EGYPT: A Fleetwood, a wedding and an uneasy peace
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The Cadillac Fleetwood was parked out front; the ladies were going to a wedding. The driver, dressed in gray, waited in sunlight. The limo was polished but the black paint had lost a bit of luster. The chrome was speckled with age. Scratches had been touched up, dents hammered out flush so you could barely notice. It was an aging, cared for, loved car, the kind kept under a tarp, or in a garage with a sturdy roof. One of the ladies mentioned that it once belonged to President Anwar Sadat. It carried him to state functions and one could imagine the ex-military officer, heavy in his ribbons and medals, his hat on his knee, sitting in the back, looking out the window, perhaps discussing peace with Israel or what to do in Sudan. The limo had been sold out of the government fleet years ago and turned into a car for hire, a novelty for weddings, parties and anniversaries. The ladies slipped in, the seats still plush, like the seats in an old movie house hanging on to that last shred of opulence. The driver closed the doors. The car, like a boat, sailed down the narrow street beneath the palms, swinging widely around the corner.
It’s been 30 years since Sadat traveled to Israel. He stood before the Knesset and declared it was time to stop the bloodshed: ‘There are moments in the lives of nations and peoples when it is incumbent upon those known for their wisdom and clarity of vision to survey the problem, with all its complexities and vain memories, in a bold drive toward new horizons,’ he said. ‘Those who like us are shouldering the same responsibilities entrusted to us are the first who should have the courage to make determining decisions that are consonant with the magnitude of the circumstances. We must rise above all forms of obsolete theories of superiority, and the most important thing is never to forget that infallibility is the prerogative of God alone.’
His gesture was reviled across much of the Arab world; he was assassinated two years after signing the 1979 Camp David Peace Accords. It has never really felt like peace in the Middle East, and like Sadat’s limo, it is more difficult to patch up the nicks, scratches and failures, along with the empty words of fanatics and politicians alike.
— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo
