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Religious harmony severed in Egypt

Mostafa Hussein · 18:00

The Egyptian blogosphere has been agitated by the events in Alexandria that shook the country. Four died (3 killed by riot poilce), tens wounded and 100 detained after 5000 angry Muslim protesters demonstrated against a play that the protesters considered offensive to Islam. Protesters demanded an official apology from the Pope.

The two highest religious figures in the country, Sheikh Tantawy and Pope Shenouda III, published an official joint statement. Urging both Christians and Muslims not to resort to violence. The play was staged 2 years earlier, but have been released recently on CD.

Sandmonkey notes that the events did have a political impact. The Christian candidate of the ruling National Democratic Party in Alexandria withdraw his candidacy from the parliamentary elections as a result.

Friday events shook the Egyptian blogosphere. Nearly every frequent blogger did have something to say. Some were depressed others were angry, few others were in horror and fear. Everyone was feeling what The Big Pharoh said about the fabric of the society being torn apart.

“What those Muslims have done doesn't belong to the teachings of Islam.” This was mostly the consensus in Arabic blogs. Arabic blogs were also full of analysis. (Most of the following links are to posts in Arabic) But the wide spread response was either horror, fear or sadness.

Few think that what is going on is a normal reaction to the denial by the government to the increased sensitivity by the two groups. Some see that what is happening today is a result of years of increased sensitivity between the relationships between the two for years. Maged emphasizes governmental denial by finding nothing about the events in official newspapers for two days. And blames the government and both parties for what happened. And asks why the church insists on blindly following the government and never opposing it in any matter.

Yet some think that those events were politically motivated. Some think the events were perpetrated to tarnish the powerful Muslim brotherhood candidates in the next parliamentary elections. Spring456 thinks the exact opposite, that these events will make the brotherhood win more votes. Hazem asks why their newly elected president did not issue any public statement till now. He also thinks that the joint statement by the two highest religious figures will be of no impact on the angry crowd. Some ask the angry protesters why they were venting anger on the powerless few while the government is left to oppress its own people.

Alif, among other things, thinks that it is pointless to create any form of creative production that criticises other faiths. Since any faith will consider the other one as mistaken. It has been like that through history all over the world, and it should not be of any importance to the side making the production. And says that Coptic Christians are making the same mistake that Egyptian Muslims made several years ago. R says that it was almost a rule inside the church that it was not allowed to talk about Islam and asks if this play will open a discussion on what Muslims produce that might be offensive to Christianity.

Egyptian Person says “I downloaded and watched the play and I didn't find anything in it that conflicts with what a Christian or non-Muslim person believes in generally about Islam or some of its followers, so I don't see a reason for the astonishment or anger by some people.” And adds “Freedom of belief and expression must be given to everyone, and when people disagree, they can discuss and debate their differences, and at the end, every person follows what they believe.”

Mohammed, despite knowing that the police detains anyone on the streets in events like these. Decided to go to the street, the same day the events happened, after seeing horrifying pictures from Al-Jazeera. He went in the evening and discovered that the clashes with the police were still going on after the midday “Friday” prayer. He stood few hundred meters from the riots while shops where open and house wifes were normally buying food. Yet at the end of the road he can see young men dodging rubber batons and running away from tear gas. Shops near the riots were closed. Mohammed paints an eerie picture of what the atmosphere was like by quoting people who were involved. They were mostly anti-government and hateful.

In response, bloggers decided to take peaceful action and try to bring back peace and reconciliation.

Karim asks his readers to “set up a show of solidarity for the Christian community sometime this week.” While a group of bloggers are finalising, on a wiki, an open official statement in response. The statement is titled “An invitation to reconciliation and admission.” Which invites both Christians and Muslims to admit their own mistakes, apologise and oppose hate.

Even more ideas are appearing in blog comments. Some think that they should ask both Muslims and Christians to fast for a single day together. Others think they should hold banners and signs and stand in the place the events took place. While ikhnaton2 thinks they should hold regular seminars discussing issues and to open a dialogue between Muslims and Christians.

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Pakistan: Shelter for earthquake victims

Angelo Embuldeniya · 13:13

Entitled “Tents for Quake,” an initiative is being carried on round-the-clock for the last two weeks to raise funds and channel them in the shortest amount of time to purchase and distribute tents in Pakistan through effective distribution networks. The tents are for small villages that have not been helped by any relief agency, due to the sheer magnitude of the disaster and difficult terrain, and where people are sleeping at sub-zero temperatures at night under the open sky without any shelter.

This initiative is being carried out by a small group of friends across Pakistan, the United States and the United Kingdom. Comprising of young professionals and graduate students, the group has been informally documenting its progress at the TentDrive blog

The group is focused on -
1) Soliciting and channeling donations, especially cash donations from the U.S. toPakistan
2) Researching appropriate avenues of obtaining high-quality goods, specifically tents
3) Finding and implementing effective distribution networks and engaging in follow-up

The group has implemented a three-pronged strategy of fundraising and reaching the affected while purchasing a combination of different types of tents available in Pakistan. More about their strategy here.

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Images from Afghanistan: Winter Streets in Kabul

Paul Frankenstein · 09:00

“Winter Streets in Kabul” by TKnoxB

Cabs share the snow-covered streets with men on bicycles in Kabul last winter.

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This Week in Palestinian Blogs

Shaden Abdul Rahman · 09:00

In The Electronic Intifada, Palestinian DAM, the first Arab World rap group from Lydd and US based band the Philistines take NYC's East Village by storm! Their CD is finally out: Free the P, dedicated to the youth of Palestine. The proceeds will go to Slingshot Hip-hop, a documentary film that focuses on the daily life of Palestinian rappers living in Gaza, the West Bank and inside Israel. DAM performed “Born here” and Invincible dazzled the crowd with her “No Compromises”. Other artists performed at the show were Immortal Technique, Akil Dassan , Anthony Morales in addition to the rest of Free-the-P artists. At the end of the show Tamer Nafar the most out-spoken Palestinian rapper stressed the solidarity of all Palestinians regardless of their religions.

Sabbah of Sabbah's Blog talks about Paradise Now, a story two Palestinian childhood friends who have been recruited for a major operation in Tel Aviv. It centers on what is presumably their final day on earth. Starring Kais Nashif and Ali Suliman, directed by Palestinian director Hany Abu-Assad. “Paradise Now-and as expected- did not escape the Anti-Semitic charges from Zionists“, Sabbah adds, “a small google for Paradise Now will lead you to so many rants and accusations to the movie and to critique review Germany’s daily WELT (Dutch) to the German Authorities who Co-Financed it (poor Germans)”.Hani Abu Assad’s Paradise Now won the AGICOA’s Blue Angel Award for the best European film at the Berlinale 2005 and Amnesty International Film Prize. The film has been acquired by Warner Independent Pictures. Sugar Cubes posts a movie review written by ihath about Paradise Now.

On media again, umkahlil quotes Palestine Chronicle regarding the lack of coverage in the New York Times about Palestinian non-violent resistance. She writes also about Joe Carr's account of the October 15 Bil'in protest. Joe writes: “I completely affirm Palestinians right to resist Israeli colonial occupation. Palestinians have the right to do much more than throw rocks at soldiers committing colonial genocide, and they must if they are to survive. Boys with rocks are hardly a match for the Israeli Military heavily stocked with the US’s most deadly weapons, so it is my responsibility to help protect these boys as they symbolically resist. ” Joe was injured while protecting Palestinian children from rubber-coated bullets during the anti-wall demonstration. umkahlil calls to action for Walid Hanatche who has been in administrative detention for three-and-a-half years, since May 2002 without charge, Walid's wife has been diagnosed lately with brain cancer, both Walid and his wife are students at Birzeit University.

In peacepalestine, the Academy forces Italy to exclude Private. The film by Saverio Costanzo has been excluded by the Academy in the category of Best Foreign Film, thecutter suspects the scandal has political reasons behind it. Private won the Golden Leopard, the top award at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland. The film reviews are worth checking, quoting one of them:

The danger upstairs

Elemental fear and the struggle for dignity thicken the air in a Palestinian family's house taken over by Israeli soldiers in the tense thriller “Private.”

What a Palestinian wants? asks Sabbah, priorities of Palestinians have shifted for the first time after the Gaza disengagement with economics coming on top, ending of occupation and corruption ranking second with a wide gap between the first priority and the second of approximately 15 percent according to the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research. On the other hand, Yossi Beilin says Israelies want to dump the Road Map because the deadlines will pass unmet and the map will expire leading to unending violence. The Road Map might reach a dead end soon, according to Mahmood Abbas prisdent of Palestinian National Authority.

Bethlehem Bloggers say suffering does not always come with blood and explosions, to explain, they illustrate with one example: marriage in Palestine, it's not that simple even if the couple live so near. You or your future wife might risk losing the right to return to your home after leaving for a few hours. Freedom of movement is not guaranteed for non-Jews and the Apartheid Wall has turn Palestinians life into a living hell. Moreover, a new illegal settlement is being built around Bethlehem. A review for the new documentary 500 Dunam on the Moon posted by Bethlehem Bloggers. 500 Dunam on the Moon narrates the story of three villages in one: Ain Hawd, Ein Hod, and Ain Hawd Al-Jadida (same village). Lina Abu al-Hayja wonders why is there writings on the moon?. Lina is one of the participants in the film, the majority are Abu al-Hayja (Abu al-Haija) descendents, the original inhibitants of Ain Hawd village.

In Winds of ChangeChange in the Middle East?, Marsden wonders why Ha'aretz changed the wording in its news story on a Palestinian teenager killed for throwing Molotov cocktails from “IDF kills Palestinian suspected of throwing Molotov cocktails at Israeli cars” to “IDF kills Palestinian suspected of fire-bombing Israeli cars” and says Israeli officials call for changes in Syrian rule!

In Rafah Pundits, two hundred Fatah members resigned expressing their concerns over the lack of democracy and transparency, weakness in performance and growing nepotism within the Fatah party.

International Solidarity Movement reports that Israeli military arrested non-violent activists in Bil’in and accused them of damaging the foundation of annexation barrier - 23/10/05.

From Palestine Blogs, a post that talks about house demolitions in Palestine, the article titled Bulldozing the chance for peace says “Since 1948, Israel has bulldozed more than 400 Palestinian villages and built more than 600 Jewish colonies in their place.” and that “some 2,000 demolition orders for Occupied Jerusalem, and another 2,000 or more in the West Bank, remain outstanding, threatening some 6,000 families.” At the end Palestine Blogs quotes Theodore Herzl who described the process of seizing Palestine from its inhabitants on 1897 by “The process of expropriation and displacement must be carried out prudently and discreetly. Let the landowners sell us their land at exorbitant prices. We shall sell nothing back to them.”

In PALESTINEFREEVOICE, In a period of 36 weeks, 15,825 Israeli violations resulted in the death of 112 Palestinians and injury of 852 others, while 2,907 civilians were arrested and 35,344 dunums of arable lands were expropriated. And Palestinians warn of allowing Jews inside Al Aqsa Mosque.

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