Ice Cream and Israeli Tanks

Well, American tanks really, but who’s counting. That’s right! Smack dab in the middle of Cairo lies this vintage M60 A1 Patton tank, courtesy of the Chrysler corporation.

What precipitated this ice-cream eating, tank-exploring adventure? A visit to the 1973 October War Panorama, of course! Built with the help of North Korean artists, this particular panorama describes the epic Egyptian victory over their arch-nemesis, Israel.

To give a little background, it was Friday in Cairo, shops were closed, people were praying, and traffic was light. Thus, a few friends and I decided to hit Egypt’s equivalent of the Smithsonian, the October War Panorama. To sum up the Egyptian-Israeli conflict in as few sentences as possible, Egypt is angry with Israel (although less angry now than before), Israel is defensive and at times, pompous, and the US has sent or is currently sending guns to both sides. Israel pulled a major military hat trick in 1967 that allotted all sorts of new (formerly Egyptian) real estate. In 1973, Egypt struck back with a surprise attack across the Red Sea, capturing some territory and eventually bringing the Israelis to the negotiating table. Ever since, Israel has been a great way for Egypt to deflect internal criticism, with most Egyptians lulled into believing that the invisible Israeli hand is behind everything. My favorite quote came from a taxi driver after several days of (highly unusual) rain in Cairo, “How about this rain? I’m pretty sure the Israelis are testing some sort of new weapon.” You get the idea. Florida’s middle-schoolers go on field trip to Sea World, Egyptian middle-schoolers go to the Panorama.

The Panorama itself is a monument to old school nationalism and supremacy of the state. I mean, the panorama was designed by artists employed by Kim Jong Il, the guy in North Korea who’s busy stockpiling nukes and building statues of himself while his people starve. Upon entering the Panorama, one is face to face with statues of brave, Egyptian soldiers and captured Israeli hardware. While the M101 Howitzer and M48 Patton tanks were interesting, I found the concession stand to be the real draw, what with their $.20 ice cream bars and cardboard cutouts of Gamal Abdel Nassar and Anwar Sadat (former Egyptian presidents.) After purchasing a delicious chocolate and almond bar, I headed over to the massive, 46 ton piece of steel sitting on its concrete display stand.

Had you asked me a year ago what I’d be doing in twelve months I can assure you this wouldn’t have been my answer.

After taking the obligatory pictures in and around the tank, we headed into the Panorama, a huge, revolving scene comprised of intricate paintings and the careful addition of actual military hardware. My friends, about fifty Egyptians, and I spend about twenty minutes revolving around gripping battle scenes narrated by a deep-voiced, stirring commentator. “Egyptian forces stormed across the Bar Lev! Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar! The courageous soldiers forced a swift retreat of the cowardly Israelis!” Pretty much one sided. Sweet talking the curator in Egyptian colloquial got us a little extra time to photograph the Panorama and mill about. Getting the VIP treatment inside a panorama built by North Koreans, depicting the defeat of Israeli forces supplied by the US struck me as fairly bizarre, but we were happy to get the celebrity treatment. The curators didn’t seem to mind and were eager to show us the fine points of the exhibit and the section where only Mubarak, Egypt’s president, is allowed to sit. About fifteen minutes of photography later we headed out to the tarmac and toured the A4’s, AMX 13’s, M109’s, and other massive, captured weapons.

All in all, the Panorama trip was great. Picked up a few insights into Egypt’s nationalist past and got some great pictures sitting on tanks made in Detroit.

Thanks again to the Gilman scholarship for making all this possible – I’m telling you, go down to the CIE, pick a country, and go abroad. More shenanigans coming, shalo….ma’a sallema!