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[مستر محمد سلام]

Poison in the blood

Thousands of furious protesters stormed US diplomatic missions in Cairo and Benghazi after the screening of an anti-Islam movie that insults Prophet Mohamed, writes Gamal Nkrumah
An Israeli filmmaker based in California produced an anti-Muslim movie that incensed the Islamic world. The film was scheduled to be screened in the US marking the 11th anniversary of the 11 September terrorist
attack in New York and Washington.

Click to view caption
The Innocence of Muslims, the film that enraged Muslims around the world, has led protesters in Cairo to storm the United States Embassy and unknown assailants in Benghazi, Libya, to assassinate the American Ambassor to Libya Chris Stevens and three staff members. Demonstrators, including Christians belonging to the Mina Danial Movement --named after a Christian martyr of the 25 January 2011 Revolution -- started a sit-in in front of the US Embassy, Downtown Cairo.
The movie, The Innocence of Muslims, cost $5 million and depicts Prophet as a philanderer of child ***ual abuse. The film claims that the Prophet Mohamed was a fraud.
The film resulted in a wave of violent protests in Egypt and Libya, snowballing in other Muslim nations as Al-Ahram Weekly went to print. The movie also led to the assassination of the US ambassador in Libya, Chris Stevens.
Sam Bacile is an anti-Islam Israeli filmmaker based in California. "Islam is a cancer, period," proclaimed Bacile, a real estate developer who claims to be an Israeli Jew, and who directed and produced the two-hour film funded by Jewish donors, Bacile insisted, and not by Coptic Christians.
The Israeli filmmaker has been in hiding since the protests erupted in Cairo and Benghazi. The film, which Muslims and Christians both said was provocative and insulting to Islam, culminated in disaster: the US ambassador to Libya and three staff members, including two Marines, were gunned down as militant Islamists fired rockets on the ambassador and his staff. In Cairo, a group of demonstrators including Christians stormed the US Embassy compound in Garden City and tore up the American flag and burnt and hoisted in its place a black banner emblazoned with La Illah illa Allah, Mohamed Rasul Allah ó "There is no God but God, and Mohamed is the Prophet of God".
In a White House statement, US President Barack Obama said he had ordered "all necessary resources to support the security of our personnel in Libya and to increase security at our diplomatic posts around the globe."
"I called Libyan President [Mohamed] Megaryeif to coordinate additional support to protect Americans in Libya. He expressed his condemnation and condolences and pledged his government's full cooperation," Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said.
What Washington didn't contemplate was that as Al-Ahram Weekly went to press, angry protesters had gathered around the US Embassy in the Tunisian capital, repeating the Cairo scenario.
However, it was not clear what exactly the American ambassador to Libya was doing in Benghazi, the country's second largest city when the actual US embassy is located in the Libyan capital Tripoli.
The Grand Mufti of Egypt Ali Gomaa and Al-Azhar, Egypt's most prestigious Islamic institution of higher learning, condemned the incidents in Cairo and Benghazi.
Morris Sadek, an extremist Coptic Christian, and Pastor Terry Jones, a fundamentalist Christian preacher who is notorious for burning the Quran, are widely believed to have been promoting the film.

[مستر محمد سلام]

Sinai operation continues

The results of the military operation conducted in Sinai against armed militant groups were announced earlier this week, writes Amirah Ibrahim

Click to view caption

The military spokesman uncovered more details about the Sinai operation
Nearly six weeks have passed, and the truth behind the killing of 16 Egyptian soldiers while they were on duty at an eastern border crossing near Rafah in Sinai remains unclear.
However, on Saturday the Defence Ministry held a press conference to present details of the military operation subsequently conducted in Sinai at its Moral Affairs Department, the first since the terrorist attack took place early in August.
During the conference, it was decided that the Moral Affairs Department will no longer be in charge of communication with the media, owing to its poor performance in dealing with media questions about the terrorist attack in Rafah.
The media has not been able to discover the truth about the attack, nor cover the military operations launched since then against armed groups in Sinai.
During the conference, Brigadier Ahmed Ali, an official spokesman for the Armed Forces, told reporters that the military operation being carried out against the armed groups had a new code name, "Sinai" instead of "Eagle".
"Assigning a military spokesman will put an end to the release of inaccurate news reports about the military and Armed Forces, which have negatively affected the army," Ali said.
Ali's presence was welcomed by the reporters, longing for proper coverage of military news. However, hopes were dashed when Ali failed to give precise answers to questions about the identity of the attackers and who had been behind the attacks.
Reporters at the conference also wanted to know the causalities suffered by the army over the month of military confrontations, but these questions remained unanswered.
The military spokesman did not say who should bear the responsibility for the killing of the 16 soldiers, and he gave no clear answer to the question of when the operation in Sinai would be accomplished.
"When making plans for the Sinai operation, we took into consideration several factors: the human rights of the Sinai inhabitants; the geographic nature of the mountainous areas, which require certain military equipment and tactics; and the special social structure of the people there," Ali said.
Of the Sinai operations themselves, Ali said that "the operation so far consists of two phases. The first, which took place from 8 to 30 August, aimed at ending the deteriorating security situation in the wake of the violent attack in Rafah by reestablishing stable conditions and securing vital targets."
Egypt enjoys full sovereignty over every inch of Sinai, Ali said, denying reports about the army's inability to move forward in Sinai without getting permission from the Israeli government first.
"The Sinai operation is part of a comprehensive operation that aims at restoring security to the Sinai Peninsula in preparation for a major development project scheduled to be implemented there, for which the government has allocated the sum of LE650 million," he said.
According to Ali, phase one of the operation had included deploying troops on both the east and west banks of the Suez C**** and in Zone A, B and C of Sinai. A number of military missions had been carried out in these zones to secure border points and vital targets in Arish, Sheikh Zuwaid and Rafah. During phase one, the army had destroyed 31 underground tunnels used for smuggling goods and weapons and for illegal immigration, he said.
"The situation of the underground tunnels is complicated," Ali said. "Their number according to official figures is estimated at more than 225, but considering the construction of the tunnels, with each one having two or three exits on each side, there may be as many as 550 to 700."
"It is difficult to define where a tunnel begins. It could begin in a kitchen, a bathroom, a school or even a closet," he said.
Ali said that 31 militants had been killed, one injured, and 38 arrested in the operation, but he declined to clarify whether non-Egyptians had taken part in the attack on the Egyptian army.
"This is the responsibility of the judiciary, not the army. Our mission is to confront, control, impose security, arrest suspected elements and take them to the investigative bodies concerned, which then take the necessary legal procedures against them," Ali said.
The Sinai operation had been a success, he said, and the killing of 31 militants and arrest of 39 suggested that there were around 400 to 600 militants in Sinai.
Ali repeated that the operation had been coordinated by the Egyptian and Israeli committees assigned to monitor security issues under the 1979 peace treaty with Israel. "It was also monitored by UN and Multinational Force and Observers troops in Sinai," he said.
The second phase of the operation was continuing, Ali said, denying that there had been a withdrawal of the army's equipment from the peninsula. "We sent 10 loads of heavy military equipment to Rafah on Saturday and four to Arish," he said.

[مستر محمد سلام]

Mixed messages on Al-Azhar

President Mohamed Mursi has said he supports the election of the grand imam of Al-Azhar. Gihan Shahine assesses the move's significance

Inaugurating the first congress of student union federations at Al-Azhar University last week, President Mohamed Mursi said that he approved the election of the grand imam of Al-Azhar as well as of university leaderships.
The reshuffle of the leadership at Al-Azhar is already happening, and Mursi said that other universities would be reshuffled soon. Calls for changes at Al-Azhar would be met, he said, but this "should take place via practical and well-studied steps."
Mursi's support for the election of the Al-Azhar grand imam by a senior clergy authority, and not his appointment by presidential decree, appears to be in answer to calls from religious scholars and intellectuals to reinstate the centuries-old institution's independence from the state.
Critics, however, charge that the Islamist president's hints at reshuffling the leadership at Al-Azhar is perhaps an attempt on the part of the Brotherhood "to extend its hegemony" to the prestigious institution, a claim that Brotherhood members vehemently deny.
Liberal intellectual and writer Gamal El-Ghitani was among the supporters of electing the grand imam and reestablishing the institution's independence. El-Ghitani, however, is also a staunch critic of the Brotherhood, and as such he suspects that Mursi's words at Al-Azhar University are not what they seem.
"The Brotherhood will probably attempt to impose its hegemony on Al-Azhar, as it has at other state institutions," El-Ghitani said.
Ashraf Badreddin, a member of the supreme committee of the Brotherhood's political wing the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), countered that "had the president any intention to seize control over Al-Azhar, he would have condoned the appointment of the Grand Imam by virtue of a presidential decree."
Instead, Badreddin argued, his support for the electoral system meant that the president would have no authority over the choice of the grand imam, who will be chosen by a senior clergy authority that in its current form hardly includes any Brotherhood members.
Badreddin, however, did not rule out the possibility that some members of the authority may have hidden sympathies with the Brotherhood, since "after all the group adopts more or less the same moderate Islamic discourse as Al-Azhar."
Badreddin insisted that the president respected Al-Azhar as "the main and only guardian of moderate Islam" and that the Brotherhood wanted the institution to remain "the Sunni world's most prestigious seat of learning".
The grand imam was elected before 1961, when former president Gamal Abdel-Nasser abrogated the senior clergy authority and replaced it with the state-controlled Islamic Research Academy in an attempt to bring the religious establishment under state control.
The grand imam of Al-Azhar has since been appointed by virtue of a presidential decree and remains in office for life. The nature of the appointment means that he has little genuine independence, resulting in a loss of Al-Azhar's credibility.
In the meantime, Al-Azhar has also been financially dependent on the state since the 1952 Revolution. That has meant that Al-Azhar's staff, including its grand imam, have been government employees, with the grand imam holding a rank ****ogous to that of prime minister.
Sometimes seen as being little more than a mouthpiece for the government, there is almost a consensus among ****ysts that Al-Azhar will not be able to restore its former prestige unless it regains its independence from the state and its grand imam is elected by a committee of senior clergy and does not remain in office for life.
Perhaps in response to such calls, a law regulating Al-Azhar and stipulating the election of its Grand Imam was endorsed earlier this year by the former ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). The law stirred controversy at the time because it had been kept under wraps and hurriedly endorsed by the SCAF only four days before the now-dismantled parliament convened its first session.
This law, designed by Grand Imam Ahmed El-Tayeb, will probably be subject to scrutiny, perhaps amendment, by the upcoming parliament, which will be elected in November.
Critics already charge that the new law has been tailored to help current officials remain in place, arguing that it does not give Al-Azhar financial independence from the state and ignores calls that the institution should regain the control over religious endowments that it had in the past.
One catch in the new law is that it stipulates that the current grand imam selects the members of the senior scholars authority that will elect the next one. The law in its current form also maintains a previous controversial article stipulating that the grand imam remains in office for life.
"There should be major changes in the laws regulating Al-Azhar, and these changes should take into consideration the unique status of Al-Azhar, which is different from all other academic institutions," said Gamal Qotb, former head of the Al-Azhar fatwa council.
"The grand imam should not remain in post for life," Qotb said, also suggesting that the senior clergy authority should be elected and not appointed by the current grand imam and that nominees should include distinguished mosque preachers and those teaching in Al-Azhar institutes and not just university professors.
"That would mean that a larger number of Al-Azhar scholars would be eligible for membership in the authority tasked to elect the coming grand imam," Qotb explained. "Having members from outside the circle of university professors, many of whom have been sent to teach in the Gulf where they have been influenced by Salafist thought, would reduce the external influences over the old university."
The Brotherhood, in Qotb's view, does not constitute a threat to Al-Azhar as the ultra-conservative Salafis do, since "the Brotherhood does not have a unique school of thought or a university teaching that thought."
Although Al-Azhar scholars may include sympathisers with the Brotherhood, Qotb is not worried about Brotherhood hegemony, insisting that "Al-Azhar will always retain its identity and its school of thought."
Yet, El-Ghitani remains sceptical. He suspects that Mursi may try to "get rid of the current imam, Sheikh Ahmed El-Tayeb, because he is an enlightened scholar whose moderate views and strong personality have regained much of Al-Azhar's prestige, lost over past decades by his [El-Tayeb's] predecessor."
At a time when Egypt's political elite had got bogged down in debates over the Islamic-versus liberal identity of post-revolutionary Egypt, Al-Azhar stepped into the fray as perhaps the only universally respected institution capable of bringing about national unity, or at least dialogue, among the different views.
This national dialogue resulted in the production of at least three important documents that many observers regard as possibly providing guidelines for the drafting of Egypt's new post-revolutionary constitution. The documents, which also reiterate the institution's support for the freedom of religious affiliation, expression and belief, have also been seen in the context of Al-Azhar's attempt to reassert itself as the guardian of moderate Islam.
"The Brothers simply do not want to have any strong institution stand in their way," El-Ghitani commented "They will try to institute their members, or at least their sympathisers, in leading positions at Al-Azhar in order to seize power in the old university."
El-Tayeb was previously known for his hardline stance against the Muslim Brotherhood when it was still an outlawed opposition group. In 2006, El-Tayeb, a former member of the now-dismantled National Democratic Party (NDP), condemned a military-style parade by Brotherhood students on campus in his capacity as the then president of Al-Azhar University, charging that they had worn black facemasks "like Hamas, Hizbullah and the Republican Guard in Iran."
El-Tayeb had previously angered some conservative Muslims for being a critic of outward manifestations of piety, such as the veil or the wearing of beards, which he has described as possibly coming at the expense of true spiritual development.
He supported his predecessor's ban on the niqab, or full face veil, among female Al-Azhar students on the grounds that it was not a religious obligation in Islam.
Recently, El-Tayeb also angered some Salafist party members for not answering their calls for the addition of a phrase stipulating that Al-Azhar be the only reference for the interpretation of Islamic Sharia law in the new constitution.
The FJP, however, condoned El-Tayeb's suggestions that Article 2 of the constitution remain unchanged.
El-Ghitani referred to the incident when El-Tayeb was seated in the back during Mursi's inauguration ceremony at Cairo University as a case of "the Brothers' intended disrespect for the grand imam."
The grand imam walked out of the ceremony, but it was later made clear that the seating had been an organisational error and not an insult. President Mursi was said to have extended an apology to the grand imam for "the lack of organisation that left him seated in the back of the room."
Badreddin insists that "neither the president nor the Brotherhood are in conflict with Al-Azhar scholars, and definitely not with El-Tayeb, for whom they have deep respect."
This respect for Al-Azhar, according to Badreddin, has been reflected in Mursi's discourse and attitude in more than one incident. One case in point is that Mursi chose to perform his first Friday prayers at the Al-Azhar Mosque on the eve of his inauguration as Egypt's first Islamist president. By doing that, Bareddin said, Mursi had "meant to send a message that Al-Azhar will remain the only pillar of moderate Islam."
"He [Mursi] also insisted that he take the initiative when entering the mosque and shaking hands with the grand imam and other scholars, breaking the protocol that sheikhs should turn out to greet the president, in respect of the high-ranking position of scholars who, he has said, should be attended to, rather than attend to the people."

[مستر محمد سلام]

may allah bless both of them

[مستر محمد سلام]

Almost president, now wanted

Ahmed Shafik is referred to the Criminal Court less than 48 hours after his first TV

appearance since the presidential elections, Dina Ezzat reports

Click to view captionAhmed Shafik

"

The man knew it was going to happen anyway. They [the Muslim Brotherhood] are trying to eliminate all the strong men of Egypt as they complete their control of the country, but he will not give up. We will not let Egypt be taken by them," said an aide to Ahmed Shafik, the last prime minister of Hosni Mubarak who lost the presidential elections to President Mohamed Mursi earlier this summer.
Since the announcement of the results, which gave Mursi a very narrow victory after a wave of speculation and leaks over the victory, the runner-up in the presidential race left Egypt. Shafik first went to Saudi Arabia for a two-day minor pilgrimage which was announced after he had departed. Then he took off for the United Arab Emirates where he has been residing ever since along with a group of Mubarak's leading aides who fled the country in short intervals after he stepped down in February 2011 for fear of legal persecution over abuse of power, the fate that has sent some of Mubarak's closest men to jail.
"I have been summoned for questioning over allegations [of abuse of power] but there is no arrest warrant that has been issued in my name," Shafik said on Saturday evening during a TV appearance, the first since the announcement of the results of the presidential elections which he gracefully accepted despite the many doubts that were raised by his supporters and his campaign aides who suggested that the results were rigged in favour of Mursi under US pressure.
Shafik, who had limited himself over the past eight weeks to brief and rare telephone interviews with Egyptian private media, appeared with the flagship programme in Dream, a private channel, called "10pm".
The interview that was broadcast over two episodes, Saturday and Sunday, was angled essentially by anchor-journalist Wael El-Ibrashi over charges that Shafik sold the two sons of Mubarak land next to the Suez C**** for much cheaper prices.
Speaking to El-Ibrashi, Shafik denied allegations of any wrong-doing, deliberate or otherwise, in the deal. The two sons of Mubarak, who have been in jail for a series of financial corruption and power abuse for over a year, were ineligible to buy the land which was allocated by the government for sale for the benefit of Air Force members and their families.
Alaa and Gamal Mubarak obtained the land in this capacity and they paid the regular price like everybody else, Shafik argued in the first episode of his TV appearance. Mubarak's last prime minister, an Air Force officer himself, was the secretary-general of the Air Force Association.
"It is in this capacity that I signed -- but I did not actually sell -- the paperwork for the selling of the land to Alaa and Gamal Mubarak," Shafik told El-Ibrashi.
According to the very detailed account that Shafik provided, the two sons followed the procedures and "actually the part of the land that was allocated to them was not the best part of the land available for sale but it so happened that they applied to buy after all the good parts were already sold off."
This narrative runs counter to the complaints that were levelled against Shafik, among other members of the Air Force Association, along with Alaa and Gamal.
The complaints were first raised ahead of the beginning of the presidential race by MP Alaa Sultan who had asked for the matter to be investigated ahead of allowing Shafik to run in the presidential race. The prosecutor-general had, however, chosen not to investigate until the end of the presidential race -- and after Shafik had left the country.
Some observers say at the time the complaints against Shafik were deliberately overlooked under the pretext of lack of substantial evidence to pursue legal prosecution to allow who they say was the man who was (then) certainly supported by the army to run in the race.
This account was categorically denied by Shafik in his TV appearance. Shafik insisted that he was "not at all supported by the army or by anyone".
In fact, Shafik suggested, without saying it in so many words, that the then ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, whose top officers were removed by President Mursi mid-August, was rather unsupportive and maybe worse.
"I was told by very good sources from within the influential state quarters that I had won the elections but then it was President Mursi who was announced the winner," Shafik said after having recalled the account of a conversation between him and the US ambassador in Cairo whereby the US diplomat had expressed concern over the process of the announcement of the results in a way that indicated an implicit rigging accusation in favour of Shafik.
Since the announcement of the results, American diplomats in Cairo have categorically denied that they had any role to play in the victory of Mursi over Shafik. "This is nonsense. Why would we do such a thing," said one. She added that the embassy was receiving accounts and alerts from independent Egyptian sources suggesting that the results were in favour of Mursi but that there was pressure put on the Presidential Elections Committee to discard some ballots and announce Shafik the winner.
Less than 48 hours ahead of the announcement of the final results of the presidential run-offs, PEC sources suggested that Shafik would be announced the winner, with a very narrow margin.
Speaking to the TV talk show "10pm", Shafik even said that he was offered written proof of his electoral victory "but then again I believed that it is in the interest of the country to acknowledge the results and to have one leader so that the nation could move towards stability."
Since Mubarak was forced to step down on 11 February 2011 after 18 days of forceful demonstrations, the nation's economy and security have suffered dramatically. With Mursi sworn into office elements of stability were regained, especially on the economic front with the stock market making unprecedented gains.
These signs of stability have not satisfied the anti-Mursi camp that has been expressing concern over the Islamisation of Egypt at the hands of the first ever non-military president who came straight from the ranks of the long-persecuted but widely popular Muslim Brotherhood.
The clear Islamist affiliation of Mursi's hand-picked aides and ministers, especially the prime minister and minister of defence, has agitated these concerns and prompted some to call for demonstrations against the so-called rule of the Muslim Brotherhood.
On 24 August scores of protesters took to the Heliopolis-based presidential palace and shouted against Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood. At the time, Shafik was accused of prompting and financially supporting these demonstrations which were easily dispersed due to an obvious lack of momentum and supporters.
In his TV appearance this week, Shafik made light of the accusations and suggested that they amounted to a deliberate attempt to undermine his image by associating him with a failed call for a political demonstration.
This attempt, Shafik told El-Ibrashi, was part of a wider scheme to get at the man who qualifies himself as the one most capable of defying the Islamist trend, led by the Brotherhood.
This said, ahead of the Tuesday issuance of the warrant arrest, Shafik had declined to offer a date for his return to Egypt. He would only return, he said, when he knows it is safe for him to be back and not to be prosecuted on the basis of faulty allegations.
Shafik argued that there is someone who wants to get him but argued that it is unlikely that it was Mursi himself. He, however, did not rule out a possible link, one way or the other, with some in the Mursi circle.
Shafik told El-Ibrashi that he knew when he left Egypt last June that he was not sure when he would be back. This much, he said, he had shared with Hussein Tantawi, the head of SCAF at the time who was later removed by Mursi.
"I am not running away from anything because this would be against my character but sometimes people have to distance themselves so that they can pursue reform or act upon a solution for a particular crisis," Shafik told El-Ibrashi.
Shafik affirmed that the earlier plan to start a political civil party built on the mass support he had enjoyed during the presidential campaign is on but declined to offer a date for the initiation of this "party or movement".
In his interview with El-Ibrashi, Shafik kept away from harshly attacking the Islamists or President Mursi. He duly referred to Mursi as "Mr President" and acknowledged the popular power base of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Shafik said that the Islamist nature of the newly assigned minister of defence had always been known "but this does not amount to a possible association with the Muslim Brotherhood. There are many observing soldiers and officers in the armed forces in general," Shafik further acknowledged. "But it is one thing for an army officer to be observing and another for this particular officer to be working in favour of the agenda of the Muslim Brotherhood," he added.
This said, Shafik, whose presidential hallmark was one of clear and outright defiance of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamists in general, suggested that if further attacked he could "hit back. I certainly know how and when to hit back and I can tell you that I don't need to be in Egypt to do so," he told El-Ibrashi in the interview that was aired less than three days before the arrest warrant was issued.
"I cannot say what he would do but he is certainly not planning to come back and give a chance for those who wish to arrest him for no reason," the Shafik associate said.
Speaking by phone, the same source added that Shafik might stay on in Dubai where he has been offered generous hospitality for the past eight weeks or he might consider another venue. "It is up to what he thinks is safe for him and his family."
The warrant for Shafik's arrest prompted a wide range of reaction from people, especially on Facebook and Twitter. Shafik supporters argued that he was paying the price for a brave statement that he made during the El-Ibrashi interview when he openly said that he would not give up. Shafik critics said that the move was overdue and necessary to eliminate the power of the remnants of the old regime. Those who stand in between argued that what Egypt needs now is an end to polarisation and a firm march towards national reconciliation.

[مستر محمد سلام]

Back to books

School students begin their new academic year amid a strike by teachers, reports Reem Leila

After an almost four-month summer holiday, 19 million students will return to the country's 46,000 schools on 15 September. This academic year, however, comes with a teachers' strike. Accordingly, confusion is rife among parents who fear a year of instability.
Education has become a national security issue and tops the country's agenda. Just a few days before the start of the new academic year, President Mohamed Mursi agreed to approve a teachers' cadre law following a two-hour meeting with Minister of Education Ibrahim Ghoneim. According to Ghoneim, Mursi agreed to apply the law starting this month, in addition to promoting 20,000 teachers. "The remaining demands of teachers are still under review. The government cannot meet all of their demands since they will cost the state's budget more than LE10 billion. This is impossible at this time due to the deficit in the country's general budget," said Ghoneim.
Teachers are demanding an increase in their salaries to LE4,000 instead of the current LE500, the 200 per cent reward incentives they were promised, in addition to the cancellation of the cadre proficiency exams in which teachers themselves are to be tested. According to Rasha Ahmed, one teacher on strike, "since we began our protest, officials have been very evasive with us. Promises, promises without any fulfillment are all what we get," complained Ahmed.
The Teachers Independent Union (TIU) is urging Egypt's one million teachers to continue their strike, which entered its fourth day, to pressure the education minister to meet their demands. Ayman El-Beyali, the official TIU spokesman, said Mursi did not approve the cadre system. "All what he did is agree to double teachers' salaries starting next January. This is not enough. The newly appointed teacher who is paid LE108 will receive only LE216. Nobody can live on such a small amount. It's not enough to feed a cat, let alone an entire family," El-Beyali said.
"The status of teachers should be improved. Their demands have to be met or they won't be able to work properly in school and will depend on private lessons," El-Beyali said. Teachers have not yet decided whether they will continue their strike. Some say they are determined to stage a sit-in in front of the Cabinet's headquarters downtown "until all their demands are met", El-Beyali added.
In a press conference, Ghoneim said that freedom of expression "is every citizen's right but without harming the welfare of others." Accordingly, holidays are prohibited during the first month of the new academic year. Teachers who will not attend school for no valid reason will be referred to an internal investigation, and a certain percentage of his of her salary will be deducted.
Abdel-Nasser Ismail, deputy of TIU, rejected the raises. "More than 170,000 part-time teachers won't benefit from these increases because they are allocated for only officially appointed teachers, which is unfair," said Ismail.
The new academic year for public schools will end on 6 June 2013. Mid-year exams will begin at the end of December. The mid-year holiday will begin on 19 January and end 31 January. The second semester will start on 1 February and end 6 June. According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Education, the ministry has set up an additional 223 classes this year in schools across the country. This will provide a better opportunity for children to enter school, thus decreasing their number in classes while providing more job opportunities for teachers.
With the advent of the new year, parents are anxious. "We are all worried," Rabab El-Moqadem, a mother of three, said, responding to reports about the recent teachers' strike.
"Every year we have a reason to worry about our children. Last year, it was the revolution, the year before was swine flu, and the one before that was bird flu. Until when will we keep worrying about our children and their future? We don't know what will happen. This year, will teachers enter classrooms?"
Deputy Education Minister Reda Mosaad, stated that parents' fears were groundless. "The ministry will take very strict measures against any teacher on strike. Negotiations with leaders of the teachers union are still ongoing, however, I guarantee the stability of the current academic year," said Mosaad. In the end, the number of teachers on strike is not more than a few hundreds. "This weak percentage can never affect the educational process. Soon the strike will come to an end," he said.
According to Mosaad, the minister of education has held several meetings with the minister of finance to solve the problem. According to Mosaad, teachers do not have the right to strike for the time being, after a minimum level of wages were increased in July, in which all the ministry's teachers and employees benefited. "Additional raises are not expected until the beginning of the new fiscal year. However, there could be incentives paid to teachers which will be taken from the ministry's current budget," Mosaad added.

[مستر محمد سلام]

A history of Ethiopia's Church

Nader Habib examines the historical development of Christianity in Ethiopia and its relationship with Egypt's Coptic Church


Click to view caption

King Solomon and Makeda, famous as the Queen of Sheba; and their descendant Haile Selassie with the late Pope Kirolos VI; Pope Athanasius

Axum, Abyssinia and Ethiopia are all names associated with the mighty kingdom that arose in the Horn of Africa more than three millennia ago, and which has had a far-reaching influence outside its borders.
References to the fabulously rich kingdom, and perhaps its satellite states, can be found in temple hieroglyphics in Egypt as well as in Biblical and Quranic references.
In one of the earliest encounters with Ethiopia, Queen Hatshepsut of Egypt sent a commercial mission to the Land of Punt, a part of ancient Ethiopia, believed to be today's Somalia.
The king of Punt sent the emissaries back to Egypt with exotic animals, incense, ebony, ivory and precious stones, all duly noted on the walls of Deir Al-Bahari in Luxor.
History becomes less clear when the Queen of Sheba comes into the picture. The woman who has travelled to Jerusalem and consorted with King Solomon may have originated from Yemen, but Ethiopian traditions lay a strong claim upon her, and also upon the famed Ark of the Covenant.
In Islamic tradition, the Queen of Sheba is Belqais, and her home is Yemen or its vicinity. In Ethiopian tradition, the queen's name is Makeda, or Mageda, and she hails from Axum.
Biblical and Quranic tradition tells us little about Belqais or Mageda, apart from her brief encounter with King Solomon and the way they both impressed each other with their power and wealth.
According to the Bible (Kings 10:1-13), here is what happened between those two powerful monarchs:
When the queen of Sheba heard about the fame of Solomon and his relationship to the Lord, she came to test Solomon with hard questions. Arriving at Jerusalem with a very great caravan -- with camels carrying spices, large quantities of gold, and precious stones -- she came to Solomon and talked with him about all that she had on her mind. Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon and the palace he had built, the food on his table, the seating of his officials, the attending servants in their robes, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he made at the temple of the Lord, she was overwhelmed. She said to the king, "The report I heard in my own country about your achievements and your wisdom is true. But I did not believe these things until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, not even half was told me; in wisdom and wealth you have far exceeded the report I heard. How happy your people must be! How happy your officials, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom! Praise be to the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and placed you on the throne of Israel. Because of the Lord's eternal love for Israel, he has made you king to maintain justice and righteousness." And she gave the king 120 talents of gold, large quantities of spices, and precious stones. Never again were so many spices brought in as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired and asked for, besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she left and returned with her retinue to her own country.
In Ethiopian tradition, the story doesn't end here. The queen goes back home where she gives birth to Solomon's child, Menelik, who at one point goes to Jerusalem to meet his father, King Solomon, then returns home with the Ark of the Covenant in his luggage.
The Ark is said to be still in Ethiopia to this day, tucked away in a church in Axum, and only the monks guarding it are allowed to see it. Even the head of the Ethiopian Church doesn't have this privilege. Non-Ethiopians may find it hard to believe the story, but it is an article of faith in this ancient land.
Menelik is considered to be the head of the Solomon Dynasty that ruled Abyssinia for nearly 3,000 years, its last scion was Haile Selassie, the emperor who was ousted in a Marxist coup in 1974.
The first attempt to convert Ethiopians to Christianity was made by a church father known as Phillips, about 50 AD. According to Acts (8: 26-40), here is what happened:
An angel of the Lord spoke to Philip saying, "Arise and go south to the road that descends from Jerusalem to Gaza." And he arose and went; and behold, there was an Ethiopian eunuch, a court official of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who was in charge of all her treasure; and he had come to Jerusalem to worship. And he was returning and sitting in his chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the Spirit said to Philip, "Go up and join this chariot." And when Philip had run up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet, and said, "Do you understand what you are reading?" And he said, "Well, how could I, unless someone guides me?" And he invited Philip to come up and sit with him. And the eunuch answered Philip and said, "Please tell me, of whom does the prophet say this? Of himself, or of someone else?" And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he preached Jesus to him. And as they went along the road they came to some water; and the eunuch said, "Look! Water! What prevents me from being baptized?" And he ordered the chariot to stop; and they both went down into the water, Philip as well as the eunuch; and he baptised him. And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord snatched Philip away; and the eunuch saw him no more, but went on his way rejoicing. But Philip found himself at Azotus; and as he passed through he kept preaching the gospel to all the cities, until he came to Caesarea.
In another biblical tradition, Matthew the Apostle visited the Abyssinian eunuch, then went into the city after he shaved his head, and held a palm frond to appear like one of the monks. He found that the Abyssinians were worshipping idols. He had a discussion with the chief priest, Aramius, performed a variety of miracles in front of him, and had him convert to Christianity. After a period of turmoil, in which the local Christians were persecuted, Matthew also converted the governor of the city, which put an end to the persecutions.
Matthew lived in Abyssinia for 23 years, during which he propagated the Christian cause. He gained martyrdom in the city of Nadabah in 62 AD.
Christianity only took root in Ethiopia when the Egyptian church sent a bishop to Axum to establish the first church there. This happened in the time of Pope Athanasius of Alexandria, who was consecrated as the 20th head of the Egyptian Coptic Church in 326 AD. Pope Athanasius appointed the Patriarch Frumentius to be the first head of the Ethiopian Church in 330 AD.
The story was told by the Rufinus of Aquileia, who had the chance to meet with Aedesius, brother of the first patriarch of Abyssinia. According to Rufinus, the story began when Meropius, a philosopher from Tyre, wanted to go to India. He took two of his nephews, two Christian boys, one called Frumentius and the other called Aedesius, with him. Their ship was attacked off the Horn of Africa, and the two brothers, the only survivors, were taken to the king's court in Aksum. Impressed by their diligence, the king appointed Aedesius as his chief waiter and Frumentius as his treasurer.
When power changed hands, the two brothers stayed in Abyssinia for a while, then one of them went back to Syria, where he told his story to Rufinus, and the other went to Alexandria to plead his case as the first patriarch of Abyssinia.
Pope Athanasius was sitting with his top aides when he was told that a stranger has come from Abyssinia and demanded an audience. The visitor, Frumentius, impressed the pope with his knowledge of Christianity and the local affairs of Abyssinia, that he gave him the job. The church that Frumentius proceeded to create played a major role in spreading the new faith across Abyssinia. Frumentius was lovingly referred to as Aba Salama, or father of peace, a name that is still in use today.
Since then, it became the custom of the Coptic Church to appoint the heads of the Ethiopian Church. The custom ended with the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974. In the 1970s, the new Marxist government nationalised all land, including those of the church. In 1976, Partiarch Theophilos, the last patriarch appointed by the Egyptian Coptic Church was arrested. He was executed in secret in 1977.
The Ethiopian government had the Church elect a new patriarch, Tekle Haymanot. The new patriarch, however, resisted the dictates of the government, and relations between Church and government became strained.
When Haymanot died in 1988, Abune Mercurius, a parliamentarian with close connections with the government, was appointed in his place. After the fall of Mengistu's regime in 1991, Mercurius was dismissed. He fled the country to create a synod in exile, one that is recognised by several churches in North America and Europe.
Following the fall of the Derg in 1991, the then patriarch of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, Abune Mercurius, was dethroned in circumstances that remain under dispute. Patriarch Abune Mercurius and his supporters maintain that he was forced from office by the new Ethiopian regime, while his opponents maintain that the patriarch abdicated following numerous protests against him by the faithful. His attempt to reverse his abdication was refused by the Holy Synod of the Church, which authorised a new patriarchal election. Abune Paulos was elected in 1992, and Abune Mercurius and his supporters went into exile, establishing a rival synod in the United States. The enthronement of Abune Paulos as patriarch is still recognised by all the canonical Orthodox Christian churches, such as the Coptic Patriarchate in Alexandria, Egypt.
One of the reasons monasticism took root in Ethiopia was the advent of nine monks from Egypt around 480. The top monk was Anba Mikhail Argawi, the founder of Debra Damo monastery. Others included Anba Youanes, founder of the Debra Sina Monastery, and Anba Libanos, founder of the Debra Libanos monastery.
The Ethiopian Church follows the doctrine and rituals of the Egyptian Coptic Church. However, local norms and customs have influenced many of its rituals and practices. Christians in Ethiopia now number some 45 million. The Ethiopian Church has nearly 50,000 churches and 1,200 monasteries, as well as three ecclesiastical colleges. And, links with its Coptic counterpart in Egypt continue to flourish.

[Ayman M.Ebrahim]

May Allah bless you Mr Mohammad

[مستر محمد سلام]

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Iran's economy is edging towards collapse due to international sanctions over its controversial nuclear programme, Israeli Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said on Sunday.
Israel claims its arch enemy's developing nuclear weapons marks a threat to its existence, and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that, although sanctions are taking their toll, they are not yet forcing Iran to abandon work that could soon lead to a nuclear warhead.
However, Israeli officials appear increasingly ready to acknowledge the effect of recent American and European sanctions designed to restrict Iran's lifeline oil exports.
"The sanctions on Iran in the past year jumped a level," Steinitz told Israel Radio, noting that as finance minister, he follows Iran's economy.
"It is not collapsing, but it is on the verge of collapse. The loss of income from oil there is approaching $45-50 billion by the year's end," Steinitz said.
The United States, Israel's main ally, says it will not allow Tehran to produce the bomb, but sanctions should be given more time to work before force is considered.
American and Israeli commentators say a military strike to destroy Iran's nuclear plants, which Iran says are designed only to develop a nuclear generating capacity, could trigger a regional war with unforeseeable consequences.
In Israel too, some prominent political and military figures question Netanyahu's warning that Iran is so close to the threshold of nuclear capability that military action will soon be the only way to stop it.
But there has been no open split in his coalition over the issue. Steinitz praised the prime minister's speech to the UN General Assembly last week in which he used graphics to underscore the perceived Iranian threat.
An Israeli Foreign Ministry document leaked last week said sanctions had caused more damage to Iran's economy than at first thought and ordinary Iranians were suffering under soaring inflation, although this did not appear to be changing policy.
On Saturday, the Iranian currency slumped to an historic low of about 28,400 rials to the dollar, a fall of about 57 percent since June 2011, meaning a sharp rise in the price of imports.
"The Iranians are in great economic difficulties as a result of the sanctions," Steinitz said.
Parliamentary opponents of Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad say sanctions are not a major cause of Iran's economic problems and accuse his government of mismanaging the economy.
"The first approach today is that authorities accept their mistakes and failures, second, that they not blame their mistakes on others, and third, that they invite all the pundits and experts to find a way to solve the problems of the economy," Iranian legislator Ezzatollah Yousefian was quoted as saying by the Mehr news agency.
Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told Saturday's Haaretz daily that he believed Iran's Islamic theocracy would be toppled in a revolt like the one that toppled Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak last year.
"The opposition demonstrations that took place in Iran in June 2009 will come back in even greater force," he told the paper. "In my view, there's going to be an Iranian-style Tahrir revolution. The young generation are sick of being held hostage and sacrificing their future."
(Reuters, Al-Akhbar)

[مستر محمد سلام]

المشاركة الأصلية كتبت بواسطة Ayman M.Ebrahim

May Allah bless you Mr Mohammad

Thanks Mr Ayman
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