When Egyptian Minister of Foreign Affairs Badr Abdelatty repeatedly used the word “perseverance” at a breakfast he hosted for journalists and media personnel, he was not just articulating what drives his actions and constant travel.
Instead he was expressing the current state of Egyptian diplomacy amidst the most critical challenges in Egypt’s modern history. In my opinion, this perseverance – along with wise diplomacy – is necessary to move from the stagnation seen in some issues.
Abdel-Aty infused a new spirit amidst a chessboard where only the drums of war and the trumpets of conflict could heard.
Our issues have become complicated, extending across all our strategic borders, as if dangers had converged in a moment of extreme complexity and also depravity in a world that has deviated from organizing principles and the history of international justice after World War II.
Were it not for this perseverance, there would not have been a Gaza reconstruction plan that imposed itself on the world to which international wisdom from the West, Asia, and the Islamic world responded.
An Egyptian project has become an Arab project confronting the plans of Trump and the Zionists in Tel Aviv to displace the Palestinians.
Were it not for perseverance, Egypt would not have returned to the Nile Basin Initiative, to be at the heart of its water interests, and involved in any arrangements concerning the basin, shortening the distances between the downstream state in the north and the south that sees itself as the south.
Were it not for perseverance, there would not have been movement in our African continent for Egypt to return to it, backed with the strength of its geography and the weight of civilization, through the language of common interests.
It is Africa’s gateway to the world, and to the Mediterranean and the European continent. We have returned to be on the ground, consolidating our relations with our southern strategic depth.
Were it not for this perseverance, we would have languished in cycles of waiting, and forgotten the strategic weight of the great Egypt that “sells politics and buys economics,” as political analyst Mostafa al-Feki says.
When presence is established, moments of absence are erased, as location, history and regional responsibility have been imposed since life settled in the lands of the Nile River.
Were it not for perseverance, the tone of the Trump administration – obsessed with deals at the expense of peoples and rights – would not have changed and returned to a seemingly rational discourse, while acknowledging the hostility of others and the persistence of their illusions.
Were it not for perseverance, the Arabs would not have rallied again and clung to their primary cause.
Egyptian clarity is what moved everyone, especially amid the clouds of doubt that circulated in Arab streets regarding official positions on the displacement of an Arab people!
If such perseverance and synergy between our diplomacy and state institutions and agencies continues, as we did within the Gaza reconstruction plan, then Egypt will play its true role in the region.
The duty of stability in the region therefore requires continuity, and as such this is Egypt’s destiny – no matter the calamities or misfortunes it may face.
Author’s bio:
Alaa Al-Ghadrify has been the Editor-in-Chief of Al Masry Al Youm newspaper since October 2023, and the Executive Editor-in-Chief at ONA Media Group since 2016.
He is also an opinion writer in Al-Watan newspaper and Masrawy website, and an advisor at the Egypt Media Forum.
He further serves as a lecturer in television journalism and in-depth journalism for postgraduate studies at the Faculty of Mass Communication at Cairo University.
He worked as Editor-in-Chief of CBC Extra channel, which he founded, as former Managing-Editor of Al Watan newspaper, and former Executive Editor-in-Chief of its website.
He also co-founded the Al Masry Al Youm newspaper, the Al Watan newspaper, and the Al Ashera Masaan program on Dream TV channel, and was the Head of Program Editing at Alhurra channel.
