Middle East reaction to Obama - The Independent

MIDDLE EAST

Many in the Middle East welcomed the inauguration, and praised Mr Obama for reaching out to Muslims, but expressed doubts as to how much the new President will change a regional policy that has placed US's energy concerns and the security of Israel as its priorities. "I'm sure Obama will not make a change outside the United States but he's a positive person and his face shines with hope," said a reader of the daily, Al Arabiya. Such doubts have increased since the attacks on Gaza. Through the Arab world there were questions about whether President Obama would continue his predecessor's "blind support" for Israel. Arab websites were full of recommendations for him, but hardline Iranian students burnt an American flag outside the former US embassy.

Iraqis expressed mixed feelings about Mr Obama and his agenda of change. Muna Abdul-Razzaq, a 37-year-old primary school teacher in Mosul, said Iraqis have bad memories of President George Bush "who destroyed Iraq". She added: "We hope that Obama will be more responsible."

Pakinam Amer

Part of a bigger story on world reactions to the inauguration of Barack Obama as the United States 44th president: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/world-reaction-new-american-dream-shared-around-globe-1452279.html

Mixed bag for the discounters - FT

By Pakinam Amer

Published: January 3 2009 02:00 | Last updated: January 3 2009 02:00

Intense discount activity on the high street seems to be luring many Londoners into buying more than they would have in previous Christmas sales, writes Pakinam Amer.

Whether in department stores or small boutiques, prices across Oxford Street have been slashed. Gap boasted the biggest percentage discounts, of up to 75 per cent.

But in some stores, at least, more customer traffic did not necessarily mean more profit as bargain-hunters targeted only heavily discounted items. "Films such as Borat and Little Miss Sunshine, at £3 each, each sold around 200 to 300 copies every day during the past week," said an HMV store assistant of the post-Christmas shopping frenzy.

"The relatively older titles are the most popular because the promotions on them are huge, but [we] [get] almost no profits on these."

Many buyers were reluctant to pick up the newly released full-priced movies, he said. "In general, there's more traffic, but less money."

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009

Link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/cc7f88c2-d937-11dd-ab5f-000077b07658.html

(This was published with a separate box of vox pops I have done across Oxford Street, plus pictures)

Plunging pound brings joy to tourists - FT

By Pakinam Amer

Published: December 31 2008 02:00 | Last updated: December 31 2008 02:00

Behind headlines of sterling-euro parity, the British high street still offers a wide range of exchange rates as buyers and sellers haggle over the value of the currency in their pocket.

As sterling dropped to new lows yesterday, signs outside bureaux de change along London's busiest shopping street offered variations that ranged from £92 to £96.50 for €100. Several reported increased traffic from European tourists happy to take advantage of the sliding pound.

"Before they used to get £65 for a €100, now they can get up to £95," said Sanjay Arora of Eurochange on Oxford Street. "They can enjoy themselves more with the same amount of money."

"This last week there has been an increase in customers, especially tourists, and especially since Christmas," said Vinicius Maya, an employee at Fast Intertransfers. "Some try to negotiate prices but most are happy. It's almost one to one now."

But with the pound on the ropes, triumphant European visitors are haggling prices down even further to squeeze out better deals.

"That's why they prefer exchange offices to banks and post offices," said John of Star Exchange, who declined to give his surname. "Here, people negotiate and haggle - in a bank you can't," he said. He follows the latest rates on his computer, where the "prices fluctuate by the second".

"Tourists always try to negotiate - most of them bargain even though the prices are so low," agreed Raj Ram of Roundworld Trading, whose bureau is just a few yards further down Oxford Street.

But good news for tourists is crushing for Britons or anyone paid in sterling and looking to travel abroad. "For British people, well, it's a problem," said John of Star Exchange. "British people go around trying to get rates of €1.10 or even €1.50 for their pounds, but this is impossible now. It will be a miserable summer for British people if the prices remain the same."

At Christmas, British people usually bought euros, Mr Ram said, "but this is not happening this year. People are selling but not buying".

In another bureau, a European customer working in the UK was trying to find more euros for her pounds before she travelled home. The customer, who did not give her name, said that for people paid in sterling it was only getting worse. "Last week was better, but everything is changing," she said.

Maria Giraldo, a resident of London who hails from Columbia, said she was planning to go to Paris for the summer, but this might change if the exchange rate continued to worsen. "I could cancel the trip altogether," she said.

The falling pound is not only bad news for UK holidaymakers but for exchanges themselves - at least in the long run. "The holiday season will not last forever," said Margaret, retail manager at TG Money Exchange.

"It's Christmas time so naturally we get more tourists, people coming here on holiday. But we definitely have fewer British clients, and the work with tourists doesn't balance it out," she said. "We're praying for it to stay stable."

But for French tourist Ruffino Gilles,a weak pound meant a longer holiday. "It's cheaper," he said.

Analysis, Page 9

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/922c802a-d6db-11dd-9bf7-000077b07658.html

Shopping spree offers UK retailers hope - FT

By Tom Braithwaite and Pakinam Amer

Published: December 28 2008 21:52 | Last updated: December 28 2008 21:52

Shoppers have hit the high street in force in the three days since Christmas, offering some hope to retailers, many of which are struggling to stump up cash for rent bills and debt repayments.

John Lewis recorded its best day’s trading on Saturday as consumers who had avoided spending before the festive period splashed out on discounted items. The first day of the promotion saw sales of £21.3m, an increase of 7 per cent on the same day last year.

“We were thrilled,” said Patrick Lewis, retail operations director at the department store chain. “I think a lot of people had kept a little bit up their sleeve.”

Footfall data from Experian showed a 12.5 per cent increase in the number of shoppers on Boxing day as people embarked on a late spending spree, lured by deep discounts in the post-Christmas sales.

At the Harrods sale on Sunday, Melanie Arunachallam, a 32-year-old accountant, said that she was being “very careful” this year with her money. “I’m thinking a lot,” she said as she stood in the shoes section. “Shoes are my priority but I’m not paying more than £200 for a pair.”

Standing in the crowded store, she said: “It looks like people have been saving for this. I certainly have. I have bought very few things this year before Christmas because I was saving up for [the sales].”

In nearby Kensington, Heather Senior, 58, defined herself as an “impulse buyer”, as she sifted through coats in Marks and Spencer.

Mrs Senior said that in spite of the hype she had been underwhelmed by the level of discounting this year, even in Oxford Street, which she visited “to be part of the atmosphere and to see the decorations”. She said that she finished most of her shopping during the pre-Christmas sales, adding: “Anyway, I’m always cynical about sales.”

The improved mood on the high street – whether or not it can last more than a few days – has come too late for Adams, the children’s wear chain, which has filed a notice to appoint administrators.

PwC is expected to step in this week to try to sell the business as a going concern.

With rent falling due for many stores in the last few days after a disappointing pre-Christmas period, other national chains are expected to follow the likes of Adams, Zavvi and Woolworths in appointing administrators.

Retailers are already privately admitting that the traditional sales period in January is likely to be overshadowed by a raft of profit warnings from publicly listed companies and insolvencies from smaller chains.

Mr Lewis refused to draw too much optimism from one day’s bumper trading. “I would say I’m still cautious about the next six months,” he said.

Adding to the uncertainty are the Icelandic government’s plans for Baugur, the investment vehicle that has stakes in companies from Hamleys to House of Fraser.

However, in contrast to some reports, creditors to Baugur are not in favour of a fire sale of the company’s assets.

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/bc4c1036-d515-11dd-b967-000077b07658.html

Boxing day bargain hunters choosier than ever - FT

By Pakinam Amer

Published: December 27 2008 02:00
Last updated: December 27 2008 02:00

The price cuts may have been among the deepest on record, the crowds heaving but, ominously for Britain's beleaguered retailers, this year's crop of Boxing day shoppers seemed choosier than ever about parting with their cash.

Grappling with the impact of the downturn on family finances, many admitted to nothing more than curiosity about the wares on offer. Some were willing to open their wallets only for a copper-bottomed bargain, noting that the unusually large number of pre-Christmas sales had diminished the number of really good buys on offer yesterday.

Cecilia Smith, a fifty-something teacher and veteran sales shopper, vowed: "I'll only spend if there is a bargain."

Describing herself as hardwired to recognise the best deals, Ms Smith added: "I've bought something from Dorothy Perkins; it was just £3, even the cashier was surprised to see they had something for £3."

Debby King, a housewife, also appeared reluctant to spend, despite choosing to take to the crowded streets of the capital with her son relatively early on Boxing day morning.

"It comes down to what money you've got on you," she said. Food was her priority, she stressed. "After that, if you've got nothing, you've got nothing," she shrugged.

Karen and Rhianna Kang, two sisters in their early twenties who had just finished scouring Top Shop, told the Financial Times they were spending less than in past years, despite saving up specifically for a bit of post-Christmas retail therapy. Each had set a ceiling on the amount of money they would pay for a single item, no matter how strong the temptation. "I won't go over £30," said Karen. "This is my budget, and I find that most clothes are overpriced anyway this year." "Normally, I would go mad on Boxing day, but today I haven't," added Rhianna.

In Westfield, in west London, Europe's biggest shopping centre, the picture was broadly similar. A noticeable number of shoppers emerged empty-handed - despite having pushed and shoved to get across the threshhold of stores that already looked full to bursting.

"People are more cautious. I am more careful. I'm thinking before I'm buying. And I have spent probably about 30 per cent less this year," said Aneela Hafeez, who carried two bags in each hand as she stood outside Monsoon, the clothing retailer.

"At the same time last year, I'd have many more bags."

Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2008

Link: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8378dc04-d3b6-11dd-989e-000077b07658.html

Arab League envoy says indictment of Sudan's president is serious blow to peace - AP

By PAKINAM AMER
Associated Press Writer

The Associated Press
updated 9:09 a.m. ET July 15, 2008

CAIRO, Egypt - The Arab League's envoy to Sudan on Tuesday described the indictment of the country's president on genocide and other charges as a serious blow to peace efforts in Darfur.

The Egyptian diplomat, Salah Halima, told reporters at his office in Cairo that the indictment filed by a prosecutor at the International Criminal Court on Monday will have a negative impact on the stability of a region already beset by internal and cross-border conflict.

Also Tuesday, Yemen reacted strongly to the court action, the first Arab nation to publicly come to the defense of the head of Sudan's Arab-dominated government. Egypt's foreign minister also spoke out in support of Sudan's government, but elsewhere in the Arab world governments have not openly come to the defense of Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir.

Foreign ministers from the 22-nation Arab League will meet Saturday in response to a request from Sudan for an emergency session.

Yemen's leader phoned al-Bashir, and its Foreign Ministry called the indictment "a grave and unacceptable interference in Sudan's internal affairs and in the affairs of all Islamic and Arab countries."

The Arab League envoy said the court's prosecutor overstepped his jurisdiction with the charges accusing al-Bashir of orchestrating campaigns to wipe out ethnic African tribes in Darfur. Sudan is not a member of the Netherlands-based court, the world's first permanent war crimes tribunal.

In an apparent reference to the United States, Halima accused governments that have themselves refused to recognize the court of pressuring it to go after the Sudanese leader.
"There are countries with political agendas that target Sudan," he said.

Egypt's foreign minister, Ahmed Aboul Gheit, warned Tuesday of "the danger of irresponsibly approaching the situation in Sudan" and said the indictment risks destabilizing the country further.

In defense of Sudan's government, he said "many parties inside and outside Sudan bear responsibility for the suffering of civilians in the region" of Darfur.

He also called for the conflict to be resolved through diplomacy and said an international conference should be held to set out a "road map" and timeline for achieving a political settlement.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak met with U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Monday after a summit in Paris and expressed fears that the indictment would threaten efforts to reach peace between Sudan's government and numerous rebel factions, said Mubarak's spokesman, Sulieman Awwad.

International aid groups are concerned that the court's action could trigger a backlash against humanitarian groups whose work is vital for sustaining the 2.5 million people displaced since the conflict began in 2003.

The humanitarian group CARE said tension has increased in Darfur. The group has temporarily suspended the movement of its staff to sites in Darfur and in Sudan's capital, Khartoum, where it provides food and other services to more than 1 million people.

The group said it would be able to maintain essential services in the short term, though it warned that conditions in Darfur and in its camps for the displaced would quickly deteriorate unless aid groups are permitted unrestricted access.

"We call on all parties and persons in Sudan to respect the independent and humanitarian nature of our work ... and to protect our ongoing access to those people who are in need of our assistance," the group said Monday.

An Egyptian human rights research group welcomed the charges against al-Bashir, calling the court action an "important" and "just retribution for the victims of the monstrous acts committed by the Sudanese army and the janjaweed militias that enjoy the protection of the Sudanese authorities."

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies said "hunting down perpetrators of such crimes whatever their positions are, and bringing them to justice is a main step toward rebuilding peace in Sudan."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25649473/
More links: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/07/15/africa/ME-Arabs-Sudan.php
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1215330976467&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull (AP News Now)

7 peacekeepers killed in ambush in Darfur - Contribution to regional AP reporting

AP foreign, Wednesday July 9, 2008

KHARTOUM, Sudan (AP) - In a brazen attack on horseback and from SUVs mounted with anti-aircraft weapons, some 200 gumen ambushed peacekeepers from a joint U.N.-African Union force in Sudan's Darfur region, killing seven in fierce battles that lasted more than two hours, U.N. officials said Wednesday.

Twenty-two members of the U.N.-African Union force were wounded in the fighting Tuesday. Attackers outnumbered the peacekeepers by nearly three-to-one.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon's office said the joint military and police patrol was investigating the killing of civilians in North Darfur state when it was ambushed by militants driving vehicles armed with anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons.

Five Rwandan soldiers and two police officers, one from Ghana and the other from Uganda, were killed.

``We are outraged by the attack,'' Shereen Zorba, deputy spokeswoman of the U.N.-AU mission known as UNAMID, told The Associated Press.

``We are not part of the conflict, but a tool to alleviate the suffering of civilians. We try to establish some level of peace and security in the ground. But to drag us in to be part of the conflict is unjustifiable.''

Hindered by a lack of crucial equipment, including attack helicopters, the joint U.N.-AU force has struggled to fulfill its mission since deploying Jan. 1 with about 9,000 soldiers and police officers.

The force is authorized to have 26,000 members, but it is faced with chronic shortages of staff and equipment and less-than-adequate cooperation from the Sudanese government.

The peacekeepers mostly patrol the wartorn Darfur region, helping protect unarmed civilians in the many camps of the displaced and mediate between fighting factions. But they often have little access to wide swaths of the remote western Sudanese area, roughly the size of France.

The peacekeeping force has been unable to persuade the U.S. and other governments to supply attack and transport helicopters, surveillance aircraft, military engineers and logistical support it needs to safely navigate Darfur. ...

Continued at The Guardian UK http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7641484

----

Associated Press writer Mohamed Osman reported from Khartoum and Maggie Michael contributed from Cairo, Egypt. AP writers Pakinam Amer in Cairo and John Heilprin at the United Nations also contributed to this report.

Human rights groups call on Iran to end the execution of juveniles - AP

By Pakinam Amer
ASSOCIATED PRESS
1:47 p.m. July 8, 2008

CAIRO, Egypt – Human Rights Watch on Tuesday called on Iran to fulfill its promise to outlaw the execution of minors, charging it has been sending children as young as 16 to the gallows.

The New York-based human rights group, together with 23 other organizations, sounded the alarm over Iran's policy of executing those under 18, noting that four other Iranian minors are scheduled to be put to death this summer.

The juveniles in question have all been convicted of murder.

“Iran is violating international law every time it executes a juvenile offender whether or not the individual has reached 18 at the time of his or her execution,” read the joint statement.

In a move strongly condemned by the European Union, Iran executed a Kurdish-Iranian 16-year-old boy in June for a crime he committed two years earlier.

Iranian judiciary spokesman Ali Reza Jamshidi had earlier announced that the execution of minors has “practically stopped” and that the country was working to outlaw the procedure.

Iran is a member state of both the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child; “both of which prohibit the execution of persons under the age of 18 at the time of their offense,” said HRW.

Iran had executed at least 17 juvenile offenders, eight times more than any other country, since the beginning of 2004, including two so far this year, according to an HRW count.

The international watchdog believes, based on findings by network lawyers and testimonies by local activists, that almost 140 juvenile offenders are on death row in Iran, “but the true figure could be even higher.”

The figure could not be confirmed by Iranian authorities, according to researcher Clarisa Bencomo, from HRW's Children's Rights Division.

In Iran, capital crimes include murder, rape and drug trafficking.

Under Iranian law, whose penal code follows Islamic law, the final say in such cases is for the victim's family who can pardon the perpetrator or accept compensation in lieu of execution.

On June 22, a bill was proposed in Iran's parliament to outlaw juvenile executions but it has yet to be passed.

An earlier HRW report, which deemed Iran “the world's leading offender” in this area, said that the proposed legislation would still allow the death penalty for juvenile offenders if the judge decided the defendant was “mentally mature.”

Link: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20080708-1347-iran-childexecutions.html

Web statement purportedly from Al-Qaida claims responsibility for Denmark Embassy attack - AP

By PAKINAM AMER,
AP CAIRO
June 5, 2008

Egypt -- An Internet posting purportedly by al-Qaida in Afghanistan claimed Thursday that the group was behind the bombing near the Danish embassy in Pakistan this week that left six people dead.

The statement said Monday's bombing in Islamabad was carried out to fulfill the promise of terror mastermind Osama bin Laden to exact revenge over the reprinting in Danish papers of a cartoon of Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

It said the bombing came in defense of the religion, the blood and the honor of Muslims, and warned that if Denmark fails to apologize for the cartoons, more attacks will follow and Monday's blast will "only be the first drop of rain."

The group said their attack is but a "warning to this infidel nation and whoever follows its example." Denmark "published the insulting drawings of the messenger" and later "refused to apologize for publishing them, instead they repeated their act," it said.

The authenticity of the statement, which was posted on a Web site frequently used by Islamic militants, could not be independently verified. It was signed by an al-Qaida commander in Afghanistan, Mustafa Abu al-Yazeed, and dated Tuesday.

It said the bombing was carried out by an al-Qaida martyr whose last will and testament will soon be made public, and thanked Pakistani jihadists who allegedly helped prepare and execute the plot.

Denmark officials said earlier that they suspected al-Qaida was behind the Islamabad attack.

The terror network has threatened Denmark over the reprinting in Danish papers earlier this year of a cartoon that depicted Prophet Muhammad wearing a bomb-shaped turban.

In early 2006, a dozen Muhammad cartoons, originally published in a Danish newspaper, triggered fiery protests in Muslim countries when they were reprinted by a range of European media. The drawing showing Muhammad wearing the bomb-shaped turban appeared again in Danish newspapers Feb. 13, after Danish police said they foiled an alleged plot to murder the cartoonist who drew it.

Renewed protests followed the reprinting, though not as large or widespread as those in 2006. In March, bin Laden warned in an audio recording posted on a militant Web site of a "severe" reaction against Europe over the cartoon's republishing.

Muslims widely see the cartoons as an insult and depicting the prophet as violent. Islamic law generally opposes any depiction of the prophet, even favorable, for fear it could lead to idolatry.

The Islamabad bombing has added to concerns that Pakistan's efforts to strike peace deals with militants along the Afghan border are failing to curb Islamic extremist violence. Washington has also expressed concerns that the two-month-old Pakistani government's efforts to negotiate with some armed groups in the northwest could give al-Qaida and Taliban hard-liners time to regroup and intensify attacks in Afghanistan and elsewhere.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7564136
http://www.startribune.com/world/19551434.html?location_refer=Homepage
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/06/05/africa/ME-GEN-Al-Qaida-Pakistan-Blast.php
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/asia/pakistan/2008/06/05/159727/Web-statement.htm

Expanded story from Islamabad:

Al-Qaeda Claims Danish Embassy Blast
(ISLAMABAD, Pakistan) — Denmark shared with Pakistani investigators video footage of the suicide car bombing against its embassy Thursday, while an Internet posting purportedly by al-Qaeda claimed responsibility and threatened more attacks.

Continued at http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1811891,00.html

Mentor to powerful Iraqi Shiite cleric lashes out at US-Iraqi security agreement - AP News Now

By PAKINAM AMER
Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
updated 9:51 a.m. ET May 28, 2008

CAIRO, Egypt - A spiritual adviser to Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has issued a statement blasting a U.S.-Iraqi security deal under negotiation.

Ayatollah Kazim al-Haeri, a reclusive Iraqi cleric close to Iranian hard-liners and mentor to al-Sadr, said the proposed pact "spells out endless humiliation and disgrace" for Iraqis.

He calls on Iraqi leaders to avoid "defiling themselves by associating with this agreement" that could lead to a long-term American troop presence in Iraq.

Al-Haeri is believed to be in Qom, Iran, and his message was posted on his personal Web site.

The U.S.-Iraqi agreement is supposed to be finished by July, to replace the current U.N. mandate overseeing U.S.-led troops in Iraq.

Al-Haeri warns that the pact is "not binding...except for those who sign it."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24856229/

In new al-Qaida tape, spokesman slams at Muslim moderates who appease the West - AP

By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
Posted: 2008-05-22 16:17:31

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - An al-Qaida spokesman lashed out at moderate Muslims in a video sermon posted online Thursday, accusing them of promoting Western ideas that lure other Muslims away from holy war.

In a 45-minute video posted on a militant Web site, Abu Yahya Al-Libi said clerics who support unity among followers of different religions aim only to "court favor and flatter" the West."

The duty of the Islamic nation is not to emulate the infidel nations, nor to lick their boots nor satisfy them...nor even look for ways to coexist," Al-Libi said.

The footage shows the bearded al-Qaida figure speaking directly into the camera, in front of a mud wall that could be the side of a house or mosque. He wears a black turban and traditional white Muslim gown.

Al-Libi said Western powers have succeeded in winning over some Muslims to help "propagate their theories," and admonished some moderate clerics for using words like `non-Muslim' to describe what he called "infidels."

"A day will come when the ringing of church bells will resound in the heart of Arabia, as they do in Qatar," he said.

Qatar, a tiny Muslim sheikdom and U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, opened its first-ever Catholic church two months ago. Last week, it inaugurated an interfaith center where Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars, including two from Israel, were invited to hold talks.

Al-Libi gained fame for escaping from Afghanistan's notorious Bagram prison in 2005, and since then his prominence in al-Qaida has risen. He is one of the most visible faces of al-Qaida on the Internet, and has released four statements so far this year.

"Tell all those who call for moderation...that Islam is a religion of the sword," he said on Thursday's video. "We say it and we're not ashamed of it."

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.

05/22/08 16:16 EDT

Link: http://news.aol.com/story/_a/in-new-al-qaida-tape-spokesman-slams-at/n20080522161709990020
http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=13925

Contributions to regional AP stories

1. Qatar leads an interfaith dialog with rabbis from Israel in attendance

The Associated Press
Published: May 15, 2008

DOHA, Qatar: More than a dozen Jewish rabbis, including two from Israel, were in attendance this week as this conservative Muslim sheikdom opened one of the Gulf's first scholarly centers dedicated to interfaith dialogue.

The rare meeting of Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars in the heartland of conservative Islam is another sign of Qatar's efforts to present a moderate image as it bids for the 2016 summer Olympic Games. It's also part of a broader push by Arab governments for interfatith dialogue, even though most still do not recognize Israel.

The talks were not entirely smooth, and politics and disputes over the Palestinian issue did inevitably intrude, said Rabbi David James Lazar, leader of a synagogue in Tel Aviv.

Yet, the benefits for him were huge, he said - especially the ability to make personal connections with Arabs and Muslims "who otherwise I would have no contact with."

"For some it's their first chance ever to hear, not only an Israeli but to hear a Jewish rabbi speak ... And so one of my responses is trying to tell them the story of the Jewish people, which often they have not heard. The Holocaust," he said.

"I hear their story as well," he said. "It's an exchange of stories."

Another attendee, Rabbi Herschel Gluck, chairman of the Muslim Jewish Forum in Britain, commended Qatar for "being brave" by holding the conference.

"We know that hosting rabbis and an interreligious forum can be controversial in the region," said Gluck, whose group is based in a part of London where Jewish and Muslim communities sit side by side.

Some Qataris did criticize the gathering.

"This openness to other faiths creates confusion among our people and jeopardizes our identity," said one preacher at the local Fanar Islamic center, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.

But other Qataris consider this and other changes made by Sheik Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al Thani as progressive and credit him for social and economic reforms since 1995.

Two months ago, the country also allowed the opening of its first-ever Catholic church. It has had low-level ties with Israel through a trade office for 12 years although it does not recognize Israel, and recently also invited Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to speak at a conference on democracy.

Ibrahim al-Nuaimi, the director of the interfaith center sponsored by the ruling family, said the goal is to "promote joint studies of academics from three faiths to foster understanding and peace."

Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who heads Vatican's council for inter-religious dialogue and attended the conference, praised Qatar's efforts to include Jews.

"As religious leaders, let us promote a sound pedagogy of peace, which is taught in the family, mosques, synagogues and churches," Tauran said.

Efforts at interfaith dialogue got one of their biggest boosts when Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah met with Pope Benedict XVI last November at the Vatican.

In March, the Saudi king then made an impassioned plea for dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews - the first such proposal from a nation with no diplomatic ties to Israel and a ban on non-Muslim religious services and symbols.

The moves, however, come amid rising tensions in the region and with peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians stalled. Many also believe there is a growing gap of understanding between the Muslim Arab world and the West.

Muslims have been angered by cartoons published in European papers seen as insulting the Prophet Muhammad and by the pope's baptizing on Easter of a Muslim journalist who had converted to Catholicism.

The specifics of the Saudi king's initiative -and who would participate- still remain unclear, in particular whether Israeli religious leaders would be invited to a Saudi-brokered dialogue.

It also is unclear if the Saudi efforts would have any political component, or any eventual impact on stalled Arab-Israeli and Palestinian peace talks.

Lazar, the Tel Aviv rabbi, said he is no politician but will carry his warm impressions from the conference back to his students and synagogue - as he hopes Muslim clerics will, too.

Lazar said one Palestinian researcher at the conference confronted him about Israeli textbooks that were, in his words, promoting hatred of Palestinians among Israeli Jewish children.

"My challenge to him was, let us meet together ... and together we'll look at our textbooks, the Jewish textbooks, the Muslim textbooks and the Christian textbooks in Palestine and Israel - and together we'll find if they're educating children toward hate," he said.

____
Associated Press writer Pakinam Amer in Cairo, Egypt, and Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.

Link: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/15/africa/ME-GEN-Qatar-Jewish-Outreach.php

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. Fuel and tax increases hit Egyptians on top of food costs

The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 6, 2008; 6:57 PM

CAIRO, Egypt -- Egyptians awoke Tuesday to steep fuel and cigarette price hikes aimed at funding new raises for government workers, prompting fears that people already weighed down by skyrocketing food prices will be struggling to buy basic goods.

People raced to gas stations to fill up Tuesday morning, only to find the average price of gasoline and diesel had shot up 46 percent, to 34 cents a liter, which is about a quart.

Many service stations had signs scribbled with fresh prices plastered over the gas pumps. At one station, a customer accused the attendant of trying to con him. Eventually, he was convinced the new prices were real and paid up.

Another attendant, Masoud Abdel-Hamid, grumbled as he tried to calm customers.

"They think the fuel increase will affect only the rich," Abdel-Hamid said of the government. "Oh, no. Everyone uses transportation."

For the full story, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/06/AR2008050602427.html

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

3. Reports: Bahrain's Jewish female lawmaker to become country's ambassador to US

The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 30, 2008

MANAMA, Bahrain: The only Jewish woman lawmaker in Bahrain is set to become the tiny Gulf kingdom's next ambassador to Washington, according to recent media reports here.

But Huda Nono, legislator in the all-appointed 40-seat Shura Council, would only confirm she is among those considered for the post and referred further queries to the foreign ministry in Manama.

"I am one of the contenders," Nono, a mother of two and the second Jewish member in the legislature's upper chamber, told The Associated Press. "Nothing is official yet."

Yasmina Britel, press officer for the Bahraini embassy in Washington, said Nono is "one of the nominees," and that King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa would make the official appointment at an unknown date. Britel says this "could be tomorrow" or "in six months."

If Nono's is appointed, Bahrain will be the first Arab country to send a high-level Jewish diplomat to Washington. A pro-Western island nation with Sunni rulers and a Shiite majority, Bahrain is a close Washington ally and hosts the base of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.

Since last week, media here have speculated on Nono's appointment.

The daily Gulf News quoted Faisal Fouladh, a Shura Council representative, as saying Nono's appointment would be "very good news" for the country's "deep-rooted values of tolerance and openness." Pro-government Akhbar Alkhaleej daily also reported that Nono would be appointed as envoy to the United States.

Foreign ministry officials in Manama could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Nono is the first Jewish woman in the Shura Council, which includes a Christian woman among its 11 female legislators. All its members are appointed by the king. The elected 40-member lower house has only one woman lawmaker.

She replaced her cousin Ibrahim Nono, who held the seat in parliament for four years. A businesswoman who lives both in Bahrain and London, Nono also is the first Jewish woman to head a local rights organization, the Bahrain Human Rights Watch.

Nono's name stands out among the nominees because of her gender, Britel told The AP on the phone from Washington, but would not say how many nominees there were. "It's different when all the previous ambassadors have been male," Britel said.

There are only about seven Jewish families in Bahrain, with some 50 persons in all, and Nono's family is prominent. The country's population barely reaches half a million people.

Jews migrated here in the 19th century, mostly from Iran and Iraq. Their numbers increased early in the 20th century but decreased after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, when many left for Israel, the U.S. and Europe.

Today's Jews keep a low profile in Bahrain, working mostly in banks, commercial and trade companies and retail. They live in upscale parts of the country, being part of the wealthy business community.

There is also a synagogue and a private Jewish cemetery here. At the height of the Arab-Israeli war, the synagogue was attacked and torched by angry Muslims. The structure was later refurbished.

Bahrain has no diplomatic relations with Israel. In 1969, an official Israeli delegation visited Bahrain but protesters burned the Israeli flag in a large street demonstration at the time. In 2006, after Bahrain signed the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S., Manama closed down a government office that endorsed a boycott of Israeli goods.

Media reports have speculated that with appointments such as Nono's, Bahrain may be seeking to pave the way to forming ties with Israel.

____
Associated Press Writers Pakinam Amer and Jessica Desvarieux contributed to this report from Cairo, Egypt.

Link: http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=12467348

Egypt charges 5 with plotting an attack with Hamas - AP

By PAKINAM AMER
The Associated Press
Published: April 27, 2008

CAIRO, Egypt: Egypt charged two leaders of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, two Sinai Bedouins and a Palestinian with plotting a terrorist attack with Hamas, a security official said Sunday.

Brotherhood leaders Abdel-Hai al-Faramawy, a professor at Cairo's Al-Azhar university, and Mohammed Wahdan were charged with paying the equivalent of US$3,600 (2,300 Euros) to two Bedouins to buy 30 jerry cans of fuel, spare parts and a remote control for an unmanned aircraft.

Al-Faramawy denied the charges, while Hamas said the reports were completely false.

The security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said Hamas was planning to build the unmanned aircraft but it was not clear how the aircraft was going to be used or who would be targeted. Media reports suggest that everyone from U.S. and Israeli interests to rival Palestinian factions were to be hit.

Hamas does not possess any aircraft, but it has in the past attempted to load remote-controlled airplanes with explosives for attacks on Israeli targets. These attempts have never succeeded.

According to the police report, the Palestinian charged was a member of Hamas and was to collect the material purchased by the Bedouin using Brotherhood money and use it in the attack.

The police first arrested the Bedouin in early April and he then led them to the second Bedouin, the Palestinian and the Brotherhood leaders.

Hamas spokesman Sami Zuhri dismissed the alleged plot and the media reports about it, describing them as part of a campaign against the militant organization.

"We condemn this fabrication and attempt to use Hamas as part of the internal conflict between some elements in Egypt with the Muslim Brotherhood," he told The Associated Press. "Hamas has nothing to do with Egypt, and this report is completely false."

Al-Faramawy's lawyer, Jamal Tageddin, rejected the charges in statements on the movement's Web site. He described them as "lies aimed at defaming the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas and distracting people from the unjust military rulings passed against Muslim Brotherhood members."

A military court on April 15 convicted the group's chief strategist, Khayrat el-Shater, and its prominent financier, Hassan Malek, of money laundering and sentenced them to seven years in prison.

More than 800 members of the movement, the country's most powerful opposition force, have been detained so far this year, in an effort to thwart its influence as an aging President Hosni Mubarak enters his 27th year in power.

The Brotherhood has officially rejected violence and says it only seeks to gain power through political means.

Link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24337499/
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/27/africa/ME-GEN-Egypt-Muslim-Brotherhood-Hamas.php
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1208870503690&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Palestinian president supports Turkish mediation of Israeli-Syrian peace - AP

By PAKINAM AMER
The Associated Press
Published: April 27, 2008

CAIRO, Egypt: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that he supports Turkish mediation of Israeli-Syrian peace and would back any agreement reached between the two longtime enemies.

Abbas said a peace agreement between Israel and Syria would not harm Palestinian negotiations with the Jewish state, a topic he discussed with U.S. President George W. Bush earlier in the week. The Palestinian leader said he would meet with Bush again on May 17 in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheik.

"We stand with any dialogue or agreement that our Syrian brothers reach, and we don't believe, at all, that this would compromise the Palestinian-Israeli (peace) process," Abbas told reporters at a press conference in Sharm el-Sheik after meeting with President Hosni Mubarak.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan met with Syrian President Bashar Assad on Saturday to discuss Ankara's attempts to restart low-level peace talks as a prelude to bringing the leaders of Syria and Israel together.

"What Turkey is doing, or what any other country is (doing) regarding the Syrian process, we approve it," said Abbas.

The Turkish prime minister said Saturday that his mediation was in response to a request from Syria and Israel. The last round of direct talks between the two countries broke down in 2000 over the details of Israel's proposed withdrawal from the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau which it seized in the 1967 Mideast War.

Erdogan did not mention statements by Syrian officials and media in the past week saying that the Turkish prime minister recently delivered a message from Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to Syria indicating Israel was willing to give up the Golan Heights in return for a peace treaty.

Israel has refused to comment on the reports. But Olmert said earlier this month that he sent messages to Damascus on peace prospects though he would not disclose the contents.

The recent developments suggest some progress in back-channel contacts between Syria and Israel despite heightened tensions over Lebanon and an Israeli airstrike on a suspected nuclear reactor in Syria in September.

Abbas briefed Mubarak on Sunday on the results of his recent discussions with Bush, which he said "did not yield a breakthrough" on Mideast peace. The U.S. President has been pushing for an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement by the end of the year, but progress has been limited.

One of the complicating factors has been the split between the Palestinian factions, with Abbas' Fatah group controlling the West Bank and the militant Hamas party controlling the Gaza Strip. Hamas has fired scores of rockets toward Israel in recent weeks, and the Jewish state has responded with strikes inside Gaza.

Despite the renewed violence, Egypt is making another attempt to broker a truce between Hamas and Israel. The deal would also include a prisoner swap and the opening of Gaza border crossings; the territory has been virtually sealed by Israel and Egypt since the violent Hamas takeover last June.

Hamas announced Thursday that it would be prepared to accept a cease-fire with Israel that applies to Gaza only, dropping an earlier demand that any truce include the West Bank as well.

Abbas said Sunday that he backs Egyptian attempts to mediate a cease-fire, praising the effect "that such a cooling off would have in reducing Palestinian suffering and opening the (border) crossings."

Link: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/27/africa/ME-GEN-Palestinians-Turkey-Mideast-Peace.php
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24334660/ (full story w/byline)
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1208870502470&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull (AP News Now)

Al Qaeda audiotape mentions Petraeus, says Bush seeks to pass war on - AP

By PAKINAM AMER • ASSOCIATED PRESS • April 18, 2008

CAIRO, Egypt — Al Qaeda's No. 2 said in an audiotape released today that the United States will lose whether it stays in Iraq or withdraws, and he sneered that President George W. Bush just wants to pass the problem on to his successor.

The message from Ayman al-Zawahri released early today on a militant Web site appeared to be one of the most quickly prepared tapes produced by Al Qaeda referring to Congressional testimony only last week by the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, in which he recommended a halt to further U.S. troop withdrawals until after July.

Continued at ... http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080418/NEWS07/80418015/1009/NEWS07

Al-Qaeda leader: 5 years of U.S. in Iraq brought 'failure'

By Pakinam Amer
ASSOCIATED PRESS
8:38 p.m. April 17, 2008

CAIRO, Egypt – Al-Qaeda's No. 2 leader claimed in an audiotape released Friday that five years of U.S. involvement in Iraq brought only defeat, and said President Bush will be forced to pass the problem to his successor.

Ayman al-Zawahri alleged that by heeding advice of his top commanders in Iraq and guaranteeing a heavy American military presence after July, Bush was “covering up for the failure” of his Iraq policies.

“If the American forces leave, they will lose everything. And if they stay, they will bleed to death,” he argued.

The authenticity of the 16-minute recording, posted on a Web site known for militant messaging, could not be independently verified. But it carried the logo of al-Qaeda's media wing and was the second in April attributed to the terror network's chief strategist.

Continued at ... http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/iraq/20080417-2038-al-qaida-al-zawahri.html

* These clips are two different versions of the previous story.

Al-Qaida No. 2 al-Zawahri says US options in Iraq all bad - AP

By PAKINAM AMER and KATARINA KRATOVAC
Associated Press Writers
39 minutes ago

Al-Qaida's No. 2 said in an audiotape released Friday that the United States will lose whether it stays in Iraq or withdraws, and he sneered that President Bush just wants to pass the problem on to his successor.

The message from Ayman al-Zawahri released early Friday on a militant Web site appeared to be one of the most quickly prepared tapes produced by al-Qaida — referring to Congressional testimony only last week by the top U.S. commander in Iraq, Gen. David Petraeus, in which he recommended a halt to further U.S. troop withdrawals until after July.

Bush said last week he would give Petraeus all the time needed to reassess U.S. troop strength in Iraq after the current drawdown of U.S. troops ends in July.

"The truth is that if Bush keeps all his forces in Iraq until doomsday and until they enter hell, they will only see crisis and defeat by the will of God," said al-Zawahri, the deputy of al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

"If the American forces leave, they will lose everything. And if they stay, they will bleed to death," he said.

The authenticity of the 16-minute recording, entitled "Five Years of the Invasion of Iraq and Decades of Injustice by Tyrants," could not be independently verified. But it carried the logo of al-Qaida's media wing. It was the second message this month attributed to the terror network's chief strategist.

Bush's stance guarantees a heavy U.S. military presence in Iraq for the rest of his presidency as the war grinds into its sixth year. The Bush administration plans to shrink the current force of 160,000 American troops in Iraq to about 140,000 by the end of July."

Bush declared that he will grant Petraeus all the time he needs, a ridiculous show to cover up for the failure in Iraq and to allow Bush to evade the decision to withdraw the forces, which is an admission of the failure of the crusader invasion of Iraq, by passing the problem on to the next president," al-Zawahri said.

Al-Qaida leaders have sped up their reactions to events with such messages — a sign of the sophistication of the group's media network despite having to work underground. Even so, usually messages refer to events that took place several weeks earlier, so the reference to Petraeus marked an unusually fast turnaround.

Al-Zawahri also called in his latest message for Muslim support of jihad in Iraq, and for backing al-Qaida's affiliate there, the Islamic State of Iraq.

He taunted the so-called Awakening Councils in Iraq — Sunni fighters who switched sides and joined the Americans in fighting predominantly Sunni al-Qaida militants."

Weren't these Awakening (Councils) supposed to hasten the departure of the American forces, or are these Awakenings in need of someone to defend them and protect them," al-Zawahri asked.

Al-Qaida in Iraq fighters have increasingly targeted Awakening Council members, killing around a dozen in shootings and bombings in the past week. On Thursday, a suicide bomber struck the funeral of two council members north of Baghdad, killing 50 mourners.

Al-Zawahri criticized anti-U.S. cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, who has ordered his militia in Iraq to halt attacks on American and Iraqi forces. He "has become the laughing stock of the world" and is a "toy" in Iran's hands, he said.

The al-Qaida deputy — whose group is made up of Sunni extremists — also spoke out against mainly Shiite Iran and what he called its expansionist plans.

He said Tehran "has clear goals, which are the annexation of southern Iraq and the east of the Arabian Peninsula" as well as strengthening ties to its followers in southern Lebanon.

He said that if Iran achieves its goals, "this will add oil to the fire which is already ablaze. This will explode the situation in an already exploding region."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.

Link: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7471413http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080418/ap_on_re_mi_ea/al_qaida_al_zawahri

Related: Company of Iraqi troops abandons position after attack, athttp://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/world/5711634.html

Carter in the Mideast coverage _ contribution

Hamas says Carter visit a boost to militants' legitimacy
By The Associated Press

[...] "In Cairo, Hamas spokesman Taher Nuhu told The Associated Press that the purported Thursday meeting would be 'a recognition of the legitimacy' of Hamas' victory in the Palestinians' parliamentary election in 2006.

'We do not claim we are the only legitimate group there, but we are an integral part whose legitimacy was manifested in the elections,' Nuhu said."

From The Guardian UK: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7467404

Associated Press writers Pakinam Amer in Cairo, Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza, Ian Deitch in Jerusalem and Ashraf Sweilam in Rafah, West Bank, contributed to this report.

Egypt: American freelance photojournalist and translator detained while covering riots - AP

By PAKINAM AMER
Associated Press Writer
Thursday, April 10, 2008; 5:23 PM

CAIRO, Egypt: An American freelance journalist and his Egyptian translator were arrested Thursday while reporting on unrest in northern Egypt where economic riots broke out earlier this week.

James Buck spoke to The Associated Press by cell phone from inside a police station in Mahalla El-Kobra, an industrial city were laborers and activists have been demonstrating against high food prices.

"I'm scared that they're gonna do something to me," Buck said before the phone line was cut off.

He said he had been interrogated for about 45 minutes, and had not been harmed. It was unclear whether police knew he had a cell phone.

Buck is a freelance journalist, photographer and graphic designer who recently contributed material to the Oakland Tribune in California. His work is also widely circulated among rights activists and strike organizers in Egypt.

Egyptian security officials were not immediately available to comment on his detention.

A U.S. Embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations, said embassy officials had heard reports of Buck's arrest and were investigating.

Thousands of Egyptians angry over high food prices and low wages have been rioting this week in Mahallah, a Nile Delta city that is home to the Middle East's largest textile factory. Rising prices have struck hard in Egypt, a U.S. ally where 40 percent of the people live in or near poverty.

Buck said police grabbed him Thursday evening while he was taking photographs of families on a hunger strike outside an Egyptian prison.

"We were just in the main square taking pictures...Police came and started chasing us," he said.

Buck and his translator, Mohammed Saleh Ahmed, managed to get into a taxi, but police pulled them out, he said. "They told him (the taxi driver) in Arabic that I'm from the CIA."

He and Ahmed both spoke briefly to AP by cell phone, describing their interrogation, before the call was abruptly cut off.

"They wanted my camera. I said no...They tried to take it by force. I had to fall on the ground and hold my bag to my chest — I curled up in a ball so they tried to pull it away from me," Buck said.

"Then they brought several plainclothes thugs — big guys — and they've been questioning us for 45 minutes, asking why I'm here, what I'm doing," he said.

Word of Buck's arrest first appeared on a popular Egyptian blog Arabawy (http://arabawy.org/) to which Buck contributes material.

Its author, Hossam el-Hamalawy, said Buck traveled to Mahallah from Cairo four times this week.

"James was harassed several times by the police in the previous trips. He was threatened and almost had his camera confiscated more than once," el-Hamalawy said.

Shortly after his arrest, Buck sent a text message to his own Web site, http://twitter.com/jamesbuck, with one word: "Arrested."

Link: (A-wire version) http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/10/AR2008041002898.html?sub=AR
and http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-egypt-american-detained,1,5116804.story
(Full story) http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/04/10/africa/ME-GEN-Egypt-American-Detained.php

Egypt: Pro-democracy activist charged - AP

By PAKINAM AMER
Associated Press Writer
Published: April 10, 2008

Prosecutors charged a key leader of Egypt's main pro-democracy group on Thursday with inciting unrest and violence, officials said, four days after thousands stayed home from work and school as part of a nationwide strike.

George Ishaq, co-founder of the opposition group Kifaya, was arrested Wednesday night in a raid on his home in downtown Cairo.

Another of the group's founders, Abdel-Halim Qandil, said the case against Ishaq is part of a government crackdown on Kifaya in retaliation for Sunday's labor strike where thousands of Egyptians skipped school and work and hundreds marched at rallies to protest high food prices.
The demonstrations were organized by several opposition groups, including Kifaya, which means "Enough" in Arabic.

The nationwide strike was the first major attempt by such groups to turn the past year's scattered labor unrest into a wider political protest against President Hosni Mubarak and his ruling party.

Kifaya has often spearheaded demonstrations against Mubarak's U.S.-backed government since late 2004.

A document from the state prosecutor's office, where Ishaq was questioned, accused Sunday's protesters of "assaulting people, harming public property and defying public authority using violent means."

The document also outlined charges against Ishaq. It was given to his lawyers, who were appointed by the prominent Cairo human rights group, the Hisham Mubarak Law Center.

The center released excerpts of the document on Thursday, and its contents were confirmed by a security official at the prosecutor's office, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media.

The Egyptian government holds Ishaq partly responsible for the nationwide strike, which created "chaos, prevented state employees from performing their duties, disrupted traffic and endangered the lives of many," the document said.

Qandil said the charges were invented largely to "frame the movement as a banned group."
Kifaya, which began as a fragile coalition of leftist Marxists, pan-Arab nationalists, Islamists and secular liberals, was the first street movement to openly shout the slogan: "Down with Mubarak."

But the once-energetic group has been convulsed more recently by internal feuds.

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/10/AR2008041002759.html
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/feedarticle/7453070
http://www.kansascity.com/659/story/568746.html

Egypt Police Arrest Democracy Activist - AP

By PAKINAM AMER – 15 hours ago

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) — A key leader of Egypt's main pro-democracy group was arrested Wednesday night during a raid on his home in Cairo, police and group officials said.

George Ishaq, director-general of Kifaya, was taken away by security officers who stormed the home around 8 p.m., one of the group's founders, Abdel-Halim Qandil, told The Associated Press. He said more than 50 members of the movement had been arrested this week.

A police officer confirmed Ishaq's arrest, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to reporters.

Ishaq had not been formally charged, but was expected to undergo interrogation. Egyptian authorities often detain suspects for weeks or months without charge.

Kifaya, which means "Enough" in Arabic, is a broad-based movement that has spearheaded demonstrations against the government of President Hosni Mubarak since late 2004.

Qandil accused the Egyptian government of cracking down on Kifaya in retaliation for a nationwide labor strike last weekend.

"The authorities want to create a case against Kifaya. They want to indict us and frame the movement as a banned group," Qandil said.

"It's not like Kifaya is a secret society or an underground group. We openly call for demonstrations and strikes, but we do this without harming national security or public and private property," he said.

Thousands of Egyptians skipped school and work Sunday and hundreds marched at rallies across the country to protest high food prices. The demonstrations were organized by several opposition groups, including Kifaya.

The nationwide strike was the first major attempt by such groups to turn the past year's labor unrest into a wider political protest against Mubarak's government and his ruling party.

Link: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/09/AR2008040903006.html
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5hwcAL-tPL1lM-1FCQY2xMrFQydGQD8VUISKO0
AP News Now (JP): http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1207649974831&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Egypt denounces U.S. criticism on human rights violations - AP

By Pakinam Amer
The Associated Press
Friday, March 14, 2008

CAIRO, Egypt: Egypt dismissed recent White House criticism of a wave of arrests against political opponents and rejected a U.S. State Department report that denounces the country's poor human rights record, saying Friday it was "un-objective."

White House spokeswoman Dana Perino had called on Egypt this week to stop its "campaign of arrests" against opposition candidates ahead of upcoming local elections.

Her remarks were considered a clear reference to the recent crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition group, which has seen over 750 members rounded-up in a month.

The White House comments "reflect a lack of understanding of the political reality in Egypt," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The ministry said it "questioned the real motivation" behind such U.S. statements, without elaborating.

The foreign ministry also rejected a separate State Department annual report on worldwide human rights, issued Tuesday, claiming it did not treat Egypt fairly because it ignored the social context in which human rights are being introduced here.

"The report was un-objective and unscientific, and it showed a blend of biased views by non-governmental organizations," the foreign ministry statement said.

The State Department evaluation said Egypt's government has little respect for human rights and maintains a tight grip on political life by stifling opposition and freedom of speech under a continued state of emergency since 1967.

It also said Egyptian women are subjected to several forms of discrimination and violence, including female genital mutilation. It further struck a deep cord with Egyptian authorities by citing numerous incidents of reported torture and prison mistreatment by police and guards.

Link(s): http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23635244/
http://www.taiwannews.com.tw/etn/news_content.php?id=620918&lang=eng_news&cate_img=83.jpg&cate_rss=news_Politics
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/03/14/africa/ME-GEN-Egypt-US-Human-Rights.php

Egyptian authorities arrest 22 more Muslim Brotherhood members ahead of local elections

By Pakinam Amer
Associated Press Writer
First Published: 11 Mar., 2008 12:37

Cairo - Police on Tuesday arrested 22 more members of the banned Muslim Brotherhood movement in an ongoing crackdown on Egypt's largest Islamic opposition group ahead of April local elections, a security official and the group said.

The arrests took place during separate raids in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, its twin city of Giza, in the northern coastal city of Alexandria, as well as in the towns of Beheira, Menoufia and Assiut, the official said.

He spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to release the information.

Most suspects were taken from their homes after dawn, according to the Brotherhood's official Web site.

The arrested include businessmen and senior Brotherhood leaders who were planning to run in the April 8 polling for 4,500 municipal councils that manage local utilities and resources in Egypt.

The latest arrests bring to about 750 the total number of Brotherhood members rounded-up by authorities since the date of the elections was announced in mid February.

So far only 60 of the group's 10,000 members have succeeded in getting their candidacies registered for the elections, which are usually dominated by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party.

The Brotherhood, which has the largest opposition bloc in parliament, has vowed to take part in the elections despite the crackdown. The group has been banned since 1954, but the government has not completely shut down the Brotherhood's activities.

Authorities have prevented the Brotherhood from forming a political party, so its members run as independents in local and national elections. The deadline for registration is Thursday.

Egypt detains 13 students belonging to Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood

By Pakinam Amer
Associated Press Writer
First Published: 19 Feb., 2008 15:14

Cairo - Egyptian police on Tuesday detained 13 university students affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's largest opposition movement, a security official said.

The students were arrested a day earlier in the coastal city of Alexandria while collecting money at the university campus to help Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and support Brotherhood candidates in upcoming local elections, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Police charged the students with belonging to a banned group and collecting money without permission.

On Sunday, police rounded-up another 51 members of the group across three provinces in an ongoing crackdown which Brotherhood lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maksoud believes is to prevent them from competing in the local council elections.

The Brotherhood has not yet taken a final decision whether to field candidates but that the "strikes and messages directed at the Brotherhood will not lessen our determination and political will," he said.

The Brotherhood was founded in 1928 but has been officially banned since in 1954. It is Egypt's largest opposition group with its lawmakers, who run as independents, holding more than a fifth of the seats in parliament's 454-member lower house.

Egyptian appeals court drops prison sentence against Al-Jazeera journalist (AP)

By Pakinam Amer
Associated Press Writer
First Published: 11 Feb., 2008 10:20

Cairo - An Egyptian appeals court on Monday spared an Al-Jazeera journalist a six-month prison sentence by overturning a ruling that she tarnished the country's reputation after running a report on police torture, a judicial official and her lawyer said.

But the court upheld Howaida Taha's conviction on a separate charge that she fabricated videotapes used in the documentary and maintained a 20,000 Egyptian pound (about US$3,600) fine imposed on her, said a judicial official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Taha, a documentary producer for the pan-Arab satellite station who is known for her criticism of the Egyptian regime, was first detained in January 2007 for two days for possessing 50 video tapes that police alleged contained fabricated scenes of torture by Egyptian police. At the time, she said the footage was a "reconstruction" for a documentary.

She was sentenced in May to six months in jail after a Cairo state security court found her guilty of "harming the country's interests" and "fabricating" the torture scenes.

Taha's lawyer, Ahmed Helmi, said he planned to take the case to the country's highest court, the Court of Cassation, in hope that the conviction on the second charge of fabricating the videotapes would be overturned.

"For now, we will pay the fine but the conviction in her case is really baseless. That is why we will proceed with the case," he said.

Taha is currently in Doha, Qatar, where she lives and where Al-Jazeera is based.

The torture documentary, "Beyond the Sun," was aired on Al-Jazeera in April, as Taha had kept copies of the confiscated tapes.

Rights groups say torture, including sexual abuse, is routinely conducted in Egyptian police stations. The government denies systematic torture but has investigated several officers on allegations of abuse. Some were convicted and sentenced to prison.

During her last visit to Egypt late January, Taha was again briefly detained and questioned along with her crew before being released.

She was taken into custody while filming in a low-income neighborhood in Cairo for allegedly not having official permission to film, her lawyer and police had said.

Police also confiscated her tapes and sent them to be inspected by the Department of Artistic Inspection.

Taha has said she did obtain the proper permission to film but said she was later told that she also needed a separate permission from the Interior Ministry _ something she said was not part of normal procedure.

The documentary she was working on when she was last detained deals with people living on the edge of society.

Link: http://www.wtop.com/?nid=500&sid=1343495

FLAG Telecom: Repair ship to get next week to site of damaged Internet cables off Egyptian coast (AP)

By Pakinam Amer
Associated Press Writer
First Published: 1 Feb., 2008 06:52

Cairo - A repair ship is expected to arrive next week to the site of severed cables off the northern coast of Egypt to begin repair work on the damage that has disrupted Internet services across the Middle East and India, a leading provider of international network services said Friday.

The U.K-based FLAG Telecom said in an e-mail sent to The Associated Press that the ship was to arrive Tuesday on the location in the Mediterranean Sea. The repair work will likely be completed in a week of the ship's arrival, it said.

In a separate statement, FLAG Telecom reported that a different undersea Internet cable, FALCON, also belonging to the company, had been cut Friday at 0559 GMT at a location 56 kilometers (34.8 miles) from Dubai, on a stretch between the United Arab Emirates and Oman in the Persian Gulf.

There were no other details on this damage _ the first to be reported in the Persian Gulf.

But FLAG Telecom said that a "repair ship has been notified and expected to arrive at the site in the next few days," apparently referring to the Persian Gulf location.

Earlier, the company said its FLAG Europe-Asia cable in the Mediterranean was cut Wednesday morning, 8.3 kilometers (5 miles) from the Egyptian port of Alexandria, on a stretch linking Egypt to Italy. The company also said it was able to restore circuits to some customers and was switching to alternative routes for others.

It did not provide any details as to why it would take until Tuesday for the repair ship to arrive at a site so near the port of Alexandria. The harbor has been closed for most of this week because of bad weather.

Wednesday's damage to two undersea Internet cables off Egypt's coast disrupted Web access across a wide swath of Asia and the Middle East.

Egypt's Minister of Communications and Information Technology Tarek Kamil said Friday that the Internet service in the country would be up and running to about 80 percent of its usual capacity within 48 hours, revising an earlier statement that this level would be restored by late Friday.

"However, it's not before ten days until the Internet service returns to its normal performance," Kamil told the Friday edition of the state Al-Ahram newspaper. There are eight million Internet users in Egypt, according to a ministry count.

On Thursday, Kamil described the damage as an "earthquake" and said the reason behind the cut would only be determined after the repair teams with their robot equipment reach the damaged cables.

The official Middle East News Agency quoted the minister as saying technicians managed to raise the level of the Internet service Thursday to about 45 percent and that Telecom Egypt would get soon a bandwidth of 10 gigabyte to be increased to 13 gigabyte _ close to the country's total capacity of 16 gigabytes.

But Internet access remained sporadic or nonexistent Friday, the first day of the official Muslim weekend in the Middle East when all government offices and most businesses are closed.

Kamil, who said international telephone services have not been affected by the incident, also praised the cooperation among the country's companies with the ministry to share the service and the cooperation of international companies in France, Italy and southeast Asia.

The paper also said that on Thursday, the state Telecom Egypt communication company "sealed a deal" for a new 3,100 kilometer (1,900 miles) -long undersea cable between Egypt and France, also through the Mediterranean. That cable would take over 18 months to complete, the report said. It did not say who Telecom's partners in the deal were.

___
Associated Press Writer Zeina Karam contributed to this report from Beirut, Lebanon.

Fallout from Mideast damage from cut cables spreads to India (AP)

By Pakinam Amer
Associated Press Writer
First Published: 31 Jan., 2008 10:03

Cairo - Fallout spread Thursday from a cut in two undersea Internet cables off Egypt's coast, with India waking up to half of its bandwidth disrupted and widespread outages still hampering a wide swathe of the Mideast.

Officials said it could take a week or more to fix the cables, in part because of bad weather. Officials in several countries were scrambling to reroute traffic to satellites and to other cables through Asia.

In all, users in India, Pakistan, Egypt, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait and Bahrain were affected. Israel was unaffected by the outages because its Internet traffic is connected to Europe through a different undersea cable, and Lebanon and Iraq were also operating normally.

The biggest impact to the rest of the world could come from the outages across India _ where many U.S. companies outsource back-office operations including customer service call centers.

The outage also raised questions about the system's vulnerability. A Gulf analyst called it a "wake-up call" while an analyst in London cautioned that no one, including the West, was immune to such disruptions.

They could have a "massive impact on businesses," said Alex Burmaster, from Nielsen Online in London, and ordinary people "probably couldn't imagine" a life without the Internet.

Large-scale disruptions are rare but not unknown. East Asia suffered nearly two months of outages and slow service after an earthquake damaged undersea cables near Taiwan in December 2006. That repair operation also was hampered by bad weather.

So far, most governments in the region appeared to be operating normally, apparently because they had switched to backup satellite systems. However, the outages had caused slowdown in traffic on Dubai's stock exchange Wednesday.

In India, major outsourcing firms, such as Infosys and Wipro, and U.S. companies with significant back-office and research and development operations in India, such as IBM and Intel, said they were still trying to assess how their operations had been impacted, if at all.

But the president of the Internet Service Providers' Association of India, Rajesh Chharia, said companies that serve the East Coast of the United States and Britain had been badly hit.

"The companies that serve the (U.S.) East coast and the UK are worst affected. The delay is very bad in some cases," Chharia told The Associated Press. "They have to arrange backup plans or they have to accept the poor quality for the time being until the fiber is restored.

Chharia said some companies were rerouting their service through the Pacific route, bypassing the disrupted cables. He said roughly 50 percent of the country's bandwidth had been affected.

At the New Delhi office of Symantec Corp., a security software maker based in Cupertino, Calif., "there's definitely been a slowdown. We're able to work but the system is very slow," said Anurag Kuthiala, a system engineer.

"There's no sense of how soon the problem will be fixed," he added.

It appeared the cables had been cut north of the port city of Alexandria, and rumors in Egypt said a ship's anchor had cut them.

However, a top Egyptian telecommunications official cautioned Thursday that workers won't know for sure what caused the cuts in the cables until they are able to get repair ships and divers to the area, off the northern coast of Egypt. The official in Egypt's Ministry of Communications and Information Technology asked not to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Rough weather and seas prevented repair ships from getting to the site Wednesday, the official said _ and it was unclear how soon they could get there.

And, even once the repair workers can arrive at the site, it could take as much as a week to repair the cable, the official said.

TeleGeography, a U.S. research group that tracks submarine cables around the world, said the Mediterranean undersea cable cuts reduced the amount of available capacity on the route from Mideast to Europe by 75 percent, and that until service was restored, many providers in Egypt and the Middle East would have to reroute their traffic around the globe, to Southeast Asia and across the Pacific and Atlantic oceans.

Alan Mauldin, research chief at the Washington-based TeleGeography, said similar outages in the future could be averted by new cable construction _ even though multiple cables could not guarantee against outages.

Mustafa Alani, head of security and terrorism department at the Dubai-based Gulf Research Center, said the outage should be a "wake-up call" for governments and professionals to divert more resources to protect vital infrastructure.

"This shows how easy it would be to attack" vital networks, such as Internet, mobile phones, he said. He was referring to the Internet, mobile phone, electronic banking and government services.

Alani said Wednesday's damage wasn't terrorism _ but it could have been. "When it comes to great technology, it's not about building it, it's how to protect it," he added.

An official at the Dubai Mercantile Exchange, Gerald David, said trading Thursday morning resumed normally following the Wednesday slowdown after which backup systems kicked in. A Mercantile spokesman said the exchange partnered with Nymex network engineering and rerouted all network traffic from Dubai trading floor to two unaffected circuits.

Saudi Telecom Company did not answer calls on Thursday, a day off in the kingdom, but the English-language Saudi newspaper Arab News said Saudi Telecom had lost more than 50 percent of its international online connectivity due to the problem.

___
Associated Press Writers Sam F. Ghattas in Beirut, Matt Rosenberg in New Delhi, India and Barbara Surk in Dubai , United Arab Emirates contributed to this report.

Internet outages disrupt businesses, communication across Mideast, Gulf (AP)

By Pakinam Amer
Associated Press Writer
First Published: 30 Jan., 2008 16:41

Cairo - Internet outages disrupted business and personal usage across a wide swathe of the Middle East on Wednesday after two undersea cables in the Mediterranean were damaged, government officials and Internet service providers said.

In Cairo, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology said the cut of the international communications cables Flag and Seamewe 4 had led to a partial disruption of Internet services and other telecommunications across much of Egypt.

At the Egyptian stock market, IT department engineer Mahmoud Mansour said the disruptions did not affect the operations at the exchange.

Emergency teams were quickly trying to find alternative routes, including by satellites, to end the disruptions, said Minister Tariq Kamel. But service was still slow or nonexistent by Wednesday night.

A telecommunications expert at the Egyptian communications ministry, Rafaat Hindy, told The Associated Press that the government is "engaged in efforts to try and overcome the consequences of the problem" but cautioned that "solving this could take days."

U.S. expert Eric Schoonover, senior research analyst at TeleGeography, a Washington-based group that tracks submarine cables around the world, said the cables severed "account to 75 percent of the capacity connecting Egypt and other Middle Eastern countries to Europe.

It would take "a few days up to one week before submarine cable operators deploy ships to bring the cables up and fix the fault," Schoonover said, echoing gloomy predictions from engineers in Cairo.

Phone lines in Egypt still work, indicating "network operators in the area are rerouting traffic through emergency channels, including around India and back through Asia to the U.S. and other threshold links that can bypass that particular bottleneck," Schoonover added.

Despite this being an international cable affecting many Gulf and Arab countries, Egyptian authorities said that being closest to it, they have responsibility coordinating with companies to fix this problem. "We are working as fast as we can," Hindy said.

Internet service also was disrupted in Dubai in the United Arab Emirates in the Gulf, which markets itself as a top Mideast business and luxury tourist hub. Both Internet service providers was affected and one was completely down in the morning. DU restored Internet service by the afternoon although browsing was very slow.

The other carrier, Etisalat, and DU said international telephone service was also affected by the cable break.

DU attributed the disruption to a fault in "two international cable systems" in the Mediterranean Sea but gave no details.

It was not clear what caused the damage to the cable.

Schoonover said there was a rumor that an illegally or improperly anchored ship caused the problem, but TeleGeography cannot verify this. Cables get damaged all the time but Schoonover believes this was the first time two undersea cables next to one another in a very thin route were cut at the same time.

An official who works in the customer care department of DU, who identified himself only as Hamed because he was not authorized to talk to the media, said the cable cut took place between Alexandria, Egypt, and Palermo, Italy.

Although he was not in a position to describe the technical fault, Hamed said engineers contracted by DU were working to solve the problem. By early afternoon, the service was flooded with complaints and the ISP had found alternative routes but Hamed said "there is slowness while browsing on the Internet."

DU services Dubai media city, Internet City and Knowledge Village, which houses major university campuses.

The ISP also serves the Dubai International Financial Center (DIFC), including the Bourse, major malls, and big residential communities including the Palm Jumeira artificial island off Dubai's coast.

The deputy business editor of Khaleej Times newspaper said the overall trading volume was low at the DIFC due to a sharp drop of on-line trading.

"There was a drop in the trading activity," said Issac John, although he was not sure it was entirely due to the Internet problems.

Wednesday's trade volume amounted to nearly US$330 million, which is well short of closer to US$1 billion on a good day.

There was no total outage in Kuwait, but service was interrupted Tuesday and Wednesday. The Gulfnet International Company apologized in an e-mail Wednesday to its customers for the "degraded performance in Internet browsing," which it said was caused by a cable cut in the Mediterranean.

In Saudi Arabia, some users said Internet was functioning fine but others said it was slow or totally down.

A staffer at a Saudi ISP said that they were told that a cable rupture was the cause of the problem, which began early Wednesday. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media. Calls to Saudi Telecom went unanswered Wednesday afternoon, the start of the weekend in Saudi Arabia.

Users in Bahrain and Qatar also complained of slow Internet.

Mubarak offers to broker talks between Hamas and Fatah - AP

Jan 25, 2008 23:26 Updated Jan 26, 2008 0:13

By Pakinam Amer
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CAIRO, Egypt

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak offered on Friday to host talks between rival Palestinian Fatah and Hamas leaders, in an apparent effort to raise his country's role as Mideast peace broker and ease the pressure following Gaza Palestinian influx into Egypt from the Hamas-controlled strip.

In an interview for Saturday's edition of the Egyptian weekly al-Osboa, Mubarak said he wants peace between the Palestinians.

"I want this language of violence to stop," Mubarak was quoted as saying by the state MENA news agency. "Peace could be achieved on the basis of international resolutions and agreements that demand the establishment of Palestinian state."

Hamas appeared eager to accept the offer.

Ayman Taha, Hamas spokesman in Gaza, told the pan-Arab Al-Jazeera TV that Hamas's supreme leader, the Syria-based Khaled Mashaal, was ready to accept Mubarak's invitation to an "unconditional dialogue."

"We as Hamas have nothing against sitting in Egypt for dialogue and to end all our differences with our brothers in Fatah," Taha told Al-Arabiya, another pan-Arab satellite channel.

But Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's representative in Egypt, Nabil Shaath told The Associated Press that Fatah has made no decision on the invitation.

Abbas's position was clear, Shaath said: Fatah was "always ready for dialogue," but what was important was the result of such talks. And a result cannot be achieved "unless Hamas announces its readiness to let go of military control" of Gaza, he said.

Shaath also said Abbas will head to Egypt after meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday and would talk more here about Mubarak's offer.

Mubarak's offer came as Egypt is enduring an influx of hundreds of thousands of Gazans through its border with Gaza Strip since Wednesday, when Hamas members blew up segments of the border wall separating the area from Egypt.

The breach climaxed a week of Gazans' discontent after Israel imposed a blockade on the Strip, stopping shipments of fuel, medicine and food. Israel has also been carrying out air strikes and limited ground operations against Gazan terrorists who are launching attacks on Israel.

Egypt has failed to stem the flow of Gazans or manage the chaotic border situation, despite deploying reinforcement. Egypt has long feared the instability in the Hamas-controlled Gaza could spill over into Egypt, and has been distancing itself from Hamas. The last time Hamas and Fatah met for talks in Cairo was in Feb. 2005.

Earlier this month, Hamas Premier Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza called for talks with Egypt and Fatah, to work out a new shared arrangement for Gaza's border crossings. At the time, Haniyeh suggested Hamas would be prepared to cede some control to the Abbas government in the West Bank.

In Syria Friday, radical Palestinian factions called on the two rival Palestinian groups to begin dialogue and end their power struggle. A statement at the end of the three-day National Palestinian Conference of factions opposed to peace with Israel stressed the need for Palestinians to unite in the face of the worsening Gaza situation, which they ascribed to Israel's siege.

Dialogue is the "only way to solve inter-Palestinian differences," the groups said.

LINK: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1201070794077&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/01/25/africa/ME-GEN-Egypt-Palestinians-Talks.php

Egypt arrests Muslim Brotherhood to stop Gaza protests - AP

By Pakinam Amer
Associated Press Writer
2008-01-23 16:28:37 -

CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - Egyptian police have arrested at least 460 members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, including leading figures, in their attempt to thwart a planned demonstration in protest of Israel's blockade of the Hamas-controlled Gaza strip, security officials said Wednesday.

The demonstration was scheduled to take place in front of the Arab League's headquarters in downtown Cairo by noon, and was expected to attract hundreds of political activists and members of the banned Islamic group.

Muslim Brotherhood members from across different provinces, mainly the oasis city of Fayoum and the Mediterranean port city of Alexandria, have been flocking to the capital to join members of their brethren since the early hours Wednesday, according to a security official. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.

However, their attempt to reach the protest site was prevented by security forces who dispersed the walking crowds by force and detained at least 300 of the activists in Cairo alone. Police also arrested a total of 160 others in metro and train stations outside of the capital or when they were about to get into their vehicles and heading to Cairo.

A statement from the Brotherhood said their members, would-be-protesters, were held back by riot police and beaten by batons and heavy clubs. Five lawmakers among them were surrounded by police and were continuously badmouthed, the statement said.

Brotherhood leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef described the arrests as «an embarrassment, a disgrace» and called on authorities to end this «unfair campaign» and immediately release the group members.

He ascribed the sudden flurry of arrests to rising «popular support for lifting the blockade on Gaza and opening the crossing points in Rafah to assuage the suffering of the Palestinian people.

Some 64 members were arrested from Alexandria, including leading member Ali Abdel Fattah, 16 from Cairo's twin city of Giza, 52 from Fayoum and the rest from elsewhere in the Nile Delta, security officials said.

Brotherhood lawyer Abdel Moneim Abdel Maqsoud told The Associated Press that so far, 380 members of the organization have been arrested in Cairo in connection with protests over the situation in Gaza.

The group has been urging the Egyptian government to reopen the closed border crossings with Gaza for humanitarian aid to the Palestinians in Gaza. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak announced on Wednesday that he had ordered his troops to allow the Palestinians into Egypt to buy food in Rafah after thousands broke through the border.

Earlier in the day, around a thousand Cairo University students, including many affiliated with the Brotherhood, held a rally on campus in support of the Gaza Palestinians despite Mubarak's move to allow Palestinians to cross into Egypt because they were starving.

Damietta, north of Cairo, witnessed another Gaza-related demonstration of around 3000 activists _ mostly Brotherhood members. Twelve organizers were arrested, security officials said.

The Brotherhood, founded 1928, but officially banned since in 1954, is Egypt's largest opposition group with its lawmakers, who run as independents, holding just over a fifth of the seats in the 454-member lower house of the parliament.

Link: http://www.pr-inside.com/egypt-arrests-muslim-brotherhood-to-r400530.htm
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3497959,00.html