Correspondents' Correspondence Hero's Welcome
LIPPMAN, SYDNEY COFFIN
Hero's Welcome Cairo—Even though the Egyptian government decreed five days in advance that President Anwar Sadat would receive a rousing welcome on his return home last month from the conference at...
...His words echoed the maxim current in Cairo that the Saudis or Libyans or almost whatever Arabs are being discussed are willing to fight the Israelis down to the last Egyptian...
...The man who made the decision for the October War is the only man who could bring peace to Egypt and go to Camp David," said Mohammed Lutfi, a minor government official in Cairo...
...When we have peace, all of that will be beautiful," said my driver, Sal-ah El Saved, pointing to a shabbv row of apartment buildings and then to the dirt and refuse in the streets...
...They want us to be ready to fight the Israelis, but we do not want to fight anymore...
...They welcome Sadat's success because they expect it to bring them better housing, more money and meat on the table...
...God does not order us to fight if there is any other way to regain our land...
...Could we win that much territory in a war with Israel...
...And, indeed, Sadat's insistence on standing in an open car for his jubilant return from the United States was worrisome to his security men who could not possibly check every balcony and vantage point...
...Truckloads of Egyptians chanting "Ya Sadat, ya Sadat" were transported to the parade route between Cairo airport and Sadat's residence in Giza, but tens of thousands of others flocked onto the streets on their own to greet their President...
...We want peace and then we will have the money to be free and to walk upright like men, instead of begging for help...
...Although the euphoria is not quite as heady as it was just after Sadat's trip to Jerusalem last year, most Egyptians equate peace with Israel with prosperity at home...
...For those who are skeptical about peace, Islam is the religion," Sheikh Abu Bakr Nasr, an employee of the Ministry of Religious Endowments, said in the newspaper...
...It just won't happen that wav...
...With the push toward peace based entirely on Sadat's will and personality, his removal would be disastrous to what the people see as the only hope for a better life in this country where the annual per capita income is only $279...
...We are cheering the apostle of peace who restored to us and to Israel and the whole world security, hope and peace in a new era," Abu Bakr Al Tu-haimy, a waiter, told the newspaper Al Akhbar...
...The real danger is that the people will thmk we'll have peace in December and prosperity in January," said one...
...They, too, will be put on an even keel by the money that will no longer be needed for the military, he said...
...He proved that he is a first-class international politician...
...It's a great achievement to regain our lands without war...
...N\ dm v Coi i is 1 iit-vi vs...
...He dismisses the Saudis with a wave of the hand and says they want to keep the Egyptians as supplicants doing their bidding in exchange for handouts...
...Another favorite complaint of his is the lurching city buses with their permanent list to the right from the mass of humanity perpetually clutching the doorways...
...Layla Amin, a hairdresser, tells her clients she is worried the Palestinians or the Libyans might try to assassinate Sadat...
...There are Egyptians, however, who fear the anger Sadat has stirred in other Arab countries by his commitment to negotiating with the Israelis...
...Hero's Welcome Cairo—Even though the Egyptian government decreed five days in advance that President Anwar Sadat would receive a rousing welcome on his return home last month from the conference at Camp David, the outpouring of good will here seemed to be genuine and deeply felt...
...But, Salah, I asked him, what about the Arab countries that say Sadat is a traitor...
...We have fought enough for 30 years...
...No, not in a million years," declared a young Egyptian journalist...
...What about your friends in Saudi Arabia who have reacted unfavorably to the agreements reached at Camp David...
...We don't want their handouts...
...But a more immediate fear has been voiced by Egyptian commentators who have seen the national mood go from wild enthusiasm last November to disappointment and an\ietv this summer, and now to hope and optimism that peace and the good life will soon be at hand...
Vol. 61 • October 1978 • No. 21
