Merry Christmas 2013

Merry Christmas for everybody celebrating it in Egypt and outside Egypt. There is nothing better than Banksy’s Christmas card this year. It says a lot. It says all.

Well we are having one of those sad Charlie Brown Christmases if you know what I mean in Egypt.Somehow I feel this painting represents the revolution that is barred from freedom , democracy and above all life

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Links and Notes 11/10/2013

• Ladies Who Rally by Tanya Habjouqa | PANORAMA

  Meet Speed sisters , the Middle East's first all female auto racing team from Palestine :) Oh yes Palestinian female auto racing team. Please check the fantastic Photo report from Panorama Mada Misr by Tanya Habjouqa

  tags: #DWC #LN Photos Ladies Women Arabs Panorama Cars Rally

• صحافة القاهرة: عناوين الستينيات + صورة السيسي | مدونة محرري ياهو مكتوب - أخبار Yahoo‎ مكتوب

  Dear Ahmed El Deriny compares the Egyptian press of today to the Egyptian press of 1960s. Same headlines about getting how evil America is and how getting close to its rival Russia is great but with one difference : Instead of Nasser pictures, you will find the photos of general Abdel Fatah Sisi. The Op-ed is in Arabic only.

  tags: #DWC #LN Egypt Arabic Press Sisi Nasser 1960s

• The Monkey and the Mask: Terrifying Portraits of Indonesia’s Street-Performing Macaques - LightBox

  This explains why I believe the acting monkeys in Jakarta were scary. Thanks for the animal activists for saving those monkeys and sparing us from that terror !!

  tags: #DWC #LN monkey mask indonesia portraits Photos

• No More ‘Monkey Business’ in Jakarta · Global Voices

  Great news because it was not animal abuse but also scary !!

  tags: #DWC #LN jakarta monkey Indonesia

• US, Israel lose UNESCO voting right in dispute - Region - World - Ahram Online

  Both Israel and US lose voting rights in UNESCO

  tags: #DWC #LN israel unesco dispute America Palestine

• Egypt: Police Violence Video Revives Fear of Return to Old Regime · Global Voices

  The Egyptian police is back to its what knows best : Torturing people !! This time the victim is from in Minya . Now you must know that at the same time we saw this video , we heard that a journalist was tortured in Minya also. The journalist is a MBC Misr reporter in the Upper Egyptian governorate and he is denying that he is the man in that video so we could be in front of two torture cases. As long as there are no true

  tags: egypt police violence video torture #LN #DWC

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Links and Notes 11/06/2013

• Tamarod: From rebellious youth to political actors - Features - Egypt - Ahram Online

  Egypt's Tamaroud is facing lots of challenges. Please read this important feature by dear friend Miriam. Read it till the end

  tags: Egypt #DWC #LN features Tamaroud

• مراسل إم بي سي ضحية التعذيب لـ«الضابط»: «أبوس رجلك اتعلمت الدرس».. ولست صاحب فيديو رصد - بوابة الشروق

  Another Egyptian journalist tortured and beaten by police in Upper Egypt. This time the victim is from MBC Misr.

  tags: Egypt #DWC #LN Media Police EgyPolice

• Nubia: 50 years of displacement - Special Files - Folk - Ahram Online

  A fantastic report about the Nubian displacement in Egypt. It is a must read

  tags: Egypt #DWC #LN

• تفويضكم يقتلنا.. | المصري اليوم

  Since 3 July 2013 and Egyptian journalists as well Egyptian media are paying the price in Egypt. A powerful and important op-ed by Shaher Eiyad in Arabic

  tags: Egypt #DWC #LN Media

• Syrian asylum seekers: Lost at sea, barred from land - Region - World - Ahram Online

  The agony of the Syrian refugees.

  tags: Egypt #DWC #LN Syria Refugees

• US defence minister talks with El-Sisi - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

  The calls do not stop between the ministry of defence in Cairo and Pentagon in Washington D.C

  tags: Egypt ElSisi Hagel US #DWC #LN

• Photographer captures faces of bugs with extreme close-up photos | Mail Online

  Aliens living with us :))

  tags: photographer faces bugs photos #LN #DWC

• Egypt's millionaires make up 0.04% of total adult population: Report - Economy - Business - Ahram Online

  Credit Suisse Research institute got very interesting numbers when it comes to Egypt

  tags: egypt millionaires #LN #DWC population report economy

• Egypt's new constitution to guarantee absolute religious freedom: Salmawy - Egypt - Ahram Online

  This to be too good to be true. Knowing how conservatives Egyptians can be this may not pass.

  tags: egypt constitution #LN #DWC Religion

• From Daraa , Syria aside from the photos of destruction. Little Mischief maker hopeful

  tags: #LN #DWC Photos War Syria Daraa

  

• The military upholds virtue | Mada Masr

  A translation to Reem Saad's unpublished op-ed in Al Shorouk newspaper about how military check points in Red sea used to confiscate liquor.

  tags: #LN #DWC military Egypt Egyarmy

• Hasankeyf: Civilization Condemned to Death - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

  Ancient city of Hasankeyf to be destroyed thanks to Ilisu dam project in Turkey

  tags: #LN #DWC civilization middle east history Turkey

• This photo from Khan Younes refugees camp in Gaza won the UNRWA and EU for Palestinian refugees

  tags: #LN #DWC refugees Palestine Gaza Photos

  

• In Egypt’s Countryside, Vendettas Between Police and Islamists Simmer - The Daily Beast

  Vendettas between Islamists and Police are back once again in Egypt.

  tags: Egypt police countryside #LN #DWC

• Relationship between Church and state brought into question | Mada Masr

  Mai Shams El Din discusses the relationship between the Coptic Church in Egypt and the Egyptian state.

  tags: Egypt Church Copts Politics Mada #LN #DWC

• Syria: Are Amphetamines Funding the War? | TIME.com

  Illegal drug , popular in the Middle East is connected to the war in Syria

  tags: syria war drugs MENA Time #LN #DWC

• Controversy over granting defense minister immunity | Mada Masr

  Mada Misr speaks about granting the defense minister in Egypt an immunity in the draft Constitution

  tags: Egypt Op-eds #DWC #LN Egyarmy Constitution

• Constitution committee eliminates all barriers to building churches in Egypt - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

  If this happens , then it will be a great step forward. I hope it happens

  tags: constitution churches egypt politics #LN #DWC

• مَنْ يحكم مصر بعد ٣٠ يونيو؟ - وائل جمال - بوابة الشروق

  Wael Gamel wonders in Al Shorouk about who is really ruling Egypt after 30 June. (Ar)

  tags: Egypt Op-eds Arabic #DWC #LN

• As Egypt's Brotherhood retreats, risk of extremism rises - Analyses - Aswat Masriya

  Reuters presents an analysis about the fall of the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt at the same time risk of extremism is increasing

  tags: egypt brotherhood reuters analysis #LN #DWC MB

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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Links and Notes 11/05/2013

• Nubia: 50 years of displacement - Special Files - Folk - Ahram Online

  A fantastic report about the Nubian displacement in Egypt. It is a must read

  tags: Egypt #DWC #LN

• تفويضكم يقتلنا.. | المصري اليوم

  Since 3 July 2013 and Egyptian journalists as well Egyptian media are paying the price in Egypt. A powerful and important op-ed by Shaher Eiyad in Arabic

  tags: Egypt #DWC #LN Media

• Syrian asylum seekers: Lost at sea, barred from land - Region - World - Ahram Online

  The agony of the Syrian refugees.

  tags: Egypt #DWC #LN Syria Refugees

• US defence minister talks with El-Sisi - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

  The calls do not stop between the ministry of defence in Cairo and Pentagon in Washington D.C

  tags: Egypt ElSisi Hagel US #DWC #LN

• Photographer captures faces of bugs with extreme close-up photos | Mail Online

  Aliens living with us :))

  tags: photographer faces bugs photos #LN #DWC

• Egypt's millionaires make up 0.04% of total adult population: Report - Economy - Business - Ahram Online

  Credit Suisse Research institute got very interesting numbers when it comes to Egypt

  tags: egypt millionaires #LN #DWC population report economy

• Egypt's new constitution to guarantee absolute religious freedom: Salmawy - Egypt - Ahram Online

  This to be too good to be true. Knowing how conservatives Egyptians can be this may not pass.

  tags: egypt constitution #LN #DWC Religion

• From Daraa , Syria aside from the photos of destruction. Little Mischief maker hopeful

  tags: #LN #DWC Photos War Syria Daraa

  

• The military upholds virtue | Mada Masr

  A translation to Reem Saad's unpublished op-ed in Al Shorouk newspaper about how military check points in Red sea used to confiscate liquor.

  tags: #LN #DWC military Egypt Egyarmy

• Hasankeyf: Civilization Condemned to Death - Al-Monitor: the Pulse of the Middle East

  Ancient city of Hasankeyf to be destroyed thanks to Ilisu dam project in Turkey

  tags: #LN #DWC civilization middle east history Turkey

• This photo from Khan Younes refugees camp in Gaza won the UNRWA and EU for Palestinian refugees

  tags: #LN #DWC refugees Palestine Gaza Photos

  

• In Egypt’s Countryside, Vendettas Between Police and Islamists Simmer - The Daily Beast

  Vendettas between Islamists and Police are back once again in Egypt.

  tags: Egypt police countryside #LN #DWC

• Relationship between Church and state brought into question | Mada Masr

  Mai Shams El Din discusses the relationship between the Coptic Church in Egypt and the Egyptian state.

  tags: Egypt Church Copts Politics Mada #LN #DWC

• Syria: Are Amphetamines Funding the War? | TIME.com

  Illegal drug , popular in the Middle East is connected to the war in Syria

  tags: syria war drugs MENA Time #LN #DWC

• Controversy over granting defense minister immunity | Mada Masr

  Mada Misr speaks about granting the defense minister in Egypt an immunity in the draft Constitution

  tags: Egypt Op-eds #DWC #LN Egyarmy Constitution

• Constitution committee eliminates all barriers to building churches in Egypt - Politics - Egypt - Ahram Online

  If this happens , then it will be a great step forward. I hope it happens

  tags: constitution churches egypt politics #LN #DWC

• مَنْ يحكم مصر بعد ٣٠ يونيو؟ - وائل جمال - بوابة الشروق

  Wael Gamel wonders in Al Shorouk about who is really ruling Egypt after 30 June. (Ar)

  tags: Egypt Op-eds Arabic #DWC #LN

• As Egypt's Brotherhood retreats, risk of extremism rises - Analyses - Aswat Masriya

  Reuters presents an analysis about the fall of the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt at the same time risk of extremism is increasing

  tags: egypt brotherhood reuters analysis #LN #DWC MB

• Egypt Kung Fu gold medalist suspended for wearing Rabaa sign - Omni Sports - Sports - Ahram Online

  It is causing controversry already. Some say that he is free to do it others say that he is not. Of course I think now what if he wore an Anti-Morsi Shirt during the MB president's rule and how people will react ot it

  tags: egypt Kung Fu Morsi Raaa Sports #LN #DWC

• 22 Epic Places You Didn't Know Existed

  All those places are on my bucket list , I wish to visit them before I die with my camera and my beloved ones too.

  tags: #DWC #LN Photos World Earth

Posted from Diigo. The rest of my favorite links are here.

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The sad story of Haya , Julia and Sama

Haya , Julia and Sama

Those beautiful girls are called : Haya , Julia and Sama. They are sisters. Palestinian refugees who were born in Syria. Their family fled Syria after the revolution turned in to a war seeking better life in Egypt.
Facing with double bitter reality mixed with racism, their parents decided to emigrate illegally escaping from Egypt seeking safe place in Europe unfortunately.
Haya , Julia and Sama drowned on Friday in the Mediterranean near the shores of Alexandria among the 12 Syrian and Palestinian that were drowned in the illegal immigration boat incident.
I do not know what to say except that I am sorry, I am sorry that the Syrians and Palestinians have to suffer in Egypt. I am sorry that we are not helping them to live in dignity in our country. I am sorry that they had to die like this.
The agony of the refugees from Syria is doubled for the Palestinian refugees as unlike other refugees they do not have UNRWA in Egypt to help them. This is of course besides racism against Palestinians in Egypt nowadays.
These refugees are ready to die in the sea just to get hell out of Egypt , can you just imagine how it feels ? Already we got our own youth who are ready to do the same and they are doing it !!
If Europe does not want these refugees and the Egyptian regime does not want them too then I think the EU , Egypt , UN , UNRWA and UNHCR should work out a solution for those refugees whether Syrian or Palestinian to have a proper way of living in dignity instead of throwing themselves to hell like that.
Now I want to say something about that disgusting racism and ultra-nationalism in Egypt towards Syrians and Palestinians.
With my all due respect Modern Egypt was not built by Egyptians only but it was also built by foreigners including amazing and wonderful Syrians, Palestinians and Lebanese that did not only a safe haven in Egypt but a place where they could not live only  but they also contributed to a great nation we brag about till this moment.
Go back and see who were the founders of the Egyptian major newspapers and printing houses , you would find them from Levant. Go back in history and see who were the artists and actors back then and you would find them from Levant. I do not need to say names because they are so many. 
All what I can say now is that the Egyptian people were more welcoming and more tolerant then despite they were poor and were not educated like now. That stupid Ultra-Nationalism is killing Egypt’s true soul.

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Refugees Day 2013 in #Egypt : More Challenges Than ever

The world celebrated yesterday the Refugees Day on June 20th.
I think in Egypt the refugees file is getting heavier and bigger everyday and yet the government and the mainstream media are both ignoring the refugees issues in Egypt.

Baby Nour born in September 2012 in Egypt

We got the Syrian refugees file in Egypt. The last number I have heard from very trusted sources in the UNCHR that we are getting closer to 100,000. We got clusters and communities from Syria in Cairo , Giza, Damietta and Alexandria as well in other areas like in Al Arish as I have known recently. “Small number of families”. The Syrian communities in October city and in New Cairo are like Mini-Syria now with families from all over the sad country. From different areas, different classes and different ethnics as well from different political backgrounds you will find in Egypt. We got new born babies who open their eyes in Cairo and Giza instead of Damascus and Homs.
Some Egyptians began to complain that Syrians began to take their jobs and to cause a hike in the prices of houses in Egypt. It is just sad because actually I know that Syrians are not competing Egyptians over jobs at least two incidents I heard of Syrians refused to take jobs from Egyptians so the Egyptians will not be harmed. Regarding the crazy prices of houses in Egypt , well if it were not for the greedy contractors and brokers Syrians and Egyptians would not suffer from mad prices. Syrian families are suffering from these crazy prices as well. They can not coupe with our prices easily especially in those hard times in Egypt.
By the way I think I hinted out before that the Syrian refugees are going to be harmed from President Morsi’s decision. Well many Syrian activists have raised this point. The Syrian refugees need their embassy to facilitate their documents. By the way if Morsi’s regime is so supportive to Syrians why several Syrian refugees were deported and faced death in Damascus in the past months !?
I must say that when it comes to the Syrian refugees in Egypt , I can not ignore the effort of the Syrian community in Egypt in the past two years in order to make their people comfortable in their second home nor can I ignore the Egyptian activists who are helping the Syrian families as much as they can.
Despite the challenge the UNCHR is facing as well our crazy times in Egypt , I believe things are not that bad thank goodness.
We got the African refugees whether from Sudan or Eretria or South Sudan to Ethiopia. Recently with the Nile crisis the Ethiopian refugees are paying the price unfortunately in Egypt now. The Ethiopian refugees from Oromo People are suffering from mistreatment sadly enough. This is unacceptable.
Of course no one wants to speak for real about what is happening to the African refugees in Sinai. It is another taboo. I do not understand why no one is trying to tackle it from local press. Only foreign media speaks about the agony and the horror the African refugees face in Sinai. We are speaking here about human trafficking.
Moving to the Palestinian refugees , well the Palestinian refugees who came fled Syria need help yet the amazing Morsi’s regime is not helping them despite all the so-called support to Palestinian cause.
By the way here is a short clip I filmed in Fadel Island , Egypt’s biggest gathering for Palestinian refugees in Egypt since 1948 for an old man there describing how they came on camels.

Fadel Island : We came on camels from Palestine.

This is a quick round for this important day in Egypt.

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In case you do not know Rim is like Assaf

Last Sunday Avichay Adraee , the IDF spokesperson for Arab Media expressed his admiration with the voice of Palestinian Mohamed Assaf, the popular contestant in Arab Idol 2013 as well his anger from Hamas and how it is allegedly fighting this rising star.

 

Hamas is still meddling in the Gazans’ affairs and is still imposing its provoking and ugly restrictions on them. The best example is how the movement demanded the rising star “Mohamed Assaf” to withdraw from Arab Idol TV show to return back to the sector in a threatening message sent to him and to his family. Hamas also gave its orders to remove the photos of Assaf from cars and shops imposing fines on those breaking its orders. According to estimations and given data Mohamed Assaf is in good position in the TV show and there is high hopes that he will be “Arab Idol”
Personally I watch the show from from time to time , I am not a fan of a certain contestant but after what happened with him... "Bad Arabic structure" his voice is great or like what Ahlam had said “his voice is like diamonds”. That voice makes those who refuse creativity and other opinion angry. I say you are amazing amazing amazing Mohamed Assad

Strangely as far as I know Hamas denied that it ordered Mohamed Assef to withdraw from the popular TV show , in fact it denied those rumors from long time. Assaf himself had to speak and published a comment denying what Adraee claimed.

I had to visit your ugly page that is full of lies because of what you had said. I had already

denied on my Facebook page all those rumors. Nobody asked me to withdraw from Arab Idol TV show. No one has threatened me or threatened my family. My photos are everywhere in Gaza as an evidence on your lies. What it will be more than great and amazing is to stop the murder of our children and to end your occupation to our land so my people can found its independent state so Mohamed Assaf can sing to our children in order to hear the sound of love and peace instead of hearing the sound of bombs.

I wonder if Adraee will continue to hear Assaf. Anyhow it is good that the IDF spokesperson speak about arts and listens to Arab Music but why he did not speak about Palestinian singer and activist Rim Banna and how she was summoned to the Shin Bet because of her humanitarian visit to Syria !?
Last Monday in early morning a police force went to her house in Nazareth to inform her that she was summoned for investigation at the Shin Bet Tuesday morning.

Israeli police speaking to Rim

It turned out that the Shin Bet wanted to interrogate her regarding her humanitarian visit to Syria with a group of Arab activists including Egyptian activists last month. I remember this visit very well as it included Egyptian activists like Abdel Rahman Mansour and former MP Mostafa Al Naggar. They accused her of dealing with suspicious NGOs and travelling to an enemy state !!
Ironically I remember that Adraee used to speak from time to time on how poor the Syrian people are and so on.
Rim went to the interrogation and in the end she said the following on her Facebook page.

They were dwarfs and they will continue to be dwarfs,not higher than a Palestinian girl’s shoe.I am the one who ended the interrogation of Shin Bet officer by telling him one sentence : I do not care how you are worried about me , all your security and the security of the world do not scare and will not stop me from supporting freedom and human causes. I am released on a bail and accused of a national security charge which is visiting an enemy state. I was informed and warned. My answer was that I have been informed and the decision is up to me now.

This is why I love Rim Banna besides her amazing voice and beautiful song
Anyhow good luck to Assaf and really wish to hear him in a duo with Rim Banna, the original Arab Palestinian idol.

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The Colonel Finds A Way To #Gaza

Life in Egypt is stranger than fiction without doubt !! On the same day we are speaking about our kidnapped soldiers and the tunnels in Al Arish to find a photo report about KFC delivery to Gaza through tunnels !!!!!! Xinhua published the report today and it is making headlines worldwide. Yes it turns out Gazans buy from KFC in Al Arish and smuggle the orders through the tunnels. It turns out that if you are in Gaza you can order KFC through Ymama Delivery service.

Now Order KFC from Ymama "Ymama FB"

You place the order and they will send its boys to cross the tunnels then go to KFC branch in Al Arish to get the order. The boys then return back through the tunnel with the orders.

KFC orders inside the tunnel "Xinhua"

Ymama delivery boy with KFC meals "Xinhua"

It would take 4 hours to enjoy the colonel's secret recipe in Gaza.I wonder how many Gazans got food poisoning from KFC after all !!
Ymama is extremely happy with the publicity it got today internationally according to its Facebook page.
Of course this is the biggest advertising for KFC after the Egyptian revolution in Tahrir square !!
By the way back to the main news today in Cairo , the kidnap of the conscripts in Sinai ; Hamas announced that it closed the tunnels today from its side. I think today there will be no KFC delivered to the sector !! 

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#Fadel_Island : Meet Palestine’s Forgotten Refugees in Nile Delta

The first time I heard about Fadel Island village for the first time in my life was only last week , exactly a week ago.
TV Journalist Kareem Farid told me about this forgotten hidden place in Sharkia where there is small village of Palestinian refugees who came to Egypt since 1948 from the Nakba staying there since then. He told me that the village with population of 3000 refugees at least is extremely poor and needs help. He also warned me that I will not find its place on the map and he was right as I could not find any official existence for the village in any Egyptian map or Google map or GPS.
My only geographical lead is that it is near Abu Kabeer town and it is known there as the Arabs village. I asked everybody about it in Sharkia from members of big families there to reporters of major Egyptian newspapers to labor activists who know everybody. No one knew that this village exist at all let alone there is a Palestinian refugee community there.
In online search there were very mentions for the place and its history. There was a report for Al Monitor about Palestinian refugees in Egypt that led me to a documentary produced earlier this year by Al Mayadeen TV channel that featured that place with no existence on the map. The documentary “The forgotten ones” was the first media exposure to this small community. Other than that the only mentions I could find were couple of mentions in the official website of the Palestinian embassy in Cairo about how the embassy is helping the village as much as it can.
Of course now you will find its name mentioned frequently during this week thanks to ONTV show last Friday about it “Thanks to Kareem Farid and Ahmed Baqawi” and hopefully it will gain more and more attention as it should.
Last Friday I went there with my friend Maya from Ahram Online and Palestinian activist Ahmed Baqawi. He already told the people there would be guests visiting the small village. It would take three hours in Friday morning to reach our destination from Downtown Cairo.

When we reached our destination what I found in front of me an extreme poor real Nile Delta village that is not different from any other village in Nile Delta except most of its people got Palestinian travel documents issued from Mogamma El Tahrir as Palestinian refugees.
The village is encircled by that mud wall around it , you feel that you are entering a maze till you are really inside. The people told me that they made this wall for protection from long time ago.

Most of the houses here are made of mud with straw roof while the roads are extremely narrow. There are couple of houses though built by cement and new under construction with red bricks.


The story of the village is better to be known from the elderly who witnessed the Nakba itself. I met 3 of the remaining elderly who came from Beersheba on camels. Originally from one big clan in Beersheba about 6 brothers and their extended families from Bedouins.
MR. Salman “born in 1930s” told us how his clan used to farm watermelon in Beersheba when they had to leave due to the war. The clan came thinking at first that this was a temporary situation. They built shelters and huts from straw at first then when days and months passed they began to built mud Nile Delta homes.

According to MRS. Nafela “born in 1920s” the trip from BeerSheeba to Fadel Island took about 15 days.Riding camels and setting camps all the way till they get to this spot from 65. She was only a bride and came with her husband and his family leaving her mother in Beersheba.

I knew that the elderly who ruled the community in the village rejected the idea of marrying from Egyptians hoping one day that they would return back to Palestine. Only two decades the Palestinians in the villages were allowed to marry Egyptians.
Despite their ancestors started as farmers in this area , the people now in Fadel Island work in plastic recycling. They bring garbage and take plastic to recycle it through melting if I understand correctly. The children work in this process.

We met the mayor Mohamed El Nahamawly at a guest room opened by the Palestinian ambassador in Cairo from couple of years ago. Mayor El Nahamawly is the grandson of the man that led the people to this place. He inherited the position from his father. In a Nile Delta accent he explained to us that despite the people there are originally from Palestine yet they are typical Egyptian village. We knew that they got this tradition reconciliation system like in Bedouin communities to solve their problems away from the legal system.
The meeting was like a scene taken from a Tawfik El Hakim novel about Nile Delta mayors. He claimed at first that they did not have any problems in the village and that the embassy is helping them but later he spoke about the problems. The village does not have a sewage system still he claimed that all the other neighbor villages. They have got electricity since 1982. The other problem they have is the lack of health care.
The people in the village can not have a clinic despite the ministry of health is ready to fund the clinic and to operate it as well because a clinic needs a land. Palestinians can not own land in Egypt yet they can own buildings. From what I see the children in the village need medical care ASAP.
Already the Children work in garbage and plastic recycle and you can imagine what they are facing.I saw that beautiful baby girl over the shoulders of her brother with inflammation in her eyelid.

I saw another small shy boy who approached me asking to be photographed quietly with cleft lip. He told me in a very low voice that his name was Ali.

The people are poor there and can not afford to be treated as foreigners in Egyptian hospitals. They can not pay in foreign currency.There are NGOs that can help them a lot as refugees.
I forgot to tell you that despite knowing that the illiteracy classroom opened by the embassy is not that functional in advance but we found a teacher there wearing a Palestinian scarf. Also Abu Mazen and Yasser Arafat posters were hanged in the classroom.

MR. Mohamed Abdel Hamid is a teacher that works in an elementary school in Gazira Al Abazaya. This is the nearest school to the village and it is one kilometer away.
Education is not a priority in the village , only  30% of the people there are educated while the rest depend on work. Having large families contribute a lot to this problem , I met a man who got 69 grandchild alone !! Already another man told me that big families means some kids learn while other kids work and that having working kids ease the economic woes now !!!!!! BY the way now Palestinians have to pay LE 110 for each travel document which is actually their ID in Egypt , for some big families it is hard to issue travel documents for 16 kids !!

Back to education woes , MR. Abdel Hamid told us about other problems facing the Palestinian refugees who learn in Egyptian schools and how 2 month red tape procedures as well presenting security approvals to the ministry of education make the Palestinian students miss the books distributed in the schools.
Another problem alarms the Palestinians in the rural village is the future of the food supplies. According to the new system adopted by the ministry of supply in Egypt subsidized food including the bread will be distributed by the Egyptian National ID , it is unclear what their fate will be.
Just a background from 1948 to 1977 Palestinian refugees were treated like Egyptians. They did not have camps here like in Syria or Lebanon. In 1950s President Nasser issued a decision to treat Palestinians like Egyptians. From I understood that decision made the UNRWA unneeded in Egypt. Still in 1977 when President Sadat began moving forward in the Peace Process and the PLO began attacking him to the end of that jazz led him to issue presidential decrees No.48&47 to treat Palestinians like foreigners. For there things become much tougher for Palestinians especially for those forgotten in poor areas like Fadel Island.
There are two documented immigrations of Palestinian refugees in Egypt. The first one was in 1948 and most of the Palestinians there came from Beersheba and Jaffa. They were only 1800 that came. That wave settled down mainly in Sharkia governorate and its different villages and cities like Fadel Island , Bebilis, Zagzig and Fakous. According to Mr. Abu Olan there are not less than 20,000 Palestinian refugee alone in Sharkia. The elderly who came to Sharkia because it was near to Sinai and it was a temporarily thing.
The second wave of refugees came to Egypt in 1967 mainly from Gaza and most of them settled down in Al Arish. There are also small communities of 1967 refugees in areas like Banha in Qalubiya and in Aim Shams , Al Mataria and Al Wali in Cairo.
Here is a photo gallery for the village. I know I had to take more photos.

I will upload couple of video clips I shot there later.
If You are interested to help Fadel Island , Egyptian and Palestinian activists are preparing for convoy of aids to the village mainly to help the kids there. Personally I believe there are lots of NGOs that can help the village and its people. At least it will lift the burden on the Egyptian government. 
By the way Fadel Island is now on the map , check the Google map below that post.

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The Tale of Two Leaks And How The Truth Is Lost Between Them !!

There is on going press leaks on going war between the Muslim brotherhood and the army and unfortunately the truth is the price Egyptians pay in this war between those two.
It began first in early April with the explosive leaks published by the Guardian about the human rights abused committed during SCAF rule. The leaks were from the alleged the revolution’s martyrs fact finding committee commissioned by President after his election.That report should say in details who was responsible for the murder of protesters from 25 January 2011 to 30 June 2012. No one knows how the Guardian got its leaks but we know that the fact finding members finished their report and presented it to the Egyptian presidency. The members deny leaking it to anyone. The Presidency then referred the report to Talaat Abdullah , the Prosecutor general. For months nothing happened.
Before the Guardian would publish these leaks , Egyptian Daily Al Shorouk Newspaper also published leaks from the report in a series of articles but nobody paid attention to our local press.
Of course 2 days after the Guardian’s report , we found President Morsi holding a meeting with SCAF members then promoting three army commanders to higher ranks. Morsi also said “Any insult to the armed forces is actually an insult to all of us”. After the meeting minister of defense El Sisi swore by God in front of the TV cameras that the armed forces did not kill anybody.
The Guardian is being accused of those who hate the MB and are taking the army’s side “not few” of being on the payroll of the MB. Already some disbelieve the Guardian and suspect its credibility because they believe that the famous British newspaper lied about Mubarak’s $ 70 Billion fortune.
Personally I believed that this is another episode in that not so secret troubling relation between the MB and the Egyptian army. In the past months El Sisi’s popularity increased in Egypt and after bringing down the Qatari ambitions in Sinai plus the constant reports in foreign media on how a military coup is in the horizon , the MB had to move. Concerning the violations and abuse during SCAF rule , it is not a secret what happened during those two years.
Like a friend once said “It is old news in new bottles”. The timing explains everything here .The MB was trying to remind the revolutionary powers with what happened during those two years just in case they want to seek an alliance with the military to remove the brotherhood from rule. This is how I read it.
FYI the members of the fact finding committee members are demanding the presidency to publish the report publicly. The members as well human rights activists in Egypt launched a campaign called “Warakom Bltaqrir” or “We demand the report”. Till this moment the presidency has not published the report.
Now after couple of weeks of Guardian’s leaks , we found another interesting leak in Egyptian Daily Al Masry Al Youm last Thursday : The secret 5  phone calls between Hamas and Muslim brotherhood before and during the 18 days of 25 January Revolution. Journalist Yousry El Badry in Al Masry Al Youm says that he got the transcripts of those supposedly secret calls from an unnamed informed source in the Homeland Security “formerly known as state security”. 
The 5 phone calls allegedly took place on 21 January 2011 , 22 January 2011, 2 February 2011 and 11 February 2011.It is worth to mention that the Muslim brotherhood members know that the State security recorded their phone calls. The source did not say if those were phone calls were made on satellite phones and whether state security can spy on satellite phone calls.
In the Phone call on 21 January 2011 we find an alleged  phone call between the two MB leading “M.M” and “M.B” { allegedly Mohamed Morsi and Mohamed El Beltagy} speaking about there were special preparations for upcoming “25 and 28 January 2011” with the help of the neighbors “Hamas”.
For the record the MB did not participate officially in #Jan25 and was against it only few members participated individually and no one in earth knew how things were going to happen on #Jan28 in Egypt. In fact the Day of wrath was only planned on 26 January 2011. I got testimonies actually the MB would not be so pleased to see about how the leading MB figures especially in guidance office were not that revolutionary.
FYI for those who are really documenting the #Jan25 Revolution , the testimonies of the MB defectors say that the MB leaderships did not believe in the revolution and actually took the decision to participate late.
In another phone call on 2 February 2011 “on the day of the Battle of the camel” we find an alleged phone called between a MB figure “M. A” and some Palestinian guy speaking about how the “Palestinians supposedly Hamas” were preparing to get in to the fight with slingshots behind the Egyptian museum “which was under the control of the Egyptian army”.
It is worth to mention that the former regime is marketing the theory that the MB and their Hamas partners were the ones who killed the protesters in Tahrir square on that day. It is also worth to mention that the only slingshot the protesters made in Tahrir square during the 18 days was extremely big “like the one you use in the Lord of the rings” and it did not work !!!!!!
The newspaper added that Khaled Tharwet ,the head of the Homeland security handed over the transcripts of those calls to Khairat El Shater.
Interestingly the State security HQs all over the country were handed over to the army. on April 16, 2013 General Al Sisi stood in front of the court and said that the army did not know the content of the State security documents and records and that it only protected the HQs !! The big irony former minister of interior Mansour El Eissawy “who denies having a snipers unit in the MOI yet believes that the slingshots of Hamas killed  the protesters” said in an interview with Al Masry Al Youm that the State security records were handed over to the army.
Last Sunday the ministry of interior issued an official statement denying the whole issue from transcripts to the claim that Khaled Tharwet handing over the records themselves to Khairat El Shater.
Al Masry Al Youm  “AMAY”  knows how critical its position and that’s why yesterday it reported the alleged transcripts of the prosecutor general so he would investigate those calls. Of course I do not expect any progress in that case. Of course some people are attacking AMAY and are accusing its CEO and editor in chief of standing behind this leak. The CEO of AMAY is none other Abdel Moneim Said , the former Ahram CEO and journalist who supported Gamal Mubarak’s presidency. The AMAY editor in Chief now is Yasser Razek , the former editor in chief of state owned Al Akhbar during SCAF time who was closed to military council.
The Mubarak regime supporters are flying over the moon with those transcripts as they believe that the transcripts proved the revolution of 25 January was an illusion and it was a foreign conspiracy without realizing that if that were true , it would be a true conviction of failure and weakness to Mubarak regime as well his defense and national security apparatuses.
If those calls were true then the Mubarak regime was completely weak and did not deserve to rule the country by all measures. If those calls were true then we were in front a rotten old regime that could not stand against a militant group currently besieged in small sector for nearly a decade !! That regime would not be trusted to a rule a country or to protect it for real. People who lived the whole thing are still alive for God sake. I do not know what I am debating here.
Another thing the fact that those alleged phone calls that the ministry of interior officially denies suddenly appear now , it means that SCAF and GIS are involved too and can not to be trusted on the National security of the country. I wonder why those phone calls did not appear in Mubarak’s trial, more than the hearsay testimonies and wild conspiracies. I am speaking about the audio records themselves.
A journalist friend whom I trust his opinion told me that he believes the whole leak is intended to hit back police general Khaled Tharwet , the current head of Homeland security who is tipped to become the next minster of interior. Rumors are spreading that Tharwet was responsible for the MB activity in Egypt in from 1986 to 1904 in the State security and that he is close to them now. 
Now my opinion :
I believe that the leak in Al Masry Al Youm is actually a payback for the leak in the Guardian.
Unlike The Guardian which got a written copy of an alleged report in Arabic “We do not know officially if it is authentic or not ” , I believe Al Masry Al Youm’s editor in chief should not allow the story to be published like that because in the end it is an alleged transcript without any proof with my all due respect. There is no evidence at all that these alleged phone calls took place professionally speaking. It had to be solidified with some facts , with proof because not all the people are blinded with MB hate and believe in the Hamas theory from old regime supporters.
I also believe in both the details leaks whether in Al Masry Al Youm or The Guardian details were altered in a way or another for political proposes from the source not by the journalists.
What I hate in this leaks war is that how the truth is being lost , how the rights of Egyptians are lost because of dirty politics. Egyptians demanded in this revolution is transparency and accountability.Transparency and accountability are the corner stone of civilized nation for God sake. They got none now.
By the way we are in 21st century, the Egyptian revolution of 25 January 2011 revolution is from the most documented huge political events recorded thanks to the huge advance in media. You can fool some Egyptians but you can not fool all of them , you can fool some Egyptians but you can not fool the whole world.

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Palestinian Refugees Escape from hell in #Syria to be in Limbo in #Egypt !!

There is on going human tragedy now in Egypt and no one paying attention to or care to speak about it as it should from the mainstream.
About 9000 Palestinian refugees including whole families have fled Syria to Egypt escaping the revolution turned in to war. Already Palestinian refugees have paid a huge price during those two years. El Assad forces killed many refugees during the fight inside the camps like Yarmouk camp. 
Some of them these 

From the sit in "Do Not kill us twice" by Kareem Farid 

The lucky ones are granted in Egypt a tourism visa where as they should be granted a refugee entry while the others are being deported back to Syria !!
We do not have UNRWA in Egypt and this is part of the problem when it comes to Palestinian refugees. Unlike Lebanon and Syria , we do not have Palestinian refugee camps. UNHCR does not deal with Palestinians , UNRWA only deals with them.
As I have been told from trusted sources that problem can be ended so easily if the Presidency and ministry of foreign affairs act as they should and help those families asking the help of the international agencies.
Of course another part of the problem is how the Palestinian embassy is dealing with the matter. It is just a disgrace.

The refugees are from all ages by Kareem Farid

The Palestinian families from their side started at the Palestinian embassy in Dokki area , Giza a two days sit in on Tuesday.They halted it for the weekend an are going to resume on Sunday.
The Palestinian ambassador met them on Wednesday and told them that he would inform the Palestinian ambassador in New York about their case so the later would tell the UN secretary general and find a solution for their agony !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The embassy already distributed a statement on Monday with what is currently doing and will do to the Palestinian refugees from Syria. Of course the achievements of the embassy were completely denied by the angry refugees.
Well the families need a solution now. They are not going to wait for ever.

The families at the embassy in Dokki by Kareem Farid

Now the following is the off the record talk , you know the type of talk you find in a blog and not in a news website. According to trusted sources the Palestinian refugees of Syria are the price of the regional politics and the fight between Fatah and Hamas as well its mother movement in Egypt aka Muslim brotherhood. The Palestinian ambassador is from Fatah and it seems that he is not acting in a hurry for real to solve this human tragedy in order to embarrass Hamas and the MB with no consideration what so ever to the people.
Here is a  photo gallery from the sit in , unfortunately I did not go there to cover it but friends and tweeps did go and cover it in solidarity.

You can follow the case of the Palestinian refugees from Syria on twitter on the following hashtag : #DoNotKillUs 
Mosireen made a video about the suffering of the Palestinian refugees from Syria in Egypt. It has not been translated to English yet.

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Egyptian X-Files : The Fate of Those Men Disappeared in #Sinai

In the early days of the revolution between 28 January and 2 February 2011 three police officers and one policeman “Amin Shorta” disappeared with no trace in North Sinai. The names of the police officers are : Sherif El Madawy “27 years old” , Mohamed El Gohary “25 years old” and Mohamed Hussien “25 years old”.

The three officers

For two years there have been many rumors and theories about the fate of those 4 men. Some say that they were killed , others say that there are kidnapped either by Hamas or Jihadists or Israeli forces or Smugglers. For two years the families of these officers know nothing about them regardless of how much they plead nearly everybody. For two years we do not know if they were dead or not , for two years their families knocked all doors but in vain. They have become one of the revolution’s X-File.
The wives of the disappeared men met with President Morsi last February and all what they got was a presidential to help them in their lives including legal help to get their life on. “Either to get divorce from court or to officially announce their husbands missing officially so they can get married if they want !!!!”
Now last week one of the officers’ wives announced that it is giving presidency , intelligence and ministry of defense a week to declare the fate of her husband and his comrades or she will expose scandals on how the MB infiltrated the intelligence and the army.
Mrs. Doaa Rashad, the wife of officer claimed on TV last week that she got documents on how the MB infiltrated and the intelligence. She said that she got these documents from extremely trusted source.

Doaa Rashad and her claim on ONTV channel last week

Mrs. Rashad is already saying that she knows where her husband and his follow officers are alive. She is claiming also that she knows that they are currently in Gaza in some underground prison after being abducting by Hamas.
Doaa Rashad met with military intelligence officers at the Military intelligence HQ this week and knew from them that the men are still alive !!
Another wife is saying that the men are alive. Mrs. Shereen El Ashry claimed that some high security informed source told her that her husband is alive and that his release will need Morsi’s direct intervention !! According to what El Ashry allegedly was told their location was identified but the army can not do anything to them !!
Of course this claim again indirectly refers to Hamas whether you like or not.
The accusation against Hamas is repeated again with what Al Watan newspaper published last week on how these men were abducted by Hamas and are allegedly kept in street “Omar Al Mokhtar” in Gaza according to some security informed source. The newspaper and its unknown source added that the officers are being used by Hamas as pressure paper against the Egyptian army and intelligence to stop them from destroying the tunnels between Egypt and Gaza.
Hamas officially is denying that it is responsible for the abduction from its die. Some unnamed Palestinian leading figure in unnamed Palestinian group “I will assume it is Hamas” told Ahram Arabic portal that the police officers were actually killed and the army as well the intelligence know that every well. That leading figure added that the officers were killed in some sort of revenge operation thing between the tribes and the police force in North Sinai.
Well I can buy this but I know that the tribes do not kill in secret , also where are their bodies all that time !?
By the way why all the focus is the on the police officers and not on the low ranking policeman who disappeared with them !?
Personally as Egyptian citizen I demand to know the fate of those three officers today before tomorrow. I demand to know the truth as Egyptian citizen from the Intelligence , the ministry of defense , the ministry of interior and the Presidency.
I do not understand why we can not know the fate of those Egyptian citizens, those humans and spare their families all that agony !! I do not care that much now for the on going fight between MB and its branches in presidency and Gaza and the Egyptian National security institutions now as much as I care for those humans and their families. Israel launched a war and exchanged thousands of prisoners for the sake of one person for God sake !!
This is another Egyptian-X file and yet again the answer is surely known for those responsible for our national security.

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