Expert says Essam El-Erian should ‘calm down’ Cairo – Akram Ali Human rights experts have criticised remarks by Muslim Brotherhood senior official and presidential adviser Essam El-Erian in which he urged Egyptian Jews to “leave Israel and return to their country of origin.” Legal experts say El-Erian’s call has pressed the hot-button issue of right of return, and warned of opening the subject of legal compensation for properties left behind unsold.
The deputy chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood’s political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), attacked Egypt’s former president Gamal Abdel Nasser in a television interview: “What Nasser did by expelling the Jews from Egypt contributed to the occupation of other people’s land,” he said, urging the need for “the Jews to come back from Israel and reject living under an unfair, bloody and discriminatory occupation where they are tainted by war crimes against humanity.”
El-Erian later wrote in a post published on his page on social networking website Facebook: “The establishment of a Jewish home in Palestine was not only the fulfilment of a Zionist hope, but also served the colonising powers’ interests.” He concluded: “Economic and scientific developments have reduced the west’s need for an alien, intruding, settling and occupying entity in a world that is free from similar occupations. Be optimistic: victory is ours, the return of Palestinians to Haifa, Yafa and Akka is imminent and the people’s hopes for the Palestinian state will be achieved after the illusion of authority under occupation has been broken.”
Hafez Abu Seeda, the director of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights told Arabstoday that El-Erian’s remarks “suggest secret talks or agreements to resolve the Palestinian issue at Egypt’s expense, because stating it otherwise would indicate an unusual ignorance of history.” He continued, “El-Erian’s call for the Jews’ return entails the opening of the compensations dossier expelled by Nasser. The emigration of the Jews from Egypt took place during the Second World War and was organised by the Jewish Agency.” He continued, “The right of return that El-Erian spoke of is rejected by Israel with total finality, and therefore the subject must have been introduced to justify the resolution of the Palestinian issue at the Egyptians’ expense, either by the return of individuals or the swapping of territories,” he said, adding “this scenario is being realised now and our grip on Sinai is loosening, security-wise.”
Ahmed El-Rashidi, a professor of International Law at Cairo University also criticised El-Erian’s comments in an interview with Arabstoday:  “If it is proven that the state seized Egyptian Jews’ property, as the Brotherhood leader said, the state will be obliged to pay a large amount of money in compensation. This comes at a time when the Egyptian economy is suffering a genuine crisis that is threatening the country with collapse.” He added, “The figures around President Morsi must calm down and learn more about politics, because most of their public statements cause problems in this country.” El-Rashidi marked the next period of Egypt’s history as defining moment: “all political forces know this and they must calm down and band together to help Egypt stand back up after its fall. Afterwards, whoever rules, will rule in accordance with the peoples’ will.”