Please Do Not Consider them Egyptians , Do Not Treat them as Egyptians !!

It is not enough that the Syrian refugees suffer a lot in Egypt and that they are deported after being humiliated in Alexandria and Behaira police stations for trying to leave the country , now they are tortured too !!

This photo is from Karmouz police station where a group of Syrian refugees are detained for attempting to migrate to Europe illegally. This is a photo was taken last week at the police station by Dr. Taher Mukhtar , an Egyptian doctor and activist in Alexandria.
Flogging as well torture are already prohibited last time I checked in the Egyptian law.
We know that this is the usual treatment for Egyptians in the police stations but these are refugees for God sake who fled death in their own country and were ready to die in the sea to flee this country as well  !!
I feel angry, ashamed and sad.
Latest thing from Syrian refugees detained in Alexandria and Behaira's police stations is that a group of them  have all started a hunger strike in order to make their voice heard by the international community. They want one demand : They want to leave Egypt for some European country preferably Sweden.
Already two groups of them have been detained in Alexandria and Behaira for more than 2 months refusing to be deported to Syria again and it seems that no other country wants them.
Things are getting worse for them especially that winter is here. The Syrian women and children refugees in Idku Police station are put in some sort of tent that can't resist rain. I do not know where the UNHCR from this. Here is a video I got from there showing the refugees cleaning that tent from rain.

Our minister of foreign affairs is holding a meeting with human rights organizations allegedly on Tuesday to discuss what they can do for the Syrian refugees in Egypt. Well I advise the MOFA instead of talking to human rights activists , they should talk to the ministry of interior and urge that ministry to stop humiliating the refugees and torturing them .. they are not Egyptians for God !!
By the way I can not ignore this fantastic report about the hard times the Syrians are witnessing Egypt especially after 30 June made by Yosri Fouda's Last Talk investigate team.It was aired on ONTV last Wednesday. I wish it was translated in English.

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Links and Notes 11/07/2013

• New wave of attacks on freedom of information - Reporters Without Borders

  Reporters without borders slam the Egyptian authorities for the recent attacks on freedom of information from military trials to Journalists to arbitrary arrests and Bassem Youssef's name is mentioned

  tags: #DWC #LN Egypt freedom information RSF

• News from The Associated Press-EGYPT COURT UPHOLDS RULING TO BAN BROTHERHOOD

  "EGYPT COURT UPHOLDS RULING TO BAN BROTHERHOOD" It seems that there is a deal in the way.

  tags: #DWC #LN Egypt MB Courts Trials

• الأيادى المرتعشة - رباب المهدى - بوابة الشروق

  Dr. Rabab El Mahdy speaks about the myth of the Strong iron fist state

  tags: #DWC #LN Egypt Op-eds Rabab El Mahdy

• Instagram

  North Korea on Instagram thanks to David Guttenfeld , AP Chief Asia Photographer

  tags: #DWC #LN Asia Photos Instagram North Korea

• تضارب حول وفاة مجند بالسويس.. الأمن: بالخطأ.. وزملاؤه: انتحر من سوء المعاملة | المصري اليوم

  Another CSF Conscript to commit suicide in one of the CSF camps and 5 of his colleagues saw it and got nervous breakdown. Now the poor CSF conscript killed him because he was treated badly by his commanders. "Not a surprise because it is always the case :( "

  tags: #DWC #LN Egypt EgyPolice

• 5 Historical Monuments Have Been Destroyed Forever During Syria's Civil War - PolicyMic

  Still I believe that never say never or forever , all those monuments can be rebuilt and restored but unfortunately all those hundreds of thousands killed can not be restored to Life. It is the first awful war Syria would witnessed in its very long history.

  tags: Syria civil war war #DWC #LN Culture History Monuments

• Syrian refugees go hungry in Istanbul park - Correspondent

  Very sad images and story about the Syrian refugees in one Istanbul's Parks from AFP

  tags: refugees Istanbul Syria Turkey Syrian Refugees #LN #DWC

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

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Links and Notes 11/03/2013

• 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

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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Regarding the NYTimes Map Dividing 5 Arab countries in to 14

NY Times published a op-ed about how 5 countries in the Arab world can be divided in to 14 countries by Robin Wright. The graphic representation of the op-ed as a map became a viral in the Arab social media especially in Egypt.

It spread like fire as if that map was a reality , not the visualization of some analyst’s views that may happen and may not. It spread like a fire as if that that was going to happen for real. As Big Pharaoh said on twitter this map in the New York Times would fuel debate and conspiracy theories in the region especially in Egypt for the upcoming 825 years.

This is not the first map of its kind where American Middle East analyst says something similar, if you remember some American Magazine published another similar map during the invasion of Iraq about possible divisions and unlike Wright’s map Egypt was among those unlucky countries that were going to spilt.

I know that what I am going to say now won’t appeal to many people now as fascism is the fashion nowadays along with waiting for the strong just dictator Messiah to bring order and stability to the country that suffers from foreign plots from here and there. We will not have those maps and those predictions if there are true democracy and equality that does not differentiate between any citizen in those countries.

All those countries mentioned in that map scaring the people in their dream do not and did not enjoy freedom or democracy or justice except may be for short times from long time ago.

“The Divide conquer” policy will not vanish by dictatorships in fact it becomes a true reality through dictatorships that spread hate and fear as well racism through religious nationalism , ideological nationalism and ethnic nationalism.

This map can turn in to a reality if the people in the Arab world do not wake up and admit that they got huge problems when it comes to religious sect and ethnic minorities. Of course I do know how many alarms the Arab world has to hear to wake up since the first spilt of Yemen and the first civil war in Lebanon in 1950s !!

Interestingly at least for me that Sudan is being neglected from Wright’s map when actually both Darfur and Kordofan have their own woes thanks to El Bashir regime considering the fact that like South Sudan they were independent from Khartoum and had their own rulers.

The Pro-Military supporters think that Egypt was saved from that theoretical map and won't be divided thanks to the 30 June and the army , well I have to say that it is more complicated than that.

When it comes to Egypt , unlike other countries in the region including those mentioned in the map I would like to hint out that for 3000 years our borders have not changed and we do not have this extreme mix of ethnic and religious minorities like in Syria or in Iraq “for example Shiite and Kurds” or  violent tribal nature thanks to Qaddafi in Libya as He used to favor tribes over others” or in Yemen where the South feels that is being discriminated by the North.

Still I can not ignore that we will be always live in fear as usual if we do not face our problems as we should. We should stop hiding our problems and claim that Egypt does not suffer from sectarian or ethnic problems that truly threat our national security and our future as a nation.

We got a Nubian problem that can be solved so easily if the Egyptian Nubians restore their land and compensated equally and fairly as well treated like other Egyptians.

We got a problem in Sinai that can be solved so easily if you start to develop this desert and change its demographics in the the right way at the same time , treat its locals the Bedouins as true Egyptian citizens not third class citizens you disrespect coz you know they are untrusted Bedouins !! 

We got a Hala’ib triangle problem that we think we are going to hide by banning all the maps showing it as disputed region in Egypt when the whole world shows it as a disputed region. Hell we do not even try to improve the horrible conditions there to make those people really feel that they are Egyptians.

Of course I do not need to speak about the Christians and how they suffer in Egypt and before anyone tells me that this is over and it was the Islamists problem , I hate to tell you that it is beyond the Islamists.

We should not rely on the intelligence and military intelligence when it comes to deal with the religious and ethnic minorities files. As a society we have even bigger and more important role. We should stop those stupid useless reconciliation media stunts.

With my all due respect not 100 revolutions or military intervention can save a nation from doom if its people do not recognize their problems and try to solve them for once and for all in the correct way.
Again “Divide conquer” does not happen in a healthy society but rather weak society and God knows how many weak societies we have from the ocean to the gulf.

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My two Cents on The Military intervention in #Syria and Its impact on #Egypt

So it seems that there will be a foreign military intervention in Syria so soon , may be with in days or even days.
I believe that a direct foreign military intervention in Syria is the last thing Egypt really needs now. Oh yes the direct foreign military intervention in Syria will make the public demand a military rule willingly to protect Egypt from the foreign conspiracy going after the strong Arab armies in the region. “Yes there is a deliberate misleading info in the media that the Syrian Arab army is extremely strong army and that it is the second strongest Arab army in the region after Egypt”
Thanks to the Egyptian media people began to support Al Assad and his regime as well his army against the Islamists above them the Muslim brotherhood and Al Qaeda. There is a deliberate misinformation when it comes to what is said and how it is said about Syria in the Egyptian mainstream media.
The Nasserites already support El Assad despite their idol Nasser used to curse his father and Baathist altogether. Of course these are the Neo-Nasserites.
The Egyptian people believe that Egypt will be the next after Syria and Iraq. Simply Now Egypt has got the true remaining army in the Arab world thus it will be the target after Syria and Iraq. General El Sisi seems to be the upcoming president of Egypt  with no competition what so ever now as a military man can protect the country in that critical time in the eyes of many Egyptians especially with the fiascoes of the first elected civilian president aka Morsi.
With the rising nationalism in Egypt and how the majority of people believe conspiracy theories now just like their belief in God , I fear that the military intervention will make them believe that the whole world especially the West is truly plotting against Egypt
The latest conspiracy theory supported by the state “through its official newspaper Al Ahram” now is how the West or the US was planning to divide Egypt starting with the independence of Upper Egypt through the Muslim brotherhood. The military action and what will follow in Syria will support this theory.
Anyhow what alarms me not only the rise of Nationalism/military rule in Egypt but the fact that Egypt is facing a challenge in Sinai called Jihadists and we may find ourselves in front of another wave of Jihadists who fought in Syria and want to return back will find no welcome from the regime or the public.
Informed sources once told that the army had to move against Morsi and Muslim brotherhood when he stood in June 2013 and declared that Jihad was OK in Syria. It was and is still a national security nightmare for Egypt because Jihadists are more radical and dangerous than the Muslim brotherhood.
This scenario of course depends mainly on the possibility that the military intervention succeeds in bringing not only Al Assad’s regime down but also the Jihadists. "So far all sources speak about short strikes to cripple Al Assad only"
 It will be like Afghanistan déjà vu once again. It will be like living a mix of the 1960s and 1990s at the same time !!
As I said above those Jihadists will not be received as heroes from the public or the army and now the Islamists or Jihadists can not stomach the army after happened in June 30th thus I fear the army will not face Jihadists only in Sinai but rather will face them from the West , from Libya. It is worth to mention that mainly Jihadists that fought in Libya went to Syria to fight there including Al Qaeda militants.
Anyhow I wonder many times why God made Egypt in the middle of the Middle East. It is as if fate and all forces of nature are just against having a true democratic transition in Egypt like any other country. Internal factors are not only against having a true democratic transition but also external factors.
I am sorry if I am seemed to be selfish and speaking about my country now.

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My two cents on the war drums in #Syria

First of all as a disclaimer , I am not a political analyst and this is my blog aka my space where I think and rant loudly as I want. Second I support Syrian revolution since day one since it started as small protests in Daraa. Third I do not support any of the fighting groups now in the war torn misfortunate country whether Al Assad regime or FSA or Al Qaeda.

All what I care for the Syrians now are their rights in dignified life , democracy and justice based on human rights and diversity that suite one of the greatest and most ethnic and religious diversified nations in the Arab world.

Here is what I think :

• Based on all the official statements and unofficial leaks from United States, UK, France and Israel it seem that there will be some sort of a military action in the upcoming 48 hours or 72 hours.
• It will not be a direct intervention like in Iraq or Afghanistan at least for the United States as the majority of the public opinion is against military intervention in Syria. Most possibly air strikes in Al Assad strongholds in the country to cripple him.
• I believe both Salim Idris and Manaf Tlass “especially the later as he is KSA’s favorite option” will play some roles in the upcoming days. Latest thing I read in Arabic news websites recently that Tlass would lead a rebel army that gets rid from both Al Assad and Al Qaeda”
• I believe also there are 24 hours leaders’ telephone calls now in the neighbor countries of Syria :Turkey , Iraq , Lebanon , Jordan and of course Israel.
• I fear sorry for Lebanon because it will be dragged to hell either ways. Hezbollah can attack Israel and Israel made it clear today that it will not stand still against any attack. Israel is also concerned about that Jihadists heaven next to its door step !! For God sake AIPAC supported what happened in Egypt just to get rid from the Muslim brotherhood and Jihadists in Sinai.
• Iraq , Iran’s ally and thus Al Assad’s ally said earlier today that it will not allow anyone to use its skies.
• Turkey got two things to care about in this crisis : The Kurds and the Jihadists who are using the country as a gate.
• Jordan is in Saudi Arabia team.
• I do not see Qatar playing a strong role now as it seems that the fall of the Muslim brotherhood in Cairo with the help of its rival Saudi Arabia turned things around. KSA’s princes are playing a bigger role in the current crisis more than Qatar as it seems.
• Yes it was not a US Vs. Russia or US Vs. Iran thing only but it was also Saudi Arabia Vs. Qatar and it seems that the elder Kingdom won that round thanks to the fall of the Muslim brotherhood in Egypt
• By the way many people were shocked by Russia’s stance on how it will not go to war for Al Assad. Well dear friends Russia will not start a world war for Al Assad , it did not do for Serbia for God sake.
• Egypt’s stance is officially clear : It supports Syrian revolution as well Jihadists there and against chemical weapons too as well against military intervention in Syria.
• Egypt’s stance is clearly opposite to Saudi Arabia’s stance. It is one of the enigmas in the Middle East.
• Egypt supports political solution in Syria. “yes it is an irony that the Egyptian government now does not support political solution in Egypt itself !!”
• Egypt also calls for another round of Geneva talks. Sadly I remember ElBaradei declared that he was preparing for this meeting. Now I see that there is a war council held in Jordan and Egypt was not even there. “At it was not announced officially”
• Egypt or rather Egypt’s army is now busy with the internal issues woes.
• Now I wonder what the FSA ,especially its Conservative groups think or do regarding the military intervention from the US and UK. Of course the important is what Al Qaeda’s Islamic State Iraq and Syria will do in front of this Western military intervention.

God bless Syria and Syrians.

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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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#Syria Does not Need #Morsi And His Sheikhs

As usual , as expected the Muslim brotherhood did what they are best at and are exploiting the agony of other people, other tragedies for political gains.
A very cheap political conference to show off Mohamed Morsi and Muslim brotherhood’s supporters before the opposition’s mass protests on 30 June 2013 took place tonight at Cairo stadium hall. As usual the MB mobilized its members from all over the country including women and children as well their so called MB Ultras to fill the Cairo stadium indoor main arena. By the way the Cairo stadium indoor main arena’s capacity is 20,000 spectators.
The event was to show solidarity with Mohamed Morsi with all the banners praising , with all the Morsi t-Shirts and with all the pro-Morsi chants like “Morsi will stay whole 7 years”.
 There were many scenes in the event that actually an insult to Syria and its martyrs. You got imposters , crocks and terrorists like Safwat Hegazy , Mohamed Hassan and Assam Abdel Maged acting like heroes.

Abdel Maged and Hegazy one hand "Doaa Sultan FB page"

There is the historical scene that me and millions of Egyptians will not forget when Salafist Sheikh Mohamed Abdel Maksoud prayed against the infidel hypocrites who are going to protest against Mohamed Morsi ,the president of all Egyptian !!

Sheikh Mohamed Abdel Maksoud prays against the 30/6 protesters

By the way Sheikh Abdel Maksoud is the brother of our current MB minister of information Salah Abdel Maksoud.
Syria indeed won a lot with that prayer. I know people,Muslims who were hesitant in participating in the protests against MB on 30 June 2013. They are going to participate after that scene.
Another scene, a typical scene full of racism and hate towards Shiism where the Sheikhs called the Shiites dirty and urging Morsi to cut the relations with Iran.
Of course in another scene that made breaking news worldwide Moris issued the decision to cut the diplomatic relations with Syria 48 hours after the US announcement to arm the opposition in Syria.
Amazingly in the speech distributed by the presidency on press on there was no mention for this decision. It is a surprise , a cheap one considering the fact that the Syrian ambassador left Egypt and the Egyptian ambassador left Syria and we got only a diplomatic Commission there in Damascus.
Unfortunately the advisers of President Morsi on foreign relations aka Essam Haddad and Khaled Qazzaz did not and will not understand that the decision to close the Syrian embassy in Cairo will harm thousands of Syrians in Egypt. “There are over 90,000 Syrians in Egypt”
Yes according to my Syrian friends who are Pro-Revolutionary by the way this decision will harm the Syrians who want to issue and renew their ids and passports !!
Of course I should not forget to highlight the amazing statement of Khaled Qazzaz , the President’s secretary on foreign relations. Qazzaz is not worried from the Jihadists travelling from Egypt to Syria nor he does consider them a threat to the National security considering the radical ideas they got.
By the way the Jihadists who came back from Afghanistan and other countries to Egypt consider Qazzaz infidel including those in Sinai.
Qazzaz is an engineer who was appointed as the president's adviser for education in 2012 by the way. His dad owns the biggest private school where the rich MB members send their kids to.
Back to the Circus held tonight in Cairo stadium.
President Morsi spoke Hezbollah yet he forgot to mention Russia and China. Amazingly China which he visited and the MB was flying over the moon with this visit is helping African countries in building dams on the Nile !!
Anyhow cutting the diplomatic relations is nothing for me comparing how millions of Egyptians turned to be infidels because they are political opponents of Morsi and Muslim brotherhood.
I apologize for Syrians especially for those who are killed that some Egyptians are using their blood for those domestic political gains.
God bless Egypt and Syria and May their agonies so soon.

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Declaring #Jihad in #Syria From #Cairo In less than 24 hours From White House’s decision

Yesterday the White House announced that after two years the U.S is going to arm the Syrian rebels after its conclusion that Bashar El Assad used chemical weapons.
Now the White House did not mention which Syrian rebel groups the West was going to arm exactly but I do not think that they were speaking about the Pro Al Qaeda radical groups roaming Syria and giving its people hard time.
Anyhow today as part of an event announced by the Muslim brotherhood we found Saudi Sheikh Mohamed El Arefe announcing that he and other clerics that agreed to open the door of Jihad in front of youth. Muslim youth should go and fight in Syria according to Sheikh El Arefe and other Sheikhs sitting in air conditioned rooms !!! It seems that the Sheikhs waiting the American decision after all !!
Of course the Jihadists from all around the world are not waiting this announcement because they are already there.
El Arefe declared this during the Friday Speech from Egypt’s oldest mosque Amr Ibn El As in front of thousands of Muslim brotherhood supporters who chanting Pro-Syria chants and so on. His Friday speech was aired on the Egyptian National TV’s Ch.1 by the way.
Now I wonder if the Freedom and Justice Party and President Morsi support what Sheikh El Arefe called from in Cairo considering the fact the party is organizing this 3 days event and sponsoring it.
Already tomorrow President Morsi will attend that big protest in Cairo stadium in solidarity with Syria. So we have to ask the President and his president directly : Do they support sending Egyptian youth to fight in Syria for Jihad ??
Does the Freedom and Justice Party support the sectarian talk of Sheikh El Arefe and others clerics from Islamic groups from their political allies and how they attack the Shiites and Iranians ??
Does the Freedom and Justice Party support the talk of Sheikh El Arefe who declared with all the confidence in the world that the Islamic Caliphate system will return back ??
This is so much like Afghanistan.                           

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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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It started as A revolution then It became like this in #Syria

It started as a revolution in Syria then it became as you can see in this cartoon unfortunately.

Over the weekend the Syrian Observatory for human rights issued a new death toll estimating that more than 80,000 Syrians have been killed , half of them are civilians.

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#Syria : This is more than Alarming

Moaz Al-Khatib , the ex-president of the National Coalition for Syrian Revolution and Opposition was interviewed by Al Jazeera international. His interview was quite alarming and I believe the National coalition should come forward and either confirm or deny what the Sheikh has said in his short interview.

Talk to Al Jazeera : Sheikh Moaz Al Khatib

The Syrian people did not elected the National Coalition nor did it choose those self appointed endless military council. The Syrian people should know the truth now about what is happening behind the closed doors because unlike those Syrian politicians who are staying abroad meeting foreign officials here and there in fancy suits , they have been paying very expensive price for their freedom.

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#Reyhanli Explosion : Could it be a turning point between Syrians and Turks !?

Today two car bombs have killed not less than 40 people in border town of Reyhanli. Despite that no one has claimed responsibility all fingers are pointing to Syria including Turkish foreign minister Ahmet Davutoglu.
As it is a border town , there is a Syrian community of refugees who fled the country and I am afraid such explosions would harm those Syrians as their host in the town could blame them. Already from local Turkish testimonies I have been reading online , the locals blamed their government as well the Syrian refugees and Syrian revolution turned in to a civil war.
Today I read that the locals of Reyhanli smashed by rocks the cars carrying Syrian plates in the border town angrily. I fear this could be a turning point between the Syrian refugees and their Turkish host and here I am speaking about the people not the government.
To add more fuel to the problem ,there is Alawite Turkish community in the city . I can imagine how the sectarian talk adopted by some Syrians can be harming in these situations.
Here is a photo album for more than 50 photos from Reyhali’s explosion “graphic” by Brown Moses

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#Syria Vs. #Israel : People are now paying attention

It seems that all what Syria and the Syrians needed in those bloody 2 years were two Israeli air strikes and the war drums to be echoed in the Middle East so the world , especially the Arab world is paying attention to what is happening in Syria.
Last Thursday there were rumors about an alleged Israeli strike taking place early Friday then we woke up today Sunday morning to find another air strike by IAF.Here is a footage for the air strike over mount Qaison in Damascus. Syrian media is saying that the air strike targeting some military research center. 
Here is a video from mount Qaison earlier this morning. Sources told news agencies last Friday that Israeli air strikes targeted a Hezbollah arms convoy in Syria.

Here is another video showing the air strike

The IDF spokesperson for Arab media Avichay Adraee has not spoken yet about the strike. We know our info from Israeli media only.
There is no way that Israel would launch those air strikes without the prior notice of the United States. Of course this is confirmed with the statements of the US unnamed officials speaking to Reuters and AP in the past 72 hours.
Personally I believe that these two strikes are Israel's gift to Al Assad , he needs those two strikes to maintain his fake resistance face against those bad revolutionaries/Islamists fighting with Israel against him !! 
Amazingly now the Arabs are attention to the strikes only today.

 There are reactions coming from Cairo , from presidency and different political parties and political figures as well. It is no longer non Egyptian matter after all this is Syria we are speaking about and it is being attacked by Israeli forces. “Not the first”
For the record the first political party to speak about the Israeli strikes was the Popular Current of Hamdeen Sabahi.The popular current condemned the Israeli strikes using the words of "Israeli aggression" despite its total refusal to Bashar Al Assad's crimes against Syrian revolution in a statement issued earlier today. The angry statement condemned the Arabic silence as the Egyptian regime's silence.
Of course the Egyptian regime or rather the Egyptian presidency did not sit silently. It issued a statement as well.

The Presidency condemns the Israeli raid on Syria as a violation of international laws that would only complicate the situation & threaten Middle East peace

Mohamed Morsi is now under the fire that he betrayed the Syrian cause because after claiming that he would  not sit or talk with countries that support Bashar El Assad. The man has already restored our relations with Iran which he visited just like his visits to Russia and China. The MB media machine is saying that those visits are actually helping the Syrian revolution as the President is trying to reach to a solution. The MB media claims that he showed Al Assad's main supporters in the world "Iran, Russia and China" the so-called the Egyptian initiative to stop the fight in Syria. Of course I do not think that Russia or China or Iran will feel Egypt's importance in this way.
With my all due respect to Morsi and his administration despite I believe this is what Egypt should do using its diplomatic powers for real to help the Syrian people and having talks with everybody yet unfortunately Egypt is not that strong now thanks tot the bad management of its current administration.
Mohamed Morsi went asking for investments and help from Iran, China and Russia in the first place. This is not an action of negotiations. Unfortunately when it comes to crises like this one you feel you need a leading figure like Nasser or Sadat. 
By the way at the same time we are speaking about these huge developments taken place , we find our minister of defense/Morsi’s rival General El Sisi is visiting Turkey along with an Egyptian military delegation. It is the first visit to Turkey for El Sisis as a minister of defense.
At the same time we know that El Sisi´s first aide Major General Sabry Abdel Latif is heading also to Washington D.C.
I do not have doubt that besides discussing the bilateral military relations , the developments on the Syrian front will be discussed.
Anyhow aside from Hamdeen Sabbahi and Egyptian Presidency, Mohamed ElBaradei called  for an urgent Arab summit in Damascus "yes in Damascus" to discuss the slaughterhouse taking place in Syria in three tweets.

سوريا الآن مذبح بشري ! هل مازلنا نستطيع أن نتباهي بعروبتنا و إنسانيتنا؟ وهل يوجد بيننا عاقل رشيد؟
— Mohamed ElBaradei (@ElBaradei) May 5, 2013

Syria is a slaughterhouse now !! Can we still brag with our Arab nationalism and our humanity !? Is there any sane person among us ?

هل من الممكن عقد قمة عربية في دمشق لوقف المجازر والتوصل الي تسوية؟ هل نستطيع ولو لمرة واحدة أن نكون قادرين علي حل مشاكلنا بأنفسنا؟
— Mohamed ElBaradei (@ElBaradei) May 5, 2013

Is it possible to have an Arab summit in Damascus to stop the massacre and reach to comprise ?? Can we once be capable to solve our problems by ourselves !?

Dear Bob this is tooooo damn late to say this !!?

Gruesome slaughterhouse in Syria becoming a spectator sport! Yet again a dysfunctional regional & global security system.
— Mohamed ElBaradei (@ElBaradei) May 5, 2013

Now on a public level Egyptians are connected to Syria more than Arab country. Of course now you will find the Anti-MB and Anti-Islamists putting the blame on the Islamist terrorists who are cooperating with the US and Israel to bring down the Syrian army and split Syria in to pieces. Of course that theory is widely and even adopted more by the Pro Mubarak/SCAF/Shafik/Anti-Revolution team who believe that the Arab spring uprisings and revolutions are universal plots to bring down the Egyptian army eventually after Iraqi and Syrian army. I am tried of debating with those people. Of course those people are praying that Bashar Al Assad would kick the ass of both the revolutionaries, the Islamists and Israel altogether. Of course they forgot we are speaking about Al Assad who did not move a muscle against Israel when it launched an air strike against that Nuclear reactor in 2007 in Deir ez Zor !!
Sadly no one issued a statement with hundreds of innocent civilians have been slaughtered in Baniyas last Thursday.

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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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#Aleppo : The Minaret is gone

This is just sad , extremely sad in a way you can not ever imagine. Yes the human souls are precious but seeing the famous Umayyad Mosque without its famous minaret today was a huge shock. The minaret was destroyed after the mosque was shelled by Al Assad security forces.

The mosque without its minaret "AMC and AP"

After and before "AMC and AP"

Ironically some Muslims , mainly from Arabs believed that Prophet Jesus will descend from heavens on this minaret in particular to start his war against the anti-Christ in the end of days. 

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#EarthDay : Meet Merna

On the Earth Day I would like you to meet the Arab Youth Climate Movement and its leading member . Merna Ghaly and her friends from 15 Arab countries are fighting another war

Merna Ghaly on MBC Misr

Merna Ghaly
The 18 years old Merna Ghaly was featured in the Newsweek among 25 girls to watch worldwide under the age of 25.Merna fights a battle everybody is ignoring in Egypt whether the government or the civil society. The battle is about Climate Change.Yes tell me who speaks about it now !! 
Here is what said about the GUC student who is completely unknown in Egypt unfortunately

Merna Ghaly and other activists in the Arab Youth Climate Movement demonstrated at the December U.N. climate talks in Doha, Qatar, calling for emissions cuts and a focus on climate change. Ghaly, an Egyptian student, is set on making sure that the Arab uprisings will give birth to a climate spring.

This is what Ghaly said in Qatar.

Merna Ghaly speaks at COP18 in Doha 2012

And

Merna Ghaly

May God bless Merna , she gives me hope. Of course environment and environmentalists are facing hell in Egypt but again Merna and other environmentalists are giving me hope. May be in the end this generation will bring true change.
Now I have been searching the 125 women List of Newsweek to see whether there are Egyptian women featured or not and I was lucky.I found two Egyptian ladies featured . Dina Farid , the founder of “Egyptians girls are red line” movement against sexual harassment was featured. Filmmaker Jehane Noujaim was featured too with her documentaries.
It is amazing to see nice young ladies like those girls honored like this.
We got nice share this year.
By the way there are other Arab, Muslim and African women in the list. I will focus here on the Arab women. Besides Merna Ghaly , we got Saudi Child rights activist and professor Fawziah Al Bakr , Qatari first lady ‘Not so popular in Egypt’ Sheikha Mozah and her daughter Al Mayassa.
We got also late Syrian blogger Fatima Saad who was tortured and killed by Al Assad regime last November 2012. Syrian English teacher turned in to war photographer Noor Kelze is also featured.
Also Ann Peterson is featured in the list as the Arab Spring Ambassador. It is worth to mention there were strong rumors in Cairo that Peterson was not going to continue in her position as the US ambassador to Cairo.

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A Message From Kafr Nabl to #Boston

The people of Kafr Nabl in Idlib , Syria got a special message to the people of Boston , United States

 No comment.
The message is clear and honest.

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After #Jordan and #Gulf , Syrian brides mania reaches to #Egypt

The disgusting phenomena spread in the Arab countries like Jordan and the Gulf reached to Egypt and poor Syrian women are being abused and offered for marriage for those interested in taking advantage of these ladies. 
Yes sadly enough it reached in Egypt. In a press statement issued by the National Council of Women on Thursday that it sent two letters to the ministers of interior and justice in Egypt demanding them to stop the marriages of Egyptian men from Syrian women refugees taking advantage from their suffering. The statement of NCW says that Women NGO in Europe called “The international federation of Women” presented a memo to president Morsi regarding this matter. According to this matter not less than 12,000 of marriage cases between Syrian women and Egyptian men in one year only. The memo also spoke about these marriages are spreading in Cairo “New Cairo and 10th of Ramadan Cities” , Giza “October” , Alexandria , Gharbia , Mansoura and Qena.
Professionally speaking the statement did not mention the source of that number “12,000” and whether we are speaking about an official registration number. There should be more investigation regarding the number.
We began to hear more about this sad thing in Egypt officially in January 2013 when the NCW began to react to the reports regarding how some NGOs use the Syrian women and girls’ need and force them in marriage in the most disgusting way.
In the same month the National Council for women in Egypt launched a hotline for Syrian women to receive their complaints if they are forced in to marriages. The initiative is good but I highly doubt that the Syrian women in need and are forced in to marriage will know about this hotline at all !! Unfortunately I did not follow up this topic because as you know since last 25 January 2013 we are having our struggle in Egypt’s political arena.
 Of course not all these marriages are forced , underage where Egyptian men are using Syrian women’s needs for stability. Some of these marriages are actually not officially registered as Egyptian men use the ignorance of Syrians with our laws which means there are no rights for these girls. The dowry of these marriages can go as low as LE 500 and in best times up to LE 3000 but without any further rights or anything. The marriage in some cases do not continue for some long and the Syrian bride finds herself the third or the fourth wife for pleasure with no rights at all.
Unfortunately due to poverty and suffering some Syrian families accept that sot of marriage.
What is more shocking is that you find that some of those NGOs “Islamist” helping the Syrian refugees and families in Egypt are organizing these marriages or rather auctions. For months I have heard rumors and claim as well about certain famous mosques and Islamist NGOs in October and Nasr City. I will not mention here names without proof but I have heard sick stories for real.
The Islamist NGOs are not involved only but if you dig a little deeper you will find Salafists and Salafist parties like El Fadila allegedly appearing in your face. Of course when you speak to them officially they will deny doing this. Not to mention you got these so-called “marriage companies”  claiming to have Syrian brides besides their wide selection of religious committed girls, widows and divorced brides !!!!!
Ironically earlier today someone on Facebook from Damanhur shared a flyer he got during the Friday mosque from a “marriage company” announcing the availability of Syrian brides besides Veiled brides. " I hided the telephone numbers and address"

"Smile company" for Marriage !!

Last week already a friend of mine found an ad in the Yellow pages about another marriage company announcing the “Syrian brides are wanted for businessmen and engineers on the condition that they are not older than 30 years !!”.{Thanks to dear Loai Nagati who noticed this ad and spoke about it online}

I removed the name of the company and its telephone

What is more sick you hear details about catalogues for girls and women for small subscription. I am ashamed of these men and those people to be honest. I am ashamed and angry.
Of course the Salafists and Islamists in general believe that they are protecting their poor sisters including widows who can not work in foreign country in very corrupted times..etc.  It is just disgusting. Already I wonder why they did not care about their sisters in Darfur or Mali or Burma or Somalia or they only care for light skinned sisters !! 
I apologize on behalf of millions of Egyptians disapprove this act, yes there are millions who refuse these actions in Egypt

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