will tell you very simply that there is an unprecedented popular movement that rejects the presence of the Egyptian president on a scope that has not been seen before, that is calling for the will of the people to be imposed,” Kandil said.
- If Mr Mubarak does not step down, millions of Egyptian demonstrators have planned to march on the presidential palace, he stressed.
- “Washington’s stated support for ‘political reform’ in Egypt is intended for media consumption,” Abdelhalim Kandil, prominent Egyptian opposition figure and active demonstrator, told Echorouk about the US shady and shilly-shally stand on the Egyptian popular uprising against the autocratic Mubarak regime.
- “Regardless of what it says publicly, the US — along with its best friend in the region, Israel — is keen to see the Mubarak regime remain firmly in power, he said.”
- After over a week of hemming and hawing, the Obama administration declared that Egypt’s transition to a new government “must begin now.” But many of the Egyptians at the forefront of the ongoing protests reject Washington’s stated support for political change, saying that the US — despite its democratic pretensions — has no real desire to see an end of the Israel-friendly regime in Cairo, Kandil affirmed.
- “The vast majority of those participating in the demonstrations are ordinary Egyptians fed up with the political and economic status quo,” he added.
- “We will not stop demonstrating in Cairo and elsewhere in Egypt until our demands are met hoping that the Egyptian Army will finally take sides with the millions of protesters in theit ongoing popular campaign to bring down the despotic Mubarak regime,” Abdelhalim Kandil asserted.
- “These demands include the immediate departure of the Mubarak regime; the formation of a popular committee mandated with drawing up a new national constitution; the holding of free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections; and the immediate formation of a transitional government, he explained.”
- “The Obama administration’s stated commitment to democracy pales in comparison to its commitment to Israel’s wellbeing,” said Kandil. “Washington has always pretended to support democratic reform in Egypt, but it will never bring serious pressure to bear on the ruling regime, which represents a vital aspect of Israeli security.”
- “US administrations come and go, but US Middle East policy remains the same, and the chief aspect of that policy is ensuring Israel’s perpetual domination over the region — not fostering democracy in the Arab world,” he added.
- “The Zionist lobby’s extensive control over US policymaking, coupled with the Zionist ownership of most US media, has led to a situation in which successive US administrations end up putting Israel’s interests before those of the US itself, Kandil noted.”
- “Despite statements by the White House that appear to support our uprising, we’re fully aware that the US has an interest in keeping the Mubarak regime — or something else very much like it — in control of Egypt,” “We are also aware that Washington’s primary concern is the security of Israel, which the Mubarak regime has faithfully served for the last 30 years. We therefore completely reject any US interference in Egypt’s domestic affairs, Abdelhalim Kandil pointed out.”
- “At the end of the day, the US supports the Mubarak regime because the ‘stability’ of Egypt — the biggest country in the Arab world — is in Israel’s interest,” stated Abdelhalim Kandil. “Everyone knows that Washington’s declared support for democracy in the Middle East is only for show.”
- Egypt has had diplomatic relations with the Zionist state since the signing of the Camp David peace accords in 1979. Since then, the US has provided Egypt with some $28 billion in development aid and a further $1.3 billion in annual military assistance, making Egypt the second largest recipient of US largesse after Israel, Abdelhalim Kandil recalled.
- “In return for the kindness, the Mubarak regime has continued to implement a number of policies advantageous to Israel, despite widespread public opposition. These include assisting Israel in its four-year-old siege of the Gaza Strip — which has subjected the strip’s 1.5 million people to humanitarian catastrophe — and selling Egyptian natural gas to Tel Aviv at prices lower than those at which it is sold to the poverty-stricken Egyptian public”, he stressed.
- “Many observers believe that free elections in Egypt would likely yield a dramatic reorientation of Egyptian policy vis-à-vis the self-proclaimed Jewish state — one much more in line with public opinion” he added.
- “Despite the peace treaty, most Egyptians continue to see Israel as an enemy due to its continued occupation and theft of Palestinian land and its homicidal policies against the Palestinians,” said Kandil. “A democratically-elected Egyptian government would, in accordance with the will of the Egyptian people, oppose Israel and support the Palestinian resistance — and Washington knows that.”