وكالة الأنباء الألمانية: الأقباط يواجهون التمييز باللجوء إلي الكنيسة..ويعتبرون البابا رئيس جمهوريتهم

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«تاريخ الأقباط مليء بالاضطهاد، ولم تكن الأوقات الهادئة إلا استثناء».. هكذا تحدث الأسقف مرقس عزيز، كاهن الكنيسة المعلقة في حي مصر القديمة خلال التحقيق، الذي نشرته وكالة الأنباء الألمانية تحت عنوان «أقباط مصر بين الاندماج والعزلة».وقال عزيز: الأقباط اليوم يعانون اضطهاداً شاملاً، وعلينا ألا نجمل الحقيقة، والأمور تزداد سوءاً والدولة لا تتحرك قيد أنملة والشباب المسيحي بدأ يستقيظ ويتعامل بشكل مباشر مع هذا الوضع.وذكرت الوكالة في التحقيق الذي أعدته محررتها باكينام عامر أن قسماً كبيراً من الأقباط وجدوا الملاذ في الكنيسة خلال كفاحهم ضد ما يوصف بالتحامل أو حتي الاضطهاد الصريح.وأوضحت أن البابا شنودة الثالث يتلقي شكاوي وأسئلة رعاياه عقب عظة الأربعاء، وغالباً ما يستقبل بالزغاريد والتحية ويصفه المصلون بـ«رئيس جمهورية الأقباط».وأضافت أن عدداً من المراقبين يزعم أن فكرة تعايش المسلمين والمسيحيين عبر القرون غير حقيقية، وفريق آخر يعتقد أن الصراع علي السلطة بين النظام والإخوان يقيد يديه، ولا يريد أن يبدو أقل إسلامية منها، مستندين إلي العراقيل التي تضعها الدولة وتحول دون بناء كنائس جديدة أو حتي ترميم القديمة منها.ونقلت عن يوسف سيدهم، رئيس تحرير صحيفة وطني أن تقييد بناء الكنائس بهذا الأسلوب أمر يبعث علي الغثيان.. وبعض المتعصبين الإسلاميين يريدون تدمير الكنائس».وقال منير فخري عبدالنور، نائب رئيس حزب الوفد: أستطيع أن أعطي مئات الأمثلة علي كنائس، لم تمنح لها تصاريح بالترميم رغم أنها كانت في أشد الاحتياج إليها وثمة كنائس آيلة للسقوط ومع هذا لم تمنح تصريحاً لأسباب أمنية.وتابعت الوكالة الألمانية أنه إلي جانب النزاعات بشأن الكنائس فإن الأقباط بدأوا في الآونة الأخيرة يفسرون أي حادث عنيف في إطار حرب تشن علي دينهم، ويردون علي ذلك بتبني ثقافة الاستشهاد والتي يعتبرها رفيق حبيب المفكر المسيحي خطراً كامناً.من جانبه يرفض الأب صفوت البياضي، رئيس الطائفة الإنجيلية فكرة تعرض الأقباط للتمييز وأرجع المشكلات التي تحدث إلي معاناة الشعب كله.

LINK: http://www.almasry-alyoum.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=68314

*image from al-Ahram Weekly (through images.google.com)

FEATURE: From kids' quarrel to religious strife in Alexandria

By Pakinam Amer

Cairo (dpa) - Fifty years ago, no Egyptian would have believed that a fight between two children - a Muslim and a Christian - could ignite violence requiring the presence of truckloads of heavily-armed riot police to contain it.

But this happened last month in the once cosmopolitan Mediterranean city of Alexandria, albeit in one of the city's poorer districts. There, a fist fight between two boys in front of a church turned into a full-blown sectarian clash between Muslims and Christians.

As religious zealots and angry mobs fanned the flames, the incident could have escalated had it not been for police which arrived quickly on the scene and contained the clash.

"This situation is not unique to Alexandria. The tension is everywhere,” says Father Yohanna Naseef, a Christian Coptic priest and an Alexandrine.

He lists three reasons at the core of the clashes: "The educationsystem that does not encourage dialogue among co-patriots belonging to different confessions, discrimination against Christians in workplaces, and an underdeveloped environment which breeds hatred.”

"Troubles of this kind usually surface in poor areas, where the cultural, social and economic conditions are grim,” says Naseef.

The Dekhela district in Alexandria, where last month's incident took place, is a popular neighbourhood where Muslims and Christian Copts have long co-existed peacefully.

The neighbourhood sports a church, the Holy Virgin, and a number of small mosques. The son of one mosque Imam rowed with a Christian boy and the result was dozens of zealots on both sides clashing in the street, with Muslims pelting the church's windows with stones. Several were injured and police arrested 13 people.

This latest incident in Alexandria has rekindled sleeping tensions and raised many old concerns.

In October 2005, on two consecutive Fridays, angry Muslims who had just finished Friday prayers in the mosque marched on St George's Church in Alexandria's Moharam Bek district, attacking the church and terrorizing Christian inhabitants of the district.

The clash was sparked by the leaking of a CD of a play performed inside the church and said to be disdainful of Islam and the Prophet Mohammed.

In April 2006, an extremist, claimed by security authorities to have been mentally deranged, attacked four churches in Alexandria. One Coptic citizen was killed and five others injured.

Every incident of violence seems to have awakened the anger inside the Copts' hearts. The mood in the political, judicial and social arena has arguably made matters worse.

Politically, Copts have little representation in Egypt's houses of parliament or within political parties.

With the rise in popularity of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement, who are fiercely active on the political arena and have strong representation in parliament, Copts have begun to fear they would be treated as aliens in their homeland, or even persecuted because of their faith.


Claims of discrimination and even religious persecution against Copts are on the rise. Egyptian authorities claim radical Coptic communities resident abroad, especially in the United States, are fanning the flames, and asking foreign powers to intervene to empower Egypt's Christian minority.


In the last 30 years, a "political Coptic project” has emerged, according to Rafiq Habib, a renowned expert on Coptic affairs and aChristian himself, though not a Copt. Habib says the Coptic Church is gradually becoming the main representative of Copts, "a Coptic partyof sorts.”

He adds that ”foreign intervention in the affairs of the Copts, and the idea of establishing quotas for Copts in parliament are part of this project, which is being supported and publicized by some Coptic circles inside and outside Egypt.”


© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

*image from Washignton Post (through images.google.com)

FEATURE: From kids' quarrel to religious strife in Alexandria -- Arabic version

الحركات الاسلامية في مصر: كيف يتحول عراك الاطفال إلى فتنة طائفية
المسلمون والمسيحيون يتخوفون من ان توقظ حوادث صغيرة وافكار متشددة فتنة دينية نائمة.

ميدل ايست اونلاين القاهرة - من باكينام عامر
قبل 50 عاما لم يكن مصري واحد يتصور أن مشاجرة بين طفلين احدهما مسلم والاخر مسيحي يمكن أن تشعل عنفا يتطلب تدخل جحافل من شرطة مكافحة الشغب (الامن المركزي) لاحتوائه.
لكن هذا حدث الشهر الماضي في مدينة الاسكندرية الساحلية التي طالما احتضنت أجناسا مختلفة وان كان مسرح الحادث احد الاحياء الفقيرة بالمدينة حيث تطور عراك بالايدي بين الطفلين أمام كنيسة إلى معركة طائفية كاملة بين المسلمين والمسيحيين.
ومع قيام متعصبين دينيين وجماهير غاضبة بتأجيج اللهيب كان يمكن للحادث أن يتطور لولا تدخل الشرطة التي وصلت بسرعة إلى مكان الحادث وتمكنت من احتوائه.
يقول الاب يوحنا ناصف "إن هذا الموقف ليس بنادر في الاسكندرية. فالتوتر موجود في كل مكان".
وهو يورد ثلاثة أسباب يعتبرها السبب الرئيس في وقوع المصادمات "النظام التعليمي الذي لا يشجع على الحوار بين أبناء الوطن الواحد من أصحاب المعتقدات المختلفة والتمييز ضد المسيحيين في أماكن العمل فضلا عن البيئة المتخلفة التي تغذي الكراهية".
ويقول ناصف: "المشكلات من هذا القبيل عادة ما تظهر في المناطق الفقيرة حيث التخلف الثقافي والاجتماعي والاقتصادي".
حي الدخيلة في الاسكندرية الذي شهد حادث الشهر الماضي هو حي شعبي يعيش فيه المسلمون والمسيحيون جنبا إلى جنب في سلام ووئام منذ زمن طويل.
ويحتضن الحي كنيسة "السيدة العذراء" وعددا من المساجد الصغيرة. تشاجر نجل واحد من الائمة مع صبي مسيحي والنتيجة اندلاع معركة حامية الوطيس في الشارع بين عشرات من المتعصبين من الجانبين حيث قام المسلمون برشق نوافذ الكنيسة بالحجارة. وأصيب عدد من الاشخاص واعتقلت الشرطة 13 شخصا.
وأيقظ الحادث الاخير التوتر والفتنة النائمة وأثار العديد من المخاوف القديمة.
ففي تشرين أول/أكتوبر من عام 2005 وعلى مدى جمعتين متتاليتين كان مسلمون غاضبون يخرجون من صلاة الجمعة في المسجد صوب كنيسة "سان جورج" في حي "محرم بك" بالاسكندرية ويهاجمون الكنيسة ويروعون سكان الحي من المسيحيين.
وأثارت أحداث الشغب اسطوانة مدمجة مسجل عليها مسرحية مثلت داخل الكنيسة قيل أنها تسيء إلى الاسلام والنبي محمد.
وفي نيسان/إبريل عام 2006 قام متطرف زعمت جهات الامن انه مختل عقليا بمهاجمة أربع كنائس في الاسكندرية. قتل في الهجوم شخص مسيحي وأصيب 5 آخرون.
ومع كل حادث عنف تتأجج نيران الغضب في صدور الاقباط. وتزيد الاوضاع على الساحة السياسية والقضائية والاجتماعية الامور سوءا.
على الساحة السياسية يعاني الاقباط من تمثيل ضعيف في مجلسي الشعب والشورى وداخل الاحزاب السياسية.
ومع ارتفاع شعبية جماعة "الاخوان المسلمون" التي تنشط بشدة على الساحة السياسية والتي صار لها وجود قوي في البرلمان بدأت المخاوف تنتاب الاقباط من أن يعاملوا كأغراب في بلدهم أو حتى يتعرضون للاضطهاد بسبب عقيدتهم.
وتزداد المزاعم بالتمييز ضد الاقباط بل وحتى اضطهادهم. وتزعم السلطات المصرية أن أقباط المهجر ولاسيما في الولايات المتحدة يسكبون البنزين على النار ويطلبون من قوى أجنبية التدخل لتمكين الأقلية المسيحية في مصر.
يقول رفيق حبيب الخبير المعروف في الشئون القبطية وهو مسيحي ينتمي للطائفة الانجيلية انه على مدى الثلاثين عاما الماضية برز "مشروع قبطي سياسي". ويضيف قائلا ان الكنيسة القبطية تتحول بشكل تدريجي لتصبح الممثل الرئيسي للاقباط إلى "شيء شبيه بحزب سياسي للاقباط".
وأردف أن "التدخل الاجنبي في شئون الاقباط وفكرة منح حصص للاقباط في البرلمان جزء من هذا المشروع الذي يحظي بتأييد ومساندة بعض الدوائر القبطية داخل مصر".

Link: http://www.meo.tv/?id=50118

ANALYSIS: Christian Copts: Between integration and dissent + Chronology of Christian-Muslim Clashes

Published Date: July 09, 2007
By Pakinam Amer

Cairo - In their struggle against what has been termed prejudice or even outright persecution, many in Egypt's Christian Coptic community seem to have found a sanctuary in the church, where as well as praying they can also vent their rage.

In a typical Wednesday sermon at St Mark's Cathedral in Cairo, Pope Shenouda III, Pope of Alexandria and Patriarch of the See of St Mark, takes questions and listens to the anguish of members of the community after the sermon.

His entrance is always greeted with singing and cheering, and he is referred to by many worshippers as "the president of the republic of Copts."

The Christian Coptic Church of Egypt is one of the oldest churches in the world and represents the majority of Christians living in the country. The very word Coptic is derived from the Greek word Aigyptos, meaning Egypt - thus a Copt is by definition a native of Egypt.

The percentage of Copts in the overall population in Egypt has been lately a source of controversy, with some Islamist sources claiming it to be no more than 5 per cent, and Coptic sources going as high as 20 per cent.

Recently a Coptic bishop told worshippers in a church in Cairo that today there are between 10 and 15 million Copts in Egypt, out of an overall population of almost 79 million according to the 2006 census.

Surprisingly, the census bureau in Egypt has not released figures concerning Christians since 1986. Following the release of the results of the 2006 census, the head of the bureau was asked about the omission. He said the figures were left confidential in order not to "spark anyone's anger".

Religious minorities in Egypt, mainly Christians, have generally been able to practice their faith without severe persecution, though this has varied through the ages.

Following the Arab conquest of Egypt in 642 AD, and throughout the Middle Ages, freedom of religion for what Islamic jurisprudence calls "ahl al-dhimma" (non-Muslims under a pact of protection or dhimma), varied according to who ruled the country.

In the 11th century, the Fatimid Caliph al-Hakim, perceived by many present-day Egyptians as having been mentally deranged, is said to have ordered the demolition of most churches and synagogues in Egypt, Syria and Palestine, including the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, only to order their rebuilding later.

When Egypt came under Ottoman rule in 1517, the Ottomans sought to organise the building of non-Islamic places of worship by a special decree of the Sultan, thus issuing the Hatti Hamayoun, or the Hamayoun law, a modified form of which is still in place.

Many Copts, as well as Muslims, have been calling for the past 35 years - since the first clash between Muslims and Copts erupted over the construction of churches issue in 1972 - for a modern unified law for all places of worship, Muslim and non-Muslim alike.

A draft of this law has recently been presented to parliament, and is expected to see the light of the day after the end of summer recess.

But why did tensions rise in the past 35 years?

Many secular Egyptians claim that it began under the rule of former president Anwar Sadat, who declared himself a Muslim president leading a Muslim people.

Sadat sought the help of the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood movement, they say, and to appease them he amended an article in the constitution to the effect that Islamic sharia (Islamic law) became "the" source of legislation, rather than "a" source of legislation as was the case previously.

Other observers, however, claim that the idea of "Muslims and Christians living harmoniously throughout the centuries" is simply not true.

"The history of the Copts is full of constraints and discrimination. Quiet times are an exception," says Bishop Morcos Aziz Zakariya of the Hanging Church in Masr El-Qadima, Cairo.

"Currently, Copts are suffering outright discrimination, and we should not attempt to embellish this fact," he adds.

"Matters are getting worse, and the state is not moving one bit," says thesoftly- spoken bishop. According to him, "Christian youth has started to wake up and deal openly with this."

Many observers, including Christian experts, believe that the regime's power struggle with the Muslim Brotherhood ties its hands. As a wave of Islamist religiosity engulfs the country, the regime is competing for legitimacy with the Brotherhood, and does not want to appear less Islamic.

This is certainly the case when it comes to building new churches, or even renovating old ones.

Archaic laws mentioned above that pertainto the building and renovation of places of worship are quite restrictive.Copts are not allowed to build churches near strategic areas.

A church has to be away from the Nile, creeks, water facilities, another church, mosques, railway stations, important monuments or government property.

For restoration work, finding property rights is essential even if the church is hundreds of years old. The approval of state security authorities is usually required, and in many cases they do not grant permission for fear of antagonizing Islamist zealots.

"Restricting churches in that sense issick," says Youssef Sidhom, editor of Watani, a newspaper specializing in Coptic affairs.Some fanatical Muslims want to abolish churches."

"I can give you hundreds of examples of churches not granted permits when they were in dire need of restoration," says Mounir Fakhry Abdel-Nour, leading member of the Wafd Party. "Churches that are falling apart, yet permits are not issued for security reasons."

Beside the disputes over churches, Copts have lately perceived any violent incidents as part of a tug of a war against their religion. Consequently, they have started embracing "a culture of martyrdom," says Rafiq Habib, an authority on Coptic affairs, and a Christian himself though not a Copt.

Some Copts are now perceiving themselves as victims of systematic oppression, and believe that they are as persecuted as the first Christians. "This culture represents a resident danger," says Habib.

On a forum on the website Free Copts, a writer published the names of Christian victims in internal clashes in Egypt, terming the victims "martyrs."

There are other Christians who refuse to consider "discrimination" as the sole reason behind Coptic agitation.

Father Safwat Al-Bayadi, head of the Egyptian Anglican Church, attributes the troubles to the fact that "people are suffering in general," he says.

"Young people are fed up and are unable to speak out. They are poor and unemployed, this is why they fight one another," Bayadi says.

He also blames religious rhetoric in mosques and churches, where the desperate conditions of the young are manipulated to stir trouble and garner support.

According to Bayadi, young people sit in a mosque or a church and think the cleric is speaking the word of God. "If the cleric tells them: 'go kill a man', they will probably obey." - dpa

CHRONOLOGY: Clashes between Muslims and Copts in Egypt since 1972

Cairo (dpa) - Below is a chronology of incidents of violence between Egypt's Muslim and Coptic Christian communities since 1972:

November 6, 1972 - A school in Khanka in Qalyoubiya province, used unofficially for Coptic church services, becomes the site of fierce clashes as police intervene to halt the practice. The incident is the first clash over the issue of Christian places of worship in contemporary Egyptian history.

1981 - Shortly before the assassination of Egyptian president Anwar Sadat on October 6, 1981, more than 17 people are killed in clashes between Muslims and Copts in the working-class district of Zawiya Hamra in Cairo. The clashes are sparked by a rumour that a church was to be constructed on a site allocated for a mosque.

September 5, 1981 - Sadat orders the arrest of 170 Coptic priests, among hundreds of other opposition figures. He discharges Pope Shenouda III, and replaces him by a five-bishop committee headed byBishop Samuel. Pope Shenouda goes into seclusion in Wadi al-Natroun Monastery.

October 6, 1981 - Sadat is assassinated and Bishop Samuel, seated close to him, is also killed.

March 2, 1990 - Looting and torching of Christian property in Abu-Qarqas, in the Upper Egyptian province of Minya.

September 20, 1991 - Muslim fanatics destroy the property of Copts in al-Muneera al-Gharbiya in Greater Cairo.

June 19, 1992 - Three Copts killed in the village of Sanbou, in the Upper Egyptian province of Assiut. Coptic property suffers damage, and some houses are allegedly burnt down.

October 16, 1992 - A church in Tama, in the Upper Egyptian province of Souhag, is attacked, and clashes between Muslim and Christians lead to the death of several Copts.

March 11, 1994 - Two monks and three church visitors killed in al-Muharraq Monastery in the Upper Egyptian province of Assiut.

February 3, 1997 - A group of Copts are attacked in the Upper Egyptian province of Minya, and Christian property damaged. Earlier, three Copts were found dead in a field in Minya. The perpetrators, allegedly Muslim extremists, were never found.

February 14, 1997 - Three Copts killed in al-Fakriya district of Abu Qarqas in the Upper Egyptian province of Minya, the site of previous sectarian clashes.

August 1998 - The death of a Muslim, allegedly killed by a Christian, provokes a series of vengeful fierce clashes between Muslim and Copts in Kosheh, a village in the Upper Egyptian province of Suhag. Two Copts are killed in retaliation. Local security forces cordon off the village and rounds up more than 1,200 Copts according to some reports - including priests.

1999-2000 - Violent clashes in Khoseh continue after both sides reportedly arm themselves following the first incident. In one incident, reports said around two dozen Muslims and Copts lost their lives. A wave of arrests follows.

December 2004 - The 48-year-old Wafaa Constantine, wife of a Coptic clergyman in the province of Fayoumb, converts to Islam. The incident sparks mass protests. Some Copts go on a hunger strike demanding the return of Constantine to the Coptic Church. National security police hide Constantine to protect her, an act which enrages Copts. Pope Shenouda retreats to Wadi al-Natroun Monastery in protest. Tensions rise and at least 34 rioting Copts are arrested.

December 3, 2004 - Muslims attack a Coptic church in the village of Munqateen in Minya province. Some 25 people are arrested.

October 2005 - St George's Church in Alexandria is attacked because of the leaking of a CD of a play performed inside the church and allegedly insulting the Prophet Mohammed.

January 2006 - An unauthorized church in Udayssat near Luxorprovince is attacked on the eve of Epiphany services.

April 14, 2006 - Four Coptic churches are attacked in Alexandria by the same knife-wielding Muslim, who authorities claim was "mentally deranged.” A 78-year-old Copt dies. Egypt's second-largest city experiences weeks of sectarian rioting.

May 2007 - In the village of Bamha, in Giza province on the outskirts of Greater Cairo, a group of Muslims burn down some 25 houses and five shops belonging to Copts because they were allegedly holding unauthorized services in a house. More than 11 Copts are injured in the incident.

June 2007 - A fist fight between two children - a Copt and the Muslim son of a mosque imam - in Alexandria ignites the anger of both Copts and Muslims in the popular district of Dekhela and clashes ensue. Riot police intervene to contain the violence.

Link: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=OTI0MjAyMjUw

FEATURE: Christian Copts in Egypt: Between integration and dissent (ARABIC)

الحركات الاسلامية في مصر: وماذا عن الاقباط؟
الاقباط في مصر يشعرون انهم ضحايا لقمع منهجي ويعتقدون أنهم يتعرضون لاضطهاد مماثل لما تعرض له المسيحيون الاوائل.

ميدل ايست اونلاين القاهرة - من باكينام عامر
في كفاحهم ضد ما يوصف بالتحامل أو حتى الاضطهاد الصريح يبدو أن قسما كبيرا من أقباط مصر قد وجدوا الملاذ في الكنيسة حيث يصلون ويتعبدون وينفثون عن غضبهم أيضا.
بعد عظة الاربعاء بكاتدرائية سان مارك في القاهرة يأخذ البابا شنودة الثالث بابا الاسكندرية وبطريرك الكرازة المرقسية في تلقي الاسئلة والاستماع إلى شكاوى رعاياه الاقباط. وغالبا ما يستقبل بالزغاريد و تقابل مداخلاته بالغناء والتحية ويشير عدد من المصلين إليه بوصفه "رئيس جمهورية الاقباط".
والكنيسة القبطية المصرية واحدة من أقدم الكنائس في العالم وهى تمثل غالبية المسيحيين الذين يعيشون في البلاد. وكلمة قبطي مأخوذة من الكلمة اليونانية ايجبتوس التي تعني مصر وهكذا فان كلمة قبطي بحسب التعريف تعني سكان البلاد الاصليين.
ونسبة الاقباط في مصر بالنسبة للعدد الاجمالي للسكان كانت محل جدل كبير مؤخرا حيث تزعم بعض المصادر الاسلامية أنها لا تتعدى 5 في المئة وفي المقابل فان ثمة مصادر قبطية تصل بهذه النسبة إلى 20 في المئة.
ومؤخرا ابلغ أسقف قبطي المصلين في احدى كنائس القاهرة أن عدد الاقباط اليوم يتراوح بين 10 ملايين و15 مليونا من مجموع سكان مصر الذي بلغ نحو 79 مليونا بحسب إحصاء عام 2006.
ومن الغريب أن الجهاز المركزي للتعبئة العامة والاحصاء لم يكشف عن الارقام الخاصة بعدد المسيحيين منذ عام 1986. وعقب الاعلان عن أرقام إحصاء عام 2006 سئل رئيس الجهاز عن هذه المسألة فأجاب بان الارقام تركت طي الكتمان بهدف "عدم إغضاب احد".
والاقليات الدينية في مصر وتضم المسيحيين بالاساس تمارس حقوقها الدينية دون مضايقات حادة بشكل عام وان كان الامر يختلف من عهد لاخر.
فعقب فتح مصر عام 642 ميلاية وطوال العصور الوسطى فان حرية العبادة لما يطلق عليه في الادبيات الاسلامية باهل الذمة (وهم سكان البلاد من غير المسلمين) تفاوتت درجتها بحسب هوية الحاكم.
ففي القرن الـ 11 الميلادي وتحت قيادة الحاكم بأمر الله الخليفة الفاطمي الذي يري المصريون المحدثون انه كان مختل عقليا يقال انه أمر بتدمير غالبية الكنائس والمعابد اليهودية في مصر وسوريا وفلسطين ثم عاد في وقت لاحق وأمر بإعادة بنائها.
وعندما خضعت مصر للحكم العثماني عام 1517 عمل العثمانيون على تنظيم عملية بناء دور العبادة لغير المسلمين ومن ثم أصدر السلطان المرسوم أو الخط (القانون) الهمايوني الذي لا يزال معمولا به حتى يومنا هذا بعد إدخال بعض التعديلات عليه.
وعلى مدى الاعوام الـ 35 الماضية والمطالب لا تنقطع من جانب عدد كبير من الاقباط فضلا عن مسلمين أيضا – ومنذ وقوع أول صدام بين المسلمين والاقباط بسبب بناء الكنائس عام 1972 – بقانون جديد موحد لبناء دور العبادة كافة. وتم تقديم مشروع قانون بهذا الشأن إلى مجلس الشعب المصري ( البرلمان) ومن المتوقع أن يري النور عقب عطلة البرلمان الصيفية.
لكن يثور التساؤل الان عن السبب وراء ازدياد التوتر على مدى تلك الاعوام.
يزعم عدد كبير من العلمانيين المصريين انه بدأ في ظل حكم الرئيس السابق انور السادات الذي أعلن انه رئيس مسلم لشعب مسلم. كان السادات يسعى لنيل دعم جماعة الاخوان المسلمين – على حد قولهم – ومن اجل استرضائها قام بإدخال مادة في الدستور تنص على أن الشريعة الاسلامية هي المصدر الاساسي للتشريع وذلك بديلا عن مادة سابقة تقول أنها فقط احد مصادر التشريع.
بيد أن ثمة مراقبين آخرين يزعمون أن فكرة "تعايش المسلمين والمسيحيين عبر القرون" هي ببساطة غير حقيقية.
يقول الاسقف مرقص عزيز زكريا كاهن الكنيسة المعلقة في حي مصر القديمة في القاهرة "إن تاريخ الاقباط ملئ بالاضطهاد. ولم تكن الاوقات الهادئة إلا استثناء من هذا.
وأضاف الاسقف "الاقباط اليوم يعانون من اضطهاد شامل وعلينا ألا نجمل الحقيقة. والامور تزداد سوءا والدولة لا تتحرك قيد أنملة. والشباب المسيحي بدأ يستيقظ ويتعامل بشكل مباشر مع هذا الوضع".
ويعتقد عدد كبير من المراقبين ومن بينهم خبراء مسيحيين أن صراع النظام على السلطة مع جماعة الاخوان المسلمين يقيد يداه. ومع اجتياح موجة من الصحوة الاسلامية البلاد فان النظام يتنافس على الشرعية مع الاخوان المسلمين ولا يريد أن يبدو اقل "إسلامية".
وهذا هو الحال بالتأكيد عندما يتعلق الامر بقضية بناء كنائس جديدة أو حتى ترميم القديم منها. فالقوانين سالفة الذكر المتعلقة ببناء وترميم دور العبادة تحمل قيودا شديدة.
فمثلا من المحظور بناء الكنائس بالقرب من المناطق الاستراتيجية. فالكنيسة لا بد أن تكون بعيدة عن النيل والجداول والمصارف المائية وألا تكون بجوار كنيسة أو مسجد آخر أو محطة للسكك الحديدية أو المعالم الهامة أو ممتلكات حكومية. أما عملية إعادة بناء كنيسة فانه يلزم إبراز حق الملكية حتى لو كانت الكنيسة شيدت قبل مئات السنين. كما أن موافقة سلطات الامن مطلوبة عادة وفي حالات عديدة لا تمنح هذه السلطات التصريح المطلوب خشية إغضاب المتعصبين الاسلاميين. يقول يوسف سيدهم رئيس تحرير صحيفة وطني المعنية بشئون الاقباط "تقييد بناء الكنائس بهذا الاسلوب أمر يبعث على الغثيان. بعض المتعصبين الاسلاميين يريدون تدمير الكنائس".
يقول منير فخري عبد النور العضو البارز بحزب الوفد "أستطيع أن أعطي مئات الامثلة على كنائس لم تمنح لها تصاريح بالترميم رغم أنها كانت في اشد الاحتياج إليها. وثمة كنائس آيلة للسقوط ومع هذا لم يمنح لها تصريح لأسباب امنية".
والي جانب النزاعات بشان الكنائس فان الاقباط بداوا في الآونة الاخيرة يفسرون أي حادث عنف في إطار حرب تشن على دينهم. وبالتالي فإنهم راحوا يتبنون "ثقافة الاستشهاد " بحسب رفيق حبيب وهو احد المراجع في الشئون القبطية وهو نفسه مسيحيا وان كان ينتمي إلى الطائفة الانجيلية التي تشكل أقلية بين المسيحيين في مصر .
ويري بعض الاقباط اليوم في أنفسهم ضحايا لقمع منهجي ويعتقدون أنهم يتعرضون لاضطهاد مماثل لما تعرض له المسيحيون الاوائل. يقول حبيب "إن هذه الثقافة تمثل خطرا كامنا".
في منتدى على موقع الاقباط الاحرار على الانترنت نشر كاتب اسماء ضحايا مسيحيين لمصادمات داخلية في مصر ووصف الضحايا بـ "الشهداء".
لكن ثمة أقباط آخرين يرفضون اعتبار "التمييز" السبب الوحيد لغضب الاقباط". ويعزو الاب صفوت البياضي المشكلات إلى "معاناة الشعب ككل".
يقول البياضي "الشباب فاض به الكيل وهو عاجز عن الكلام علانية. إنهم يعانون من الفقر والبطالة لذا فإنهم يحاربون بعضهم البعض". كما انه يلوم رجال الدين في الكنائس والمساجد على الاسلوب الناري الذي يستخدمونه في خطبهم ومواعظهم حيث يستغلون معاناة الشباب في اثارة المشكلات وكسب التأييد الشعبي.
ويتابع البياضي ان الشاب يجلس في مسجد أو كنيسة وهو يعتقد ان الامام أو القس يقول كلمة الله . ويردف "إذا قال له رجل الدين اقتل فلانا فانه ربما لا يتردد في تنفيذ الامر".

Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/?id=50096

CHRONOLOGY: History of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt (companion to the two main stories -- scroll down)

Cairo - Below is a chronology outlining key events in the history of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood movement, the Islamist organization that has grown to become the country's largest opposition faction.

July 1928 - Hassan al-Banna, a school teacher in the Suez Canal province of Ismailiya, founds the Society of the Muslim Brothers, generally known as the Muslim Brotherhood.

January 1936 - Street violence takes place between paramilitary groups belonging to political parties, including the paramilitary wing of the Brotherhood.

December 1936 - Restrictions placed by parliament on the formation of paramilitary groups, following the ratification of the 1936 Anglo- Egyptian Treaty granting a form of independence to Egypt which was under British occupation since 1882.

October 1938 - Congress for the Defence of Palestine formed by Egyptian parliamentarians. Brotherhood members active in campaigning against Jewish settlement in Palestine.

October 1939 - Martial law imposed because of World War II.

January 1946 - A pro-British minister is assassinated in protest at Britain's continued military presence in Egypt following the end of World War II. Anwar Sadat, to become Egypt's president in the 1970s is among the assassins. A wave of political unrest sweeps the country for the rest of the year, but Brotherhood members support the pro-British government and clash with communists who enjoy wide influence among students and workers.

November 1948 - Egyptian army defeated in the 1948 first Arab- Israeli War. Police arrest hundreds of Brotherhood volunteers who went to Palestine before the establishment of the State of Israel on May 15, 1948, to fight on the side of the Palestinians.

December 1948 - Cairo police chief assassinated and the Brotherhood group is legally banned. In the same month prime minister Nuqrashi Pasha is assassinated, allegedly in retaliation for the banning of the Muslim Brotherhood. February 1949 - Al-Banna, the founder and general guide of the Muslim Brotherhood, is assassinated, allegedly by the secret police.

March 1950 - Trial of Brotherhood members suspected of the two assassinations.

July 23, 1952 - The Free Officers led by Gamal Abdel-Nasser assume power, and seek the support of Brotherhood members. Nasser, allegedly, was a member of the group for a short while before he founded the officers' movement which overthrew the monarchy.

January 1954 - Brotherhood again banned after street clashes in Cairo and elsewhere.

October 1954 - Following an alleged failed attempt on Nasser's life that month, hundreds of Brotherhood members arrested. Six Brotherhood members were executed. The incident marks the beginning of a crackdown on Brotherhood members and supporters during the Nasser era. Most leaders remained in jail until released by Sadat in the 1970s.

September 1965 - Wide arrests of new Brotherhood members, as well as leaders - such as Sayed Qutb - who were released in 1964.

August 29, 1966 - Qutb and two other Brotherhood leaders are hanged after being tried for allegedly plotting to overthrow the regime.

1974 - The last batch of Brotherhood leaders released by Sadat, following the 1973 October War.

September 5, 1981 - Sadat cracks down on all opposition forces, including the Brotherhood, for opposing his peace treaty with Israel. A month later Sadat is assassinated during a military parade marking the victory of the 1973 October War.

May 1984 - The Brotherhood forms an alliance with the Wafd Party and fields candidates for parliamentary elections that year, thus signaling the group's first attempt to win power via the ballot box.

May 1987 - As parliament is dissolved, the Brotherhood forms an election alliance with the Islamist Labour Party. Together, they coin the slogan "Islam is the Solution"." The group wins 35 seats in the new parliament.

October 1990 - As the Egyptian army prepares to join the international alliance formed to expel the Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein from Kuwait, the regime resorts to repressive measures which leads the opposition, including the Muslim Brotherhood, to boycott parliamentary elections. Throughout the decade Brotherhood members, opposed to both Israel and US intervention in Iraq, are systematically clamped down on, only enjoying brief spells of warm relations with the regime of Hosny Mubarak.

November 2005 - The Brotherhood fields lesser-known group members as independent candidates in parliamentary elections, and wins 88 seats in the present parliament.

November 2006 - Leaders of the Brotherhood arrested. Property and business assets of 40 wealthy group members, including Deputy General Guide Khairat el-Sahter, frozen for alleged money-laundering. The 40 defendants presently await a military trial.

Copyright © 2007 Respective Author

Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/80639.html

*image from news.bbc.co.uk (through images.google.com)

Muslim Brotherhood: Past Struggles, Future Challenges

Published Date: July 10, 2007
By Pakinam Amer

Cairo - The present leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, members of which are known in Arabic as the Ikhwan, has achieved what other Islamist groups have so far failed to do: made its war against the Egyptian regime "holy" without spilling one drop of blood.

"The path ahead is long - but it would be shorter with a belief in peaceful, civilized change," Mohamed Habib, the Brotherhood's second- in-command, said last month in his "Letter to Egyptians", an editorial posted regularly on the Ikhwan's website.

Founded in 1928, the Brotherhood, one of the oldest grassroots organizations in the Sunni Islamic world, has been the ideological inspiration for many of the Islamist movements that have emerged over the past 50 years.In the 1930s and 40s, the group had a strong paramilitary wing, which fought against Jewish settlers in Palestine.

Thousands of Brotherhood volunteers went to Palestine in 1947 to fight against the creation of the State of Israel. Upon their return to Egypt, they were rounded up and put in concentration camps.

In 1948, the Brotherhood clashed with the Egyptian government and assassinated the police chief of Cairo: the government responded by banning the group. They, in turn, assassinated the prime minister, prompting authorities to kill the group's founder Hassan Al-Banna in February 1949.

While the Brotherhood's paramilitary wing has since been dissolved, the group still has a strong affinity with the Palestinian cause.

Former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat is said to have joined the group while studying in Egypt, and the spiritual leader of Hamas, the late Sheikh Ahmed Yassin, was also a Brotherhood member.

Following the overthrow of the monarchy in 1952, the group enjoyed a brief spell of good relations with Egypt's new rulers, the Free Officers, led by Gamal Abdel-Nasser.

However this did not last, and the group was again banned in 1954.

Members of the Brotherhood were subsequently imprisoned and tortured by the Nasser regime and a number of its leaders were executed. Nasser's successor, Anwar Sadat, ordered the release of hundreds of Brotherhood leaders in the early 1970s.

Today observers believe the group's widespread influence, which seems to have become stronger as a result of the persecution it has suffered, has prompted yet another clampdown on the group by the present regime of President Hosni Mubarak.

However, thus far the Brotherhood seems to be winning this battle, claiming to speak "in the name of God", as Brotherhood members put it, in a society where strict forms of religiosity are increasing day by day.

In 1987, the group decided to try to gain power by legal means, running candidates in that year's parliamentary elections. It garnered 35 seats in parliament as a result, with current leader Mohammed Mahdi Akef becoming the first General Guide of the Brotherhood to be elected an Egyptian MP.

Since then, the regime has responded by trying to make it impossible for the group to contest elections.

Since the group is still legally banned, it must field candidates as independents, 88 of whom won seats in the last polls. The group now holds some 20 per cent of mandates in the Egyptian parliament, making it the largest opposition bloc.

"The government thinks that its use of excessive force will break our backs, throttle our actions and stop our expansion," said a statement from the Brotherhood after the arrest of some of its senior leaders last November.

"We tell them: You have arrested more than 20,000of our members over the past decades, but this has only multiplied people's love for us and doubled their support."

The regime is apparently doing whatever it can, whether through the official media or by ordering police action against the group, to uproot it from Egyptian society.

Yet it is not easy to outmanoeuvre a group that according to its motto, coined 80 years ago and still chanted today, takes the "Prophet Muhammad as our Imam, the Holy Quran as our constitution, and death for the sake of God as our greatest aspiration".

Rhetoric aside, the Brotherhood is an effective political force, and in recent campaigns it has promised "democracy" to all, including women and Egypt's Christians, the Copts, who have been promised "equal opportunities" with Muslims.

In the introduction to a "Political Reform Initiative" recently issued by the group, Akef writes: "We stand little chance of achieving development in any field of our lives unless we return to our religion, apply our sharia (Islamic Law), follow the path of science and modern technology and acquire as much knowledge as we can."

"In this way we seek God's blessings," he wrote, repeating similar rhetoric throughout the document, which argues for reform in the legal, educational, economic, social and even scientific fields.

Despite the publication of policy documents of this sort, in order for the group to be recognized as a political party it has to be approved by the Parties Commission as stipulated in the Egyptian constitution.

However, Akef says, while "we have always wanted to transform ourselves into a political party, we won't do so until the freedom to form parties is granted without the present restrictions."

The Brotherhood, it seems, does not mind waiting until the right moment arrives. Indeed, it has long shown itself to be adept in the art of staying put, time spent in the prisons of successive Egyptian regimes having taught its members patience. - dpa

Link: http://www.kuwaittimes.net/read_news.php?newsid=NzkyOTM5MzA5

FEATURE: The Muslim Brotherhood: past struggle, future challenges (ARABIC)

الحركات الاسلامية في مصر: الأخوان المسلمون بين نضال الماضي وتحديات المستقبل

القيادة الحالية للإخوان المسلمين بمصر تنجح في جعل حربها ضد النظام المصري مقدسة دون إراقة قطرة دم واحدة.

ميدل ايست اونلاين القاهرة - من باكينام عامر
نجحت القيادة الحالية للإخوان المسلمين بمصر في تحقيق ما فشلت جماعات إسلامية أخرى في تحقيقه حيث جعلت حربها ضد النظام المصري "مقدسة" دون إراقة قطرة دم واحدة.
وقال ثاني أبرز القيادات الإخوانية محمد حبيب في مقال نشره الموقع الإلكتروني للجماعة المحظورة رسميا في مصر إن الطريق مازال طويلا غير أن الإيمان بأهمية التغيير السلمي والمتحضر سيجعله قصيرا.
وكانت جماعة "الإخوان المسلمون" التي تأسست عام 1928 وهي واحدة من أقدم المنظمات الشعبية في دول العالم الاسلامي السنية مصدر إلهام للكثير من الحركات الإسلامية التي ظهرت على مدار الخمسين عاما الماضية.
وخلال الثلاثينيات والأربعينيات من القرن الماضي كان للجماعة جناح مسلح قوي حارب ضد المستوطنين اليهود في الأراضي الفلسطينية. وسافر الآلاف من أعضاء الإخوان كمتطوعين إلى فلسطين عام 1947 للقتال ضد إنشاء دولة إسرائيل. ولدى عودتهم إلى مصر اعتقلوا.
وفي عام 1948 اصطدمت جماعة الإخوان المسلمين مع الحكومة المصرية وقتلت قائد شرطة القاهرة. وكان رد الحكومة حينئذ هو حظر الجماعة. وردت الجماعة على ذلك باغتيال رئيس الوزراء ما دفع السلطات إلى قتل مؤسس الجماعة حسن البنا في شباط/فبراير عام .1949
ورغم أن الجناح المسلح للجماعة جرى حله منذ ذلك الحين إلا أنه مازالت للجماعة صلة قوية بالقضية الفلسطينية.
ويقال إن الرئيس الفلسطيني الراحل ياسر عرفات انضم إلى الجماعة أثناء دراسته في مصر. كما كان الزعيم الروحي الراحل لحركة حماس الشيخ أحمد ياسين عضوا بالجماعة.
وبعد الإطاحة بالملكية في عام 1952 حظيت الجماعة بعلاقات جيدة مع الحكام الجدد في مصر (الضباط الأحرار) بقيادة جمال عبد الناصر لبعض الوقت لكن شهر العسل بين الجانبين لم يدم طويلا وحظرت الجماعة مجددا في عام .1954
وأعقب ذلك حملة اعتقالات وتعذيب من جانب النظام ضد أعضاء جماعة الإخوان المسلمين وشمل ذلك إعدام عدد من قيادات الجماعة. وأمر خليفة عبد الناصر الرئيس الراحل أنور السادات بإطلاق سراح المئات من قياديي الجماعة في أوائل السبعينيات من القرن الماضي.
ويعتقد محللون بأن النفوذ الواسع للجماعة اليوم سبب في الحملة الحالية ضدها من جانب حكومة الرئيس حسني مبارك.
غير أن الجماعة تبدو وكأنها الفائزة في المعركة الحالية مع النظام المصري لأنها تتحدث باسم الدين في مجتمع يزيد فيه التدين يوما بعد يوم.
وفي عام 1987 حاولت جماعة الإخوان المسلمين الوصول إلى الحكم بوسائل قانونية فخاض أعضاؤها الانتخابات البرلمانية وفازوا بـ 36 مقعدا. وكان المرشد العام للإخوان المسلمين الحالي محمد مهدي عاكف هو أول عضو بالجماعة يحصل على الحصانة البرلمانية.
ومنذ ذلك الحين كان رد فعل النظام المصري هو محاولة منع أعضاء الجماعة المحظورة قانونا من المنافسة في أي انتخابات.
ولأن الجماعة محظورة يخوض أعضاؤها المنافسة في أي انتخابات كمستقلين. وفاز 88 من أعضاء الجماعة بمقاعد في البرلمان الصمري الحالي ما جعلهم أكبر كتلة معارضة.
وقالت جماعة الإخوان المسلمين في بيان عقب إلقاء القبض على عدد من قياداتها في تشرين ثان/نوفمبر الماضي "إن الحكومة تعتقد أن استخدامها المفرط للقوة سيكسر عزيمتنا .. لكننا نقول لهم: إن اعتقال أكثر من 20 ألفا من أعضائنا على مدار العقود الماضية أدى فحسب إلى زيادة حب الناس ودعمهم لنا".
وحرصت جماعة الإخوان المسلمين في حملاتها الأخيرة على التعهد بتحقيق الديمقراطية للجميع بما فيهم النساء كما وعدت أقباط مصر بفرص متكافئة مع المسلمين.
وأكد عاكف في مبادرة إصلاح سياسية أطلقتها الجماعة في الآونة الأخيرة تمسك الجماعة بالشريعة الإسلامية واتباع طريق العلم والتكنولوجيا الحديثة والسعي لاكتساب كل أشكال المعرفة.
ودعت الوثيقة إلى إصلاحات في المجالات القانونية والتعليمية والاقتصادية والاجتماعية والعلمية.
وقال عاكف إن الجماعة حاولت دائما أن تتحول إلى حزب سياسي لكن ذلك لن يتحقق إلا بعد السماح بحرية تشكيل الأحزاب.

Link: http://www.middle-east-online.com/?id=50088

http://meo.tv/?id=50088=50088&format=0

INTERVIEW: Muslim Brotherhood leader on prison, belief, and Mubarak

By Pakinam Amer
Jul 9, 2007, 4:59 GMT

Cairo - 'I used to say to myself, tomorrow I will meet the beloved ones, Prophet Mohammed and his companions,' recounts Mohammed Mahdi Akef of his time in prison awaiting his execution.

Akef is the political leader of the Society of Muslim Brothers, also known as Muslim Brotherhood, the Islamist movement which since its inception in Egypt in 1928 has become the driving opposition force in many Arab countries.

A source of ideological inspiration to many of the world's Islamist movements, the group officially rejects violent means to achieve its aim of an Islamic state but is nonetheless accused of links with extremist groups and of fomenting armed action.

Speaking to Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa in Cairo, Akef recalls how in 1954 he was charged with involvement in an attempt on the life of former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel-Nasser. Sentenced to death, the sentence was later commuted to life with hard labour.

Akef was number seven on the state's execution list at one point. 'They executed six Brotherhood leaders one day,' he remembers, 'but postponed the rest until the next.'

While he was lying in a narrow military cell waiting for the sentence to be carried out, a guard came in and told him he had received a phone call. It was his mother's voice on the other end, telling him that 'there would be no execution.'

'I was certain that this was the end, and I was ready for it,' Akef says. The death sentence concentrated his focus so much that he 'did not waste a single minute while in prison.'

'I had a vision for the future that I wrote during that time,' Akef says, adding that he has always refused to publish his 'vision.'

Akef was eventually released from prison in 1974 following Nasser's death and during the rule of his successor Anwar Sadat. Shortly after his release he left the country, first to Saudi Arabia then to Germany.

He returned to Egypt in the 1980s, and was arrested in 1996 on charges of leading the Germany-based international wing of the Brotherhood. He was released in 1999.

If anything, such experiences of prison have made him stronger, Akef claims. 'Prison does not break those who have belief. Not even torture can do that. No force on Earth can conquer the bearers of religious traditions,' the 79-year-old says.

Today, the General Guide, or Murshid, of the Muslim Brotherhood says the group are engaged in an 'open war' with the Egyptian regime that has reached new heights.

The situation today is 'worse than that in the prisons of Nasser,' Akef says.

Egypt's current president, Hosny Mubarak, has slammed the Brotherhood for its desire to bring religion onto the country's political stage, and Egypt's state-owned newspapers refer to the group simply as 'the banned one' despite its parliamentary representation.

Mubarak was recently quoted by the press as saying that the group constituted 'a danger to national security.' If the Brotherhood ever came to power, Mubarak said, the Egyptian economy would be wrecked, and the country would be isolated internationally.

Hundreds of members have been rounded up during the past year on charges of belonging to an illegal organization, while Brotherhood journalists have been harassed, and a group-affiliated newspaper closed down.

The group is fiercely attacked in the state-controlled media. 'What we are facing now is worse than during any other period we have passed through,' Akef says, 'not only because of what is happening to us, but because of the calamities hitting the entire ummah (Muslim nation).'

Akef was born in 1928, the year of the Brotherhood's founding, joining the movement's ranks when he was just 12 years old and when the group's founder Hassan al-Banna, who was assassinated in 1949, was at the height of his influence.

'Freedom reigned' in those days, Akef remembers. 'Everyone, whether good or bad, was left to do what he wanted. No one spied on you or asked what you were up to.'

Akef dedicated his life to the movement. Today, he is as serious as he was when a young man. Asked about his attitude towards the cinema and other forms of entertainment, Akef says that while young he used to love the movie 'Gone with the Wind,' but today he is a Brother above all else. 'I understand politics,' he comments, 'not the arts or entertainment.'

Upon joining the group, Akef was told that the Brotherhood's para- military wing, since dissolved, needed trainers. He was more than happy to comply, thus enrolling at the school of physical education, rather than the school of engineering which he had originally wanted to join.

While he has seen many trials and tribulations over the years, Akef is today more troubled than ever about the future.

The ummah is under threat, he says, and 'losing the ummah would be worse than jail or physical torture. We have been able to handle the latter as long as it was in the interests of the ummah. We have been persecuted for over 50 years now.'

Through speeches that draw on the life of the Prophet Mohammed and other Muslim figures, the Brotherhood has tried to draw attention to events in the Palestinian Territories, Iraq and Lebanon and to developments that they claim are leading to the disintegration of the Islamic ummah.

The Palestinian situation has long been at the top of the group's agenda, with the Brotherhood holding consciousness-raising campaigns about the Arab-Israeli struggle, which they term 'an Islamic nationalist cause.'

For Akef, the former Egyptian president Anwar Sadat had 'abandoned the Palestinian cause,' when he signed the Camp David peace accords with the Israelis and Americans. He however now claims that 'Mubarak has abandoned it even further.'

'The only hope we have is hope in God Almighty,' says the Supreme Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood.

'If our lives were not based on belief in God and in his prophets, then there would be no meaning in any other belief. The reality is that religion holds the keys to the future.'

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ANALYSIS: Saudi King, Mubarak insist on "Palestinian unity" (dpa)

Middle East News

By Pakinam Amer
Jun 26, 2007, 22:39 GMT

Cairo - During dinner talks with Saudi's King Abdullah bin Abdel-Aziz in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, Egyptian President Hosny Mubarak reiterated his calls to the Palestinian factions to end their rift, according to overnight editions of Wednesday's newspapers.

Mubarak and Abdullah held dinner talks late Tuesday and were expected to continue discussion in a working breakfast on Wednesday morning.

The agenda of discussions included so far issues like the Iranian nuclear programme and the continuous blood spilling in Iraq, according to state-owned press.

But in the wake of a key summit that brought Palestinian and Israeli leaders to the meeting table, the Palestinian infighting and the Arab- Israeli dossier dominated the discussions.

The two leaders discussed the developments in the Palestinian territories, now split between the two power factions Hamas and Fatah, and the results of Monday's controversial four-way summit that took place in Sharm el-Sheikh.

The summit, also attended by Jordan, was said to have contributed in splitting the camps of the Palestinians by giving unconditional support to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Two weeks earlier and following intense squabbling, Hamas succeeded in a forcible military takeover of the Gaza strip, with members of its militia posing to the cameras as they tramped through government quarters.

Abbas immediately dissolved the Hamas-led cabinet and installed a more moderate emergency government in place.

It was no secret that one of the aims of the summit was to rally round Abbas, according to Egyptian officials. By supporting his legitimacy, the gathering naturally closed ranks against Hamas or at least increased its isolation.

Arab skepticism nevertheless surfaced especially since Israel failed to deliver on issues such as releasing the full funds of Palestinian tax revenue which are estimated at 700 million dollars, in giving Palestinians more freedom of traffic in Israeli areas or lifting military checkpoints across the West Bank.

Many Arab commentators said on Tuesday that the Israeli leadership had succeeded to 'wriggle out' of larger commitments by distracting its counterparts with the decision of freeing 250 Fatah prisoners whose hands are not stained by Israeli blood - a phrase which Israel uses to refer to militants who performed acts of terrorism against the Jewish state.

Singling out Fatah members from an estimated 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners was meant to drive a wedge between Palestinians, said observers, and was highly questioned by Palestinian leaders.

'Two-hundrred-and-fifty are probably less than the number of Palestinians which Israel arrests every month,' Mostafa al-Barghouty, a prominent Palestinian democracy activist, told the BBC Arabic service on Tuesday.

He dismissed the whole matter as a 'joke' adding that 'it is not beyond Israel to release those with minor crimes and misdemeanours.'

According to independent observers in Egypt, the Israeli 'goodwill' gesture and the so-called 'Arab disappointment' that followed are to be discussed by Mubarak and the Saudi king who is scheduled to proceed to Amman on Wednesday for talks with Jordan's King Abdullah II.

Saudi officials floated the possibility of a meeting between the Saudi King and Abbas. Clearly, the King wants to hold talks with all the Arab leaders who attended the summit.

Observers believe that the Saudis are keen -especially in this timing- on revisiting the Arab-hailed, Saudi-backed peace initiative and bring it back on the table of negotiations.

The Saudis, who are major US allies and regional power brokers, are also expected to okay the Arab position concerning the new emergency government.
Egypt and Jordan were quick to huddle around Abbas. But since the summit, Egypt has been toning down its harsh statements regarding Hamas, and has begun to take a more reconciliatory stance -even if it's only in words.

Mubarak surprised many by sending an open invitation to Fatah and Hamas to negotiate, even though Abbas had earlier termed Hamas' revolt 'a bloody coup.'

On Tuesday, Mubarak even told Israeli television's Channel 1 that in his 'personal opinion' Hamas did not intend to take over Gaza, but rather things got 'out of control,' ending in the assumption of power.

In the Egyptian press, he attempted to reassure the Egyptian people - and perhaps his own regime - that Hamas' control of Gaza is not a direct threat to the national security of Egypt, and that its conflicts with Fatah are strictly 'internal matters' to the Palestinians.

Mubarak was indeed cautious, since the Islamist power that is Hamas arguably poses a threat to his own homeland that suffers the influence of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, from which Hamas draws its spiritual guidance.

Mubarak clearly said the events in Gaza have 'regional' implications, and Egypt would not allow radical Islamic groups to stabilize themselves in his country.
Still, he also insisted on unifying the Palestinian front.

Mubarak's call was warmly received by Hamas.

Sacked Palestinian Premier Ismail Haniyeh told reporters on Tuesday that the Egyptian invitation shows 'awareness and consideration of the nature of the political complications on the Palestinian arena.'

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NEWS ANALYSIS: Four-way summit serves as a show of support for Abbas (dpa)

Middle East News

By Pakinam Amer
Jun 25, 2007, 20:39 GMT

Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt - A four-way summit at the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh ended without a breakthrough, and according to independent observers, none was intended.

In their eyes, the summit was merely 'an exercise in public relations' aiming at hailing support for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and his new emergency government.

Egypt's President Hosny Mubarak called for the summit in the wake of the recent dramatic developments in Gaza, where in five days of savage fighting Hamas gunmen routed their opposite numbers from Abbas' Fatah party.

The summit had been officially aimed at discussing ways of accelerating the peace process in addition to 'giving hope to the Palestinian people in forming an independent Palestinian state,' as summit organizers put it.

But the Israeli leadership did not make any strong commitments to a set of steps that were seen as essential for Israel to boost Abbas and his new cabinet: security cooperation, release of full Palestinian tax revenue funds, ease of transportation of humanitarian aid and the lifting of military checkpoints around the West Bank.

The summit clearly focused on bringing Abbas and Olmert together, in the presence of Arab states. And as much as the Egyptians wanted to seem impartial in the struggle between Hamas and Fatah, their efforts were futile.

It is true that the Egyptian leadership were not quick to denounce Hamas or even use the term 'terrorist' that Israel and other Western states use to describe the militant Islamic group, which has recently taken over the Gaza Strip.

But in a press conference at the end of Monday's summit, presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad refused to address the question of 'Hamas legitimacy' when cornered by a reporter.

Instead, he said that the summit did not aim at discussing the rift between Hamas and Fatah, 'but is meant to lift the suffering of the Palestinians and put the peace process back on track.'

It was arguably a witty way to avoid commenting on Hamas, but it still does not negate the fact that Egypt's leadership had apparently given a sigh of relief when the Hamas-led government was dissolved and a moderate one was installed in place.

After this decision was made, Egypt was the first to express support by backing Abbas and shifting its diplomatic delegation from Gaza, the hotbed of Hamas, to Ramallah in the West Bank, which is controlled by Fatah and the Palestinian Authority (PA).

Insider sources from both Hamas and the Egyptian government had told Egyptian newspapers that bilateral talks between Egypt's intelligence head Omar Suleiman and Hamas leaders are ongoing in order for a solution to be reached.

But the shadow of an Islamic state right on the borders with Egypt is too worrying, observers say.

'The fear of Hamas is the fear of the Islamic project, the fear of an Islamic state that could lie a few kilometres away from Egypt,' says Essam el-Erian, leading member of Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood - the spiritual guide to many Islamic groups around the region, mainly in Egypt and Jordan, and the womb from which Hamas was born.

Egypt has been engaged in its own power struggle with the Brotherhood - a group that gains its legitimacy from its Islamic conservative identity and entrenches itself among Egypt's grassroots through providing services to the people.

Hamas' sweeping majority victory in last year's Palestinian elections both stunned and intimidated regional and international states. In a weaker echo, but still worrying to Egypt's leaders, the Muslim Brotherhood made great strides in recent elections, taking 88 seats in Parliament and forming the strongest opposition force there.

And although the Egyptian government had always considered Hamas a resistance group and a member of the Palestinian political circle, the fear that the group could serve as an inspiration to Islamists in neighbouring countries has always been stalking them, according to several analysts and Egyptian columnists.

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Accusations fly as Egypt's ruling party rivals are crushed (dpa)

Middle East News

By Pakinam Amer
Jun 18, 2007, 17:27 GMT

Cairo - President Hosny Mubarak's ruling party was set to clinch victory in the first and second rounds of Shura Council elections, but the aftermath of a violent and controversial electoral process could spoil the celebrations.

The Shura Council is the upper house of the Egyptian bicameral parliament. Established in 1980, the 264-seat panel takes its name from the Islamic term Shura, meaning consultation, but has little legislative power.

As polling stations closed late Monday rounding off the second round of elections, reports of violence, collective voting, and claims of rigging flew as strongly as they did in the first round held on June 11.

Civil society and human rights groups continued to count the flaws and to press complaints against the use of riot police and national security forces in shadowing NDP rivals, cordoning off ballot stations where Muslim Brotherhood members were running and in threatening voters, according to some of their reports.

As the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) prepared to celebrate, the leader of its biggest threat - the banned Islamic force that is the Muslim Brotherhood - mocked their victory and dismissed the party leaders as 'liars.'

The Muslim Brotherhood claimed that 1,000 of their members, supporters of candidates were rounded up as they posted flyers allegedly carrying religious slogans.

Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated voters reported being beaten and harassed. In areas where Brotherhood candidates were on election lists, voters were told that the elections were cancelled.

It came as no surprise to observers that on the first round of the June 11 elections, the NDP won 69 of the 71 contested seats.

'If the NDP had men, a programme and the ability to challenge the Brothers, it would have never used security police to reach its ends,' said the outspoken Mohammed Mahdi Akef Akef, leader of the Brotherhood, whose group fielded 19 candidates but lost all their seats in the first round.

The runoff elections on Monday took place between independents and NDP candidates for 16 seats.

'(But) these elections do not represent a special importance on our agenda,' the so-called 'supreme guide' of the group said, adding that the Brotherhood has 'more dangerous issues' to attend to and that the elections only helped them establish a presence.

The Brothers are conservative activists entrenched among Egypt's grassroots. Their group has called for the implementation of Islamic law, and takes 'Islam is the Solution' as its political motto. It is said to be the biggest opposition to the NDP.

Concerning the possibility of dissolving the lower-house of parliament - the powerful and legislative People's Assembly - in order to rid of its 88 Brotherhood-affiliated members, as some analysts had suggested after what happened at the Shura elections, Akef said that it was a possibility, but that no scenarios could be predicted under the current regime.

'Anything is possible under this authoritarian regime; a regime that cannot accomplish anything without security police,' he said. 'The security police are ruling the country.'

The Brothers might have left the race empty-handed, all the while decrying what they deemed 'outright injustice.' But they refused to admit defeat.

'The losers are those who violated the rules,' said senior leader and Brotherhood political council member Essam el-Erian. 'Why do you think the regime never disclosed the election figures?'

Apart from the reported violations, clashes marred the elections' scene, especially where ruling party candidates were either running against members of the same party or independents.

A total of 58 campaigners were arrested in Qeft city and Qena province in Upper Egypt, according to security sources.

In west Qena, 25 supporters of independent candidate Maher Moussa were arrested overnight and charged with thuggery and the use of violence during canvassing.

Early Monday, and only a few hours after elections began, supporters of Moussa allegedly picked a physical fight with the supporters of the NDP contestant. At least 19 people were arrested in this incident.

An exchange of fire between two different groups of campaigners belonging to the NDP and left-leaning al-Tagamu party in Qeft, several kilometres away from Qena, also led to the arrest of 14.

In some provinces, especially in Upper Egypt and North Sinai, tensions were high and ethnicity, origins, and tribe membership had the upper hand in controlling people's choices.

A total of 31 candidates were in the contest and awaiting results. So far, the fate of 71 of the 88 contested seats has been decided in the first round of elections.

A contest on one seat in Qasr al-Nil was decided when a contestant left the race for the NDP candidate running in this constituency.

Results of the second round are expected to be announced early Tuesday.

© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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Egypt's ruling party wins Shura elections (dpa)

Middle East News

By Pakinam Amer
Jun 13, 2007, 15:11 GMT

Cairo - As anticipated, Egypt's ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) won a majority of the 88 contested seats in mid-term Shura (parliament's upper house) elections, according to official results issued Wednesday.

The Muslim Brothers, the NDP's biggest threat, emerged empty- handed.

The Higher Commission for Elections announced the winners Wednesday afternoon after more than a 24-hour delay.

A total of 58 seats were filled by NDP candidates, one was won by left-leaning Tagammu and another by an independent. A total of 11 seats in 10 constituencies were pre-decided since their candidates ran uncontested.

Run-offs will be held for 17 seats, said Adel Andrawes, Higher Commission for Elections (HCE) head, on Wednesday.

Allegations of fraud, vote rigging, collective voting and bribery circulated following Monday's election for the Shura Council, the consultative upper house of Egypt's parliament. Its duties are limited to ratifying constitutional amendments, treaties and bill proposals.

The banned Muslim Brotherhood group fielded 19 candidates despite a fierce clampdown on its ranks. But no seats were won by the Brotherhood in this round.

According to Mohammed Fiki, a Brotherhood senior leader and a losing candidate from Giza, the NDP candidate in their constituency got 92,000 votes 'through rigging.'

'Believe me, if a prophet from God descended in this area, he will never reap this amount of votes,' a bitter Fiki told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa.

The announcement of the election results reflected the chaotic way in which the voting was carried out in many constituencies.

On Tuesday, reporters were left to wait for more than six hours at HCE headquarters as conflicting statements were issued and commission employees started leaving for home.

The official announcement of the results was postponed to Wednesday afternoon because results were still coming in, according to the HCE but observers said that 'conflicts and discrepancies' may have been the real reason for the delay.

For instance, the Brotherhood hotbeds in Giza province must have represented a problem since there was no mention of Giza in preliminary results published by the state-owned newspaper at midnight Tuesday.

On Monday - election day - polling stations were illegally closed in Giza where Muslim Brotherhood candidates were on ballot papers. Heavily armed security officers in black uniforms barred voters from entering the stations, telling them that voting had been cancelled, witnesses said.

Complaints of fraud, rigging, collective voting and bribery flowed into monitoring and human rights offices, some reports said.

In areas where NDP candidates ran, supporters were allowed in without voting cards and were allegedly allowed to vote several times in a row.

The contests turned deadly when a candidate's supporter was shot dead in Sharqiya province and more than six others were reported wounded in a firefight.

Muslim Brotherhood members got the lion's share of harassment with their supporters said to have been manhandled by security police and forcefully banned from voting.

Meanwhile, the HCE said Wednesday that 23 per cent of Egypt's 23 million eligible voters participated in the election. However, the independent monitoring body Shayfeen.com and others said that no more than 5 per cent participated.

HCE chief Andrawes said a 'few individual violations in some polling stations' were reported.

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Official announcement of election results delayed amid speculations (dpa)

Middle East News

By Pakinam Amer
Jun 12, 2007, 22:59 GMT

Cairo - The official Higher Commissioner for Elections announcement of mid-term election results for Egypt's Shura Council was delayed Tuesday, leaving observers to wonder about the possibility of last minute alterations.

Allegations of fraud, vote rigging, collective voting and bribery circulated following Monday's election for the Shura Council, the consultative upper house of Egypt's parliament. Its duties are limited to ratifying constitutional amendments, treaties and bill proposals.

In some constituencies, winning candidates were informally alerted to results, and preliminary results for at least 60 of 76 contested seats were reported in the first edition of Wednesday's al-Ahram state-owned newspaper that appeared on newsstands at midnight.

The legally banned Muslim Brotherhood group ran 19 candidates despite a fierce clampdown on its ranks.

Sources from the Higher Commissioner for Elections (HCE) said that results were announced unofficially, but that 'a winner is not winner until HEC's head pronounces his name himself.'

Estimates said around 42 ruling National Democratic Party members won, as did one left-leaning Tagammu and one independent. Run-offs will be held for 12 seats, reports had said. Muslim Brotherhood candidates had evidently lost all their races.

Giza, where two Muslim Brotherhood members were contesting elections and where violent incidents occurred during polling and some supporters were barred from entering ballot stations, seems to have represented a problem since there was no mention of Giza in preliminary results published by the state-owned newspaper.

According to HCE sources, the official announcement of the results was postponed to Wednesday afternoon because results were still coming in. The HCE had originally said a press conference would be held Tuesday morning to announce results.

Reporters were left to wait for more than six hours as conflicting statements were issued and commissioner employees started leaving for home.

The delay caused speculation among observers that NDP members could be arguing among themselves, as several NDP candidates had contested the same seat, creating friction within the party.

Complaints of fraud, rigging, collective voting and bribery flowed into monitoring and human rights offices, some reports said.

On Monday, election day, polling stations were illegally closed in Giza where Muslim Brotherhood candidates were on ballots. Heavily armed security officers in black uniforms barred voters from entering the stations, telling them that 'voting has been cancelled,' witnesses said.

In areas where NDP candidates ran, supporters were allowed in without voting cards, and were allegedly allowed to vote several times in a row.

The contests turned deadly when a candidate's supporter was shot dead in Sharqiya province and more than six others were reported wounded in a firefight.

The banned Muslim Brotherhood members got the lion's share of harassment where their supporters were manhandled by security police and forcefully banned from voting. Even before elections began, it seemed like a foregone conclusion that the NDP would win.

Muslim Brotherhood candidates from the second and third constituencies of Imbaba and Giza claimed that three ruling National Democratic Party members had won their contests.

Sayed Saleh, a Brotherhood member from Oseem town in Giza said he is certain that only about 40 people managed to vote for him out of the town's 17,000 registered voters. He said word of mouth held that the NDP candidates got around 5,000-6,000 votes each.

Candidate Mohammed Fiki said people in his town were claiming more than 92,000 people voted for the NDP contestant in their constituency. But he refused to believe it.

'This is crazy talk,' Fiki, a Brotherhood member said. 'During vote counting, it was a big mess. People were allowed in and out without supervision. The whole scene was like a vegetable market. It was just mad.'

'Victory? What victory?' the usually calm Mohammed Habib, deputy to the Brotherhood supreme guide, said. 'Rigging and fraud constitutes 100 per cent of the process.'

'No Egyptian will believe that the Muslim Brothers who garnered 88 seats and 2 million votes in parliamentary elections did not manage to get more than a thousand vote for all their candidates,' said Saad al-Husseiny, a Brotherhood member of parliament.

The Shura Council elections reportedly had a much lower turnout than was officially announced. The independent monitoring body Shayfeen.com and others said no more than 5 per cent of Egypt's 23 million eligible voters participated.

'There was an effective boycott,' said Ghada Shahbanadar, founding member of Shayfeen.com.
Shahbandar said reported violations included a lack of ink to identify those who voted and a lack of privacy during voting.

These elections were the first since the People's Assembly passed key constitutional amendments at the demand by President Hosny Mubarak, including limiting judicial authority over ballot stations. The move was seen as a defeat for Egypt's judges who had decried it.

'There was no judicial supervision whatsoever in these elections,' said judicial expert Nasser Amin.

The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights reported 'thuggery' against members of the press covering the elections.

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In the track of Muslim Brotherhood candidates in Giza (dpa)

Middle East Features
By Pakinam Amer

Jun 11, 2007, 23:36 GMT

Giza, Egypt - On Monday, an Egyptian male voter from Manshiyet al-Qanater in Giza spent most of the day pleading with stiff-mannered security officers sealing off polling stations to let him in to cast his vote for mid-term Shura Council, the upper consultative house of parliament.

On Monday afternoon, many voters interviewed by Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa in Giza had the same complaint: polling stations were illegally closed.

Heavily armed security officers in black uniforms stopped the man at every gate of the many buildings used by local authorities as makeshift polling stations, each referring him to a different place.

They did not give him any particular reason, he said, just murmured 'these are orders.'

At the end of the hectic journey on the outskirts of Giza, the man in his forties turned to reporters and said, 'It's all because these stations have Muslim Brotherhood candidates.' He refused to disclose his name for fear of police harassment.

The Shura Council is the upper house of Egypt's parliament and its duties are limited to ratifying constitutional amendments, treaties and bill proposals.

The legally banned Brotherhood group is running candidates as independents in two of Giza's three constituencies.

In these two constituencies, which comprise many rural hamlets and villages on the outskirts of Greater Cairo, communities are closely knit, with each group of villages supporting one particular candidate - usually a relative, neighbour or old friend.

Just as voters went round attempting to cast their ballots, so did Sayed Saleh, a Muslim Brotherhood candidate.

He passed heavily fortified ballot stations where truckloads of riot police stood on-call. As police officers suspiciously eyed every passersby, Saleh recounted how he was 'harassed and targeted' by the national security.

Saleh told dpa that his delegates had been shadowed by security forces for many weeks.

He said he woke up in the morning to find his car with two flat tyres and security forces parked outside his house. When he asked why the tyres were flat, they said 'it was a mistake that only two tyres had the air let out of them.'

A total of 160 supporters of Saleh have been arrested during the past three weeks for allegedly using religious slogans.

But Saleh denies using such slogans, showing reporters his campaign posters which read 'Reform is the solution,' a phrase that plays on the original slogan of the Muslim Brotherhood 'Islam is the solution.'

'It is ridiculous the (National Democratic Party) prohibits the Brothers from using religious slogans, when the NDP candidate in this constituency is using Koran verses for his propaganda,' Saleh said.

All around the nearby villages of Oseem, Manshiet al-Qanater and Qerdaset al-Mansouriya minivans with loud speakers could be seen touring streets with campaigners from the ruling NDP singing praises of their candidate.

Saleh's banners were torn down, and NDP candidates lodged official complaints with the local authorities claiming he used religious slogans.

'The Higher Commissioner for Elections had a thick folder full of numerous complaints filed by rival NDP candidates,' he said.

Mariam al-Sayed, Saleh's daughter, said their house was under surveillance for several days. Her father was reportedly followed everywhere and people in the village took to jokingly calling him 'the national security man.'

'We could see the national security spies sitting in the shop facing our house, eyeing everyone coming in or out of our house,' his wife, Iman Ismail, said.

Ihab Abul-Fotouh, a student supporter of Saleh, said he and his brother were rounded-up from their home, their computer was confiscated, and they were detained for three days.

'We were charged with posting flyers carrying religious slogans. We had no flyers. We were arrested from our own homes,' Abul-Fotouh said.

Saleh's experience is not unique. Several kilometres away in Abu al-Noumros, a rural area in Giza's third constituency, another Brotherhood-affiliated candidate, Mohammed Fiki, complained that NDP supporters rigged the vote.

'They had the audacity of rigging the balloting register registering ineligible voters and making them vote,' Fiki alleged. 'I personally confiscated 100 pages of rigged lists filled out by the station's employees.'

'When my supporters reached the poling station, police sent them back, telling them that the elections were cancelled,' he added.

But cordoning people off was not the only problem that voters faced - Muslim Brotherhood or not. Fawziya Mohammed, a female registered voter, said many voters could not find their names on the register, and she saw some people being sent away.

Outside a polling station in the village of Bortos, some people were allowed to vote using their national identification cards or their NDP membership cards. The same people were reportedly allowed to vote more than once.

'I voted several times today. Everyone did,' said Mohammed, a young man in his early twenties standing outside a polling station.

Mohammed, who did not disclose his last name, does not own a voting card.

'Rigging is taking place in all the stations,' said Mohammed Abdel-Hakim, a campaigner for independent candidate Abdel-Hakim al- Nimr.

Another campaigner, Mohammed al-Nimr, claimed NDP candidates were buying votes.

'What we are witnessing today is the result of a security regime using its heavy stick everywhere,' said Fiki, who seemed to have little hope that Muslim Brotherhood candidates will make any significant gains.

Preliminary results of the first round of the elections are expected late Tuesday. A runoff round will be held on June 18, and arguably only then will the brotherhood be able to draw lessons from this experiment in political participation.


© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur

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Nubians decry discrimination on eve of elections (dpa)

Middle East Features

By Pakinam Amer
Jun 10, 2007, 18:09 GMT

Aswan, Egypt - Taking shelter from the blistering Aswan heat, community leaders of the so-called New Nubia huddle under the shade of a tree and recount how they were forced to leave their villages on the banks of the Nile.

'The day we left resembled doomsday,' says Nour el-Din Hassan as he sits garbed in a white gown - a definitive mark of Nubian culture - sipping a cold Hibiscus drink.

Hassan is a businessman in his late fifties, who has witnessed the 43-year-old relocation. Aswan is the site of the 3.6-kilometre High Dam, the construction of which caused the inundation of 44 Nubian villages where Hassan, his family members and members of his tribe grew up.

'I remember the date very well when we were made to leave,' says Hassan. 'It was a stormy day; dust filled the air, winds blew.'

Hassan remains nostalgic until this very day. He says they were never sufficiently compensated for their 'paradise lost,' and this makes him and his people feel 'abandoned by central authorities.'

Preparations for the Shura Council elections seem to have opened some old wounds.

As the midterm elections approach, Nubians based in and around Aswan hope representatives of the central authority in Aswam will be more receptive to their demands: new homes, new land and a more equal share in the political power game.

The Shura Council is the upper house of Egypt's parliament and its duties are limited to ratifying constitutional amendments, treaties and bill proposals. It is strictly consultative on other matters and has arguably little influence on politics.

Nevertheless, membership in the Shura council is sought for prestige, parliamentary immunity and the powers that such a post gives its holder on the local level.

It is not surprising that the people of Aswan choose to huddle around their candidates - usually tribal and community leaders - who are supposed to act as their ambassadors and provide services.

The Nubians of Nasr al-Nuba, a town 85 kilometres away from the Old Nuba from which they were uprooted, said that they were denied the privilege of serving their people through the Shura Council.

According to their elders, the 'real Nubians,' as they choose to call themselves, are usually ignored and given false promises by Aswan's local administration.

Despite being given new homes in Nasr al-Nuba after their displacement, Nubians complain that the small one-storey houses are nothing like their old mansions surrounded by acres of cultivated land.

'It was a paradise where we lived,' says Hassan, supported by the nods of his tribesman, who are leaders in their own right.

Ismail Ahmed Gamal, the mayor of Nasr al-Nuba, pointed to the bare hills in the distance telling a reporter how they were uprooted from the banks of the Nile and 'thrown into this blazing desert land.'

Around Lake Nasser, which now covers old Nubia, are sites of construction projects, which include the Toshka (the New Valley Project) with irrigation canals to carry water from Lake Nasser into Egypt's western desert. Some of the Nubian families who were not compensated more than 40 years ago were promised lodgings around the banks of the lake.

According to them, 5,000 families have not been given homes yet. In addition, the Nubians see the new haven, the environment of which resembles their old 'paradise lost.'

'It's only fair that inhabitants who originally belong to this land be returned back,' adds Gamal referring to the area around Lake Nasser.

'We have been promised this by the president of Egypt,' the mayor of Nasr al-Nuba said. But the governor, they claimed, refuses to relocate them to the place they call 'home' despite the president's promise.

They say they have no representatives in Monday's Shura Council elections. 'We need one of us, someone who has seen it all and suffered as we did to defend our rights,' adds the mayor who is also a member of the left-leaning Tagammu opposition party.

The lack of representation of Nubians is what reportedly lead Abdel-Karim Karar, a leading member of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) in the Komb Ombo district of Aswan, to quit the party.

Nasr al-Nuba has 60,000 registered voters and according to Karar, the NDP should have fielded a candidate representing this community, but it refused to.
He adds that the Nubians called on the governor to identify Nasr al-Nuba as a separate constituency, but this demand has also been refused.

'Logic says that grand tribes and ethnicities are what should be represented. The Nubians are only 10 per cent (of the population),' said Aswan's governor Samir Youssef.

The governor shrugged off the Nubian troubles as 'the work of minor elements' entrenched among the Nubian communities - people that are financed by Western countries which aim at destabilizing Egypt's societies, he said.

© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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Kinship and ethnicity influence voters' in upper Egypt (dpa)

Middle East Features
By Pakinam Amer
Jun 9, 2007, 21:26 GMT

Aswan, Egypt - When asked which candidate he supported, a young voter from Aswan named Mohammed Atta smiled, then simply said: 'I can't say. It's too embarrassing.'

Atta's manner embodies the general mood in Aswan ahead of Monday's Shura council midterm elections. There, several candidates of the same party are also tribal leaders tribes in the society with a population of around 1.1 million, according to municipal statistics.

Atta later told a reporter that all his acquaintances knew that he would vote for his tribe, but he does not like making his choice known.

An Aswan-based senior member of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) said people are both 'confused and uncomfortable' with the idea of more than one candidate running for the same seat.

'They're dividing the voters,' added the high-profile member who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Aswan lies on the east bank of the Nile and is both a strong industrial city and a tourist attraction. It harbours the 3.6- kilometre High Dam, Egypt's key power generator and Lake Nasser, reputed to be the world's largest artificial lake.

Aswan's busy NDP headquarters has posters of six candidates from the same party who are running for the Cairo-based consultative body with 264 seats. According to the NDP's general secretary in Aswan, Khalaf Youssef Saed, the party has fielded 'its strongest candidates' for this election.

He insisted that party followers were happy with what he termed 'a new experiment' and dismissed allegations of confusion among voters saying people confused themselves by voting for a distant relative rather than for the best candidate.

The famous tribes and ethnicities of Aswan, near the Sudanese border, include the Jaafara tribe, who claim to be descended from Jaafar al-Sadek and trace their heritage back to Imam Hussein, the grandson of Prophet Mohammed, founder of Islam.

Another tribe called the Ansar claim they are descendants of the People of the Medina among whom Prophet Mohammed found solace after he was driven out of Mecca hundreds of years ago. Abbadis and Abbasids are two of the large tribes represented in these elections.

According to voters, supporting kin is a must even if their 'relative is a mere farmer and his contestant is a scientist,' in the words of a registered voter.

The elections could yet turn nasty. According to Diyab Abudllah, a candidate calling himself Hajj, flyers circulated in the city are spreading rumours about him.

'I hate prejudice and intolerance. And for me the whole thing is not unlike a football match. Nevertheless, some other candidates chose to play the game differently and spread rumours about me,' said Abdullah.

He expressed concern about multiple-candidacies. The NDP does not support their candidates now because they cannot back one and not the other.

'People are perplexed,' he added. 'There is a lot of ignorance. So in the end, people may decide to vote for both NDP contestants thinking that they're supporting the party this way without knowing that the candidates are actually rivals.'

'It is the absolute democracy,' said Aswan's governor Samir Youssef in reference to NDP's decision to field more than one candidate.

'There is more than one star in the constituencies and everyone of these feels he deserves to run for candidacy. The NDP is giving them all their chances.'

Aswan has two main constituencies. One of them encompasses the upper-Egyptian city of Aswan and the northern township of Daraw where 11 candidates including two from NDP, are contesting two seats.

In the second constituency, 19 candidates have registered their candidates from the northern towns of Edfo and Komb Ombo - which are both under the governance of the Aswan province.

The NDP had fielded four candidates for two seats in the second constituency. Despite NDP members' concerns that the votes will be divided owing to multiple candidacies from the ruling party, others insist that the NDP have no 'big competitors.'

Many independent candidates were affiliated with NDP, but left when the party did not enlist them for the Shura elections. According to NDP leaders, these independents could be won back if they score a victory in the elections.

But Egypt's foremost opposition the Muslim Brotherhood - a banned but popular religious group - is not strong in Aswan. They are not fielding a candidate in upper Egypt, an announcement said.

More than 34 million registered voters are expected to cast their votes in the Shura elections, which begin on Monday. The candidates are competing for 88 seats in 57 constituencies across 24 Egyptian provinces - 11 seats have already been granted to candidates running alone in their constituencies.

© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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NEWS FEATURE: US, Iran exchange accusations ahead of meeting

Middle East Features

By Pakinam Amer
May 20, 2007, 17:00 GMT

Dead Sea, Jordan - Accusations flew between officials from the United States and Iran on Sunday as US officials reiterated their claim that Tehran is destabilizing Iraq by funding the insurgency there and providing weapons for extremists.

The exchange took place during discussion at a meeting of the Jordan-based World Economic Forum (WEF) being held on the shores of the Dead Sea resort and comes ahead of a planned US-Iran meeting in Baghdad on May 28.

'We have evidence that Iran is participating in destabilizing Iraq,' US Senator Orrin G Hatch said. However, his claims were vehemently denied by the leadership of Iran during a discussion at the forum gathering.

Hatch asked Iran for 'some indication of respect, some indication of willingness' to abide by the rule to law.

Mohammed Larijani, Iranian deputy minister of foreign affairs, said it is in Iran's national interest to have a unified, peaceful Iraq.

But he also noted that Iran had not been getting any signs of respect from the US ahead of the Baghdad meeting. '(Senator Hatch) talks about respect. We have been labelled as part of the axis of evil. And we are threatened every other day that (our) government should be changed,' he said.

'They say our meeting should be only at ambassadorial level. Are these good signs of respect? Definitely not,' Larijani said.

Concerning the raging violence in Iraq, Larijani said Bush should not have expected a 'red carpet' to be rolled out when the US invaded Iraq in 2003. 'Nobody likes occupation.'

Larijani said the upcoming meeting - even with Iran's cooperation - 'will not solve all the problems in the world' but 'it will open a path.'

A day earlier, Iran's foreign minister also levelled blame at the US, saying that it did many wrong things in Iraq, and that in the next meeting Iran would show the US where it went wrong and how to correct the wrongs.

They also expected an 'offer of withdrawal' of US troops from Iraq.

Senator Hatch said on Sunday that the US government realized that errors were made during the war on Iraq.

'There's no question that we made mistakes in the war, but the intention was good.' He added that the US needs to do more and so does Iran which should 'start running their own affairs' instead of running Iraq's.

'We don't enjoy having our men and women killed. We don't enjoy terror,' said the senator, who was joined by US Senator Gordon H Smith in confirming that US troops would not leave Iraq until Iraqi forces are capable of handling the security situation.

'We will not leave a vacuum that they can fill,' said Smith, adding that there is 'no question from the evidence' that Iranians and Syrians are meddling in Iraqi affairs and settling disputes on the territory of Iraq.

Iraqi officials at the session which brought Iranian, Iraqi and US figures together joined the rhetoric, saying that foreign powers not only engage in sectarian conflicts, but also encourage the Iraqis to take sides - sometimes through direct financing.

On the sidelines, Iraqi Vice President Tariq al-Hashimi said that if US troops withdrew, they would 'leave a security vacuum and so (the country) could slide into chaos.'

Multinational forces in Iraq have lately been reporting more and more findings of Iranian-marked bombs and weapons - some of which earlier official reports traced back to Quds, a group affiliated with right-wing members of the Iranian government.

Iran, however, continues to deny this. Larijani told Deutsche Presse-Agentur dpa that for a country that 'has more than 150,000 troops allowed, bombarding houses and people everyday, it's shameful to accuse us of infiltrating arms to Iraq.'

The Iranian-marked weapons, he said, could be passing through the border from any of Iraq's neighbours: 'We're selling arms to other countries, officially. They could be smuggled into Iraq illegally, so could American weapons and German weapons.'

During the session, Larijani told US and Iraqi officials that militants in Iraq 'don't need arms from Iran. Iraq is full of arms, the borders are open. They could come from anywhere.'

Meanwhile, al-Hashimi told dpa that the Iraqi government "hasn't seen the Iranian weapons, but I do believe that there is a concrete report on that.”

© 2007 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur
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