By Michael S. Arnold
Special to the Pageant News Bureau NICOSIA, CYPRUS — Each contestant in the Miss Universe Pageant serves as a sort of ambassador for her country and hopes to convey a particular message.
For Miss Lebanon, Norma Naoum, the message she wishes to spread is one of peace.
"It's a small world here in the pageant. Sometimes you meet a girl from a faraway country but she becomes your friend," Naoum said. "I learned so much in this competition, such as respecting others and what their opinions are."
Her tolerance, however, seems not to extend to Miss Israel, Nirit Bakchi, with whom Ms. Naoum refuses to speak, apparently under orders of her government. Lebanon for years was part one of the Arab nations that refused to countenance any reconciliation with the Jewish state. As recently as this winter, Lebanese officials stopped a shipment of computers from entering the country because, like most of the computers in the world, they were powered by Intel microchips, and Intel has established a factory in Israel. The government relented only when opponents argued that such policies would relegate Lebanon to the dark ages while the rest of the world becomes increasingly computerized.
In recent years, Lebanon has begun to recover from the devastating civil war that ravaged the country from 1975 to 1990. During that time, the country became a haven for Palestinian groups that used the south of the country as a launching pad for attacks on northern Israel. In response to these attacks, Israel invaded Lebanon in 1978 and again in 1982, an incursion that led to the gates of Beirut and the massacre of Palestinians in the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps by Lebanese Christian militias. Much of the international community blamed Israel for the massacres because, as the occupying power in the region, it did not prevent them.
Since then, Israel has occupied a 9-mile deep "security zone" in southern Lebanon, meant to protect northern Israeli towns from terrorist attacks and rocket fire. Prime Minister Ehud Barak has pledged to withdraw Israeli troops from Lebanon by July 7. Yet in recent months, Israeli attacks on Lebanese power stations, in response to the killing of Israeli soldiers and civilians in guerrilla attacks launched from south Lebanon, have caused power outages in Beirut and other cities.
"I think things will be better for our country after July 7," Ms. Naoum said.
Hizbullah and other fundamentalist groups backed by Iran and Syria, who have portrayed themselves as freedom fighters against the Israeli occupation, have refused to say whether they will cease attacking Israel once it withdraws to the international border. Israel has said it will respond strongly to any attacks after the withdrawal.
As Israel prepares to withdraw, a few Lebanese journalists have dared to criticize as well the presence of 30,000 Syrian troops in the country and the infiltration of Syrian agents at virtually every level of Lebanese politics and bureaucracy. Syria is believed to consider the perpetuation of the Lebanon-Israel conflict as its primary leverage to force Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights, which it conquered following Syrian attacks at the start of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
Before the civil war, Lebanon was the most prosperous and cosmopolitan of the Arab states, referred to as the "Paris of the Middle East." Along with Israel and Egypt, it is one of the few Middle East countries that have traditionally sent representatives to Miss Universe.
Ms. Naoum, 22, a member of Lebanon's Maronite Christian minority, grew up in Beirut while the civil war raged. Soon she hopes to finish her law studies.
"Many girls here think Lebanon is still at war, they think it's not safe to walk in the streets because someone will kill me," Naoum said. "It's not like that at all. I want to tell them more about my culture and my country. It's not just war, war, war."
While many Israelis argue that the key to peace is direct contact between civilians -- who can overcome the demonizing images spread by politicians and media to forge grass-roots links leading to real reconciliation -- even countries such as Egypt and Jordan that have signed peace agreements with Israel remain opposed to "normalization" with the Jewish state.
On Thursday, Ms. Naoum and a Lebanese friend greeted well-wishers while, barely a meter away, Ms. Bakchi sat talking in Hebrew to a few Israeli journalists. After Ms. Naoum made it clear earlier in the month that she did not want to have any contact with Ms. Bakchi, Ms. Bakchi has given up trying to establish a friendship.
"Leave her alone," Ms. Bakchi told Israeli reporters who wanted to interview Ms. Naoum. "I don't want to create problems for her."
Ms. Naoum dismissed questions as to whether peace was best promoted by ignoring or by getting to know each other.
"I'm not here for a holiday, I'm here representing my country," the Lebanese beauty said. "A ban on contacts with Israelis is my government's opinion, which I have to respect, and it's also my conviction. I'm not the prime minister. I'm not here to talk peace and politics." By Michael S. Arnold
Special to the Pageant News Bureau NICOSIA, CYPRUS — The streets are decked with posters promoting the Miss Universe Pageant, and from time to time the contestants themselves appear on the streets, turning heads and winning appreciative nods from the residents of this hot, dusty Mediterranean capital.
Excitement is mounting in Nicosia in advance of Saturday morning’s competition, although because of the hour 4 to 6 a.m., so it can be carried live in New York most residents won’t get to see it. Instead, Cypriot television was broadcasting Friday night's final dress rehearsal in prime time, and showing the actual pageant Saturday night, hours after the new Miss Universe has been crowned. According to local Cyprus Broadcasting Corp. radio host Mario Calotychos, the benefits of the pageant, easily the biggest event Cyprus has ever staged, already are apparent. “This has done wonders for tourism to Cyprus, especially from America,” Calotychos said. “Before this, most Americans probably didn’t even know where Cyprus was on the map.”
Local officials say tourism this year is up 8 percent over last. Indeed, the streets of downtown Nicosia are crowded with tourist buses that further complicate already chaotic traffic patterns.
One of the reasons pageant organizers chose Cyprus is its claim as the home of Aphrodite, the goddess of love in ancient Greek mythology. A cave on the island’s northwest coast is reputed to be her birthplace, and lovelorn Cypriot women often make pilgrimages there to ask Aphrodite’s help in finding a husband.
Pageant organizers “thought it would be good to start the millennium in the place where Aphrodite was born,” Calotychos said. But not everyone is happy that Cyprus is hosting the pageant. While some of the world’s most beautiful women strut across the stage in Eleftheria Stadium on the morning of May 13, religious conservatives and local feminists will be holding a vigil in the Archangelos Church, whose graceful dome is visible in the hills behind the stadium.
The ethnic Greeks of Cyprus are overwhelmingly Orthodox Christian, while Turkish Cypriots in the north are Muslim. “The bloody priests are going ballistic,” said Calotychos, noting the protesters’ anger at the alleged exploitation of women who must parade in bathing suits and other revealing outfits in front of an eager audience.
Nor are they the only ones upset. Some locals are wondering if the estimated $10 million the government has spent on preparations for the pageant was a worthwhile investment, according to Maria Panayiotou, a reporter who has been covering the build-up to the competition for the local “Politis” (“Citizen”) newspaper.
Former foreign minister and presidential candidate George Iacovou said the increase in tourists can’t be attributed to the pageant, as the bulk of the bookings were made up to a year ago, before the pageant came on the radar screen. Only when next year’s bookings are in place will locals be able to judge if the pageant actually boosted the country’s economy significantly. “There is definitely a lot of activity taking place right now, but what I would like to know is what effect it is having overseas. That I haven’t been able to assess,” Iacovou said.
Cyprus often makes news because of political tensions between the Greek half and the Turkish enclave established by force in 1974 on the north of the island, or because of the island’s loose banking laws that make it a haven for international money launderers.
“Hopefully [with the Miss Universe contest] Cyprus can make itself known in a non-controversial, non-political way,” Iacovou said. “Any publicity that shows Cyprus is a nice and beautiful place is good for us. It gives us international recognition.”
Protesters aside, pageant staff and work crews are busily putting the finishing touches on the elaborate stage a recreation of Limassol’s ancient Kurium Amphitheatre which features a three-dimensional sky and gas flames that erupt as contestants pass by.
Yet some involved with the pageant criticize the way this year’s event has been organized. When he arrived a few weeks ago, costume designer Garland Riddle said, preparations for the pageant were about a month behind schedule, a delay he blames on the local organizing committee. An electrician who also is a veteran of several pageants said this year’s event has been plagued by logistical problems.
Some mix-ups seem to be beyond anyone’s control. For example, the electrician said, equipment that had to be sent from America was delayed because of the Easter holiday in the United States only to be delayed further because of the Orthodox Easter that fell in Cyprus a week later. Michael Arnold, a journalist based in Jerusalem, is covering the Miss Universe Pageant for the Pageant News Bureau. |
