Egypt and Israel Celebrate 20 Years of Peace and Agricultural Cooperation
by Simon Griver
The Joint Agricultural Committee Egypt-Israel held a special session during the Agritech Exhibition in Haifa in September, 1999, to mark 20 years since the signing of the Camp David Peace Treaty between the two countries. Speakers from both Egypt and Israel spoke of the diverse achievements in agricultural cooperation in such areas as professional training, introducing new crops and combating pests and diseases and looked forward to enhanced cooperation in the new millennium.
Mr. Mohamed Abdel Aziz Bassiouny, Ambassador of the Arab Republic of Egypt to Israel, recalled how the late President Anwar Sadat and the late Prime Minister Menahem Begin were courageous leaders who changed the course of history.
"President Sadat and Prime Minister Begin are probably looking down on us today," said Mr. Bassiouny, "and thinking: please maintain the momentum of cooperation in agriculture."
Generals make war," he added, "and politicians make peace and you people make life better for all of us. You take the diseases out of animals and plants. You take salt out of water and dryness out of the desert."
Haim Divon, Deputy Director General of Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Head of MASHAV, the Center for International Cooperation, brought personal greetings from Foreign Minister David Levy and described the session as a milestone in Egyptian-Israeli relations. "Where else other than agriculture," he said, "can you identify so much progress between our two countries. And we are still going strong."
Mr. Divon said that he felt privileged that Egypt had asked Israel to be a partner in the Mubarak Program aimed at resettling university graduates in the Western Desert. He observed that MASHAV, in cooperation with the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture and the Government of Denmark (through their cooperation program DANIDA), provides training programs to nearly 2,000 Egyptian agriculturalists involved in the Mubarak Program.
Mr. Divon recalled his last visit to Egypt. "The quality and quantity of the crops now grown in Egypt are exactly the same as we have here in Israel," he said. "Thank you for enabling us to work together."
"But 20 years is just a beginning," he added. "We must keep the momentum going. We are committed to continue working together. Egypt and Israel are building peace from the bottom up, and in the spirit of the new era of peace after the signing of the Sharm El-Sheikh Memorandum, I hope to have a ceremonial opening of the new irrigation demonstration unit established in the Maryut International Training Center in Nubariya, Egypt."
Eng. Fouad Abu Hadab, the Egyptian co-chairman of the Joint Agricultural Committee, spoke of the benefits that Egyptian-Israeli agricultural cooperation has brought. "We have both benefited from each other's expertise, experience and technology transfer," he said. "Many of us have been able to build close personal friendships with Israelis and together, hand in hand, we are making the Middle East a part of a world worth living in."
Prof. Samuel Pohoryles, the Israeli co-chairman of the Joint Agricultural Committee, described Egyptian-Israel agricultural cooperation as a prototype for Israeli cooperation with the Palestinians and Jordanians. He recollected his own personal involvement in 20 years of agricultural cooperation and joint endeavors.
"We can all be proud of ourselves," he commented. "And we look forward to a strengthened relationship in the future."
The festive session took place during the Agritech Exhibition in Haifa, the triennial showcase of what Israel has to offer in the field of agricultural technology. More than 8,000 overseas visitors from 120 countries attended the four-day event and saw Israel's state-of-the-art developments in such topics as irrigation and water management, greenhouse technology, fertilizers, plant protection and plant and animal propagation.
Mr. Reuven Azar, First Secretary in the Israel Embassy in Cairo, reported that a delegation of 140 Egyptians had attended Agritech. "It is important to note," he observed, "that 55 of the Egyptian delegates are from the private sector. Hard work at government level has made this possible."
Mr. Zvi Herman, Director of the Center for International Agricultural Development Cooperation (CINADCO) of the Israeli Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, also emphasized the manner in which agricultural cooperation was cementing peace through professional contacts between Israelis and Egyptians.
"Our programs are based on people-to-people contacts," he said, "through which we exchange views for the benefit of agricultural and rural development."
For much of the session, professionals and academics from both countries reported on the progress of a diverse range of projects. Agricultural cooperation and food security programs were initiated by the Peres Center for Peace. Dr. Oded Nir, Chief of the Ministry of Agriculture's Veterinary Services, spoke of a joint project to develop a mushroom that will improve the digestion systems of ruminants, while Prof. Hadar Yitzhak of the Hebrew University discussed the joint battle against pests and disease.
Prof. Dov Pasternak, of Ben-Gurion University and the director of MASHAV-funded IPALAC - the International Program for Arid Land Crops, spoke of the historic importance of biodiversity and the importance of introducing new crops to sub-Saharan Africa, the world's poorest region. Projects include the introduction of date palms and mulberry trees for silk worms.
"With the silk we have been able to draw from the Egyptian experience," observed Prof. Pasternak, "of introducing silk to Africa. We recently held a workshop in Cairo on the matter."
Dr. Mamdouh Riad Tadros, Undersecretary of State for Afforestation at the Egyptian Ministry of Agriculture, spoke of the Egyptian success with mulberry forests as a habitat for silk worms. "I would also invite you to see the cypress forests we have planted in the Sinai which are irrigated by sewage water."
Mr. Yitzhak Abt, a senior advisor to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and former head of CINADCO, proposed that a committee be set up to examine the possibility of planting a forest on the Israel-Egypt border in the harshest desert conditions, probably near Nizzana where underground geothermal water could be used to irrigate the forest.
"Such a forest," he said, "would be the best testimony to Israel-Egypt agricultural cooperation and what we can achieve together in making the desert green."