Wednesday, February 2, 2011

جعجع: يريدون حكومة ولاؤها لسوريا و«حزب الله»... ونحن إما نشارك معاً أو نمتنع معاً
أكد رئيس الهيئة التنفيذية في «القوات اللبنانية» سمير جعجع، ردّاً على ما أعلنه رئيس مجلس النواب نبيه بري أمس، من قصر بعبدا حيال المطالبة بحكومة تضمّ الجميع
من دون تحديد حصص، أن بري «كل عمرو لبق». كما تمنى أن «تكون له كلمة وازنة في الطرف الآخر»، مبدياً اعتقاده أن «من يحمل كلمة السر لدى «8 آذار» هو العماد ميشال
عون، وقد كان واضحاً في الأمس لجهة ان أي فريق سيشترك في الحكومة يجب أن يتبنى مبادئ وقناعات 8 آذار ليتمكن من الاشتراك في الحكومة».
ورأى في حديث لموقع «القوات اللبنانية» الالكتروني أنه تبين ان المطلوب على لسان عون في الأمس، حكومة من لون واحد تدين بالولاء لسوريا من جهة و«حزب الله» من
جهة ثانية ولمجموعة مبادئ وتصورات وسياسات 8 آذار».
وقال «إن عون يؤكد يوماً بعد يوم ان فريق 8 آذار قام بنوع من الانقلاب ولو غير الظاهر، ولو ارتدى حلة دستورية، والهدف منه الإطباق على لبنان بنهج واحد وفكر
واحد وسياسة واحدة».
وحول عملية تشكيل الحكومة الجديدة، شدّد على أنه «رغم موقفنا المبدئي من كل العملية التي حصلت منذ الاستشارات النيابية، من يعقّد مهمة الرئيس المكلف هو الفريق
الآخر الى حد الاستحالة، لأن هذا الفريق شمولي ذو نهج سلطوي وتسلطي، ولا مجال عنده لحرية الرأي ولا لأي رأي آخر، وأنا لا أحسد الرئيس المكلف على وضعه الحالي».

وختم جعجع بالتأكيد أن «لقوى 14 آذار كلمة واحدة ورأيا واحدا وموقفا واحدا في كل القضايا الوطنية، وبالنسبة للمشاركة بالحكومة، أكد أنه «إما أن نشترك جميعا
او نمتنع جميعا، وإذا اشتركنا أو امتنعنا، فسيكون ذلك تبعاً للتصور السياسي الأساسي للحكومة الذي طالبنا به، لأن هناك مسلمات لا يمكن أن نتخطاها ونتنازل عنها،
وفي مقدمة هذه المسلمات المحكمة الدولية والسلاح غير الشرعي.
من معراب إلى القاهرة: مات الملك... عاش الملك
اللقاء الأول... وربما الأخير (م. ع. م)
كلير شكر
لساعة وخمس دقائق، متجاوزراً الوقت المخصّص للاجتماع، التقى الرئيس المصري حسني مبارك، في 13 حزيران الماضي، رئيس الهيئة التنفيذية لـ«القوات اللبنانية» سمير
جعجع. لم يدرك الرجلان يومها، أن «أرض الفراعنة» تغلي تحت رماد نظام ممسوك، لكن غير متماسك. كانت تكفيه «نسمة ياسمين» تأتيه من البلاد التونسية محمّلة بعبير
الثورة، حتى تهب بوجهه «عاصفة مليونية»، تطالب باقتلاعه من جذوره.
كان اللقاء الأول بينهما، وقد يكون الأخير، لا سيما إذا استمر المصريون بالنفخ في نيران زحفهم البشري نحو «ميدان التحرير»، مبكّرين في مواعيد الاستحقاق الرئاسي،
عن سابق إصرار وترصّد، لإحداث تغيير في رأس الهرم، قد يكون للمرة الأولى، معبّراً عن إرادة القاعدة، لكسر حلقة استفتاءات الـ99,99%، ولو أن تطورات الساعات الأخيرة
ظللت الثورة المصرية بسيل من الأسئلة والمخاوف.
ولكن التواصل القواتي ـ المصري ليس ابن ساعته، وإنما تطوره خضع لميزان «التنقيح»، الذي «دوزن» النظرة «الفرعونية» إلى أحد أطراف الحرب اللبنانية، الذي نادى
في واحدة من مراحله الذهبية، بالمفهوم الفدرالي. الالتحام بين «القوات» و«تيار المستقبل» حوّل «ضريح الشهيد» رفيق الحريري، قلّص المسافات بين القاهرة ومعراب.
وما حاك جعجع أولى قطباته، منذ استلامه القيادة القواتية، جهد لتثبيته خلال الأشهر الأخيرة، من خلال توثيق العرى مع واحدة من مكونات منظومة عربية، وقفت إلى
جانب «ثورة الأرز»، و«ثوارها»... قبل أن يصبح لبلاد «أبو الهول» و«خوفو» و«خفرع» ثورتها.
يتباهى «القواتيون» بتاريخية العلاقة التي تربطهم بالقيادة المصرية، «يوم قرر جعجع اعتماد نهج انفتاحي على العالم العربي، من الأردن، إلى العراق، مروراً بمصر
وحتى سوريا». دخول «القوات» في مربّع «الطائف»، «ساهم في تحسين صورة الميليشيا المسيحية، وتقديمها على طاولات الزعماء والرؤساء العرب، كواحد من «أبطال» السلم».

يقرّون أن انطباع المصريين عن «القوات»، شهد تبدّلاً نوعياً، ربطاً بحجم هذا الفريق ودوره في المعادلة اللبنانية، والطروحات السياسية التي يتبناها، بدءاً بإيمانه
بمفهوم الدولة القوية، ودعوته لإيجاد حلّ لسلاح «حزب الله»، وصولاً إلى تطلعه إلى العمق العربي.
وعلى الرغم من أن التلاقي المسيحي ـ الإسلامي في «ساحة الشهداء»، وتبعاته، فتح أبواب العالم العربي، أمام جعجع، كما يقول القواتيون، إلا أن فضل تعزيز العلاقة،
لا يعود إلى سعد الحريري أو إلى «تيار المستقبل»، بل إلى جهود «القوات» في ترجمة أقوالها إلى أفعال.
ولهذا، تراقب القيادة القواتية التحوّلات المصرية بهدوء، تحاول الاستفسار عن شكل غد القاهرة، وعن هوية أبطاله. يريحها الغموض الذي يلفّ المشهد: التغيير لا يبدو
جذرياً، ومن سيخلف مبارك لا يبدو من قماشة مختلفة، الأسماء المتداولة لوراثة «فرعون الثلاثين عاماً» لا تثير الريبة، وكأنها تدور في الفلك نفسه...
تنام معراب على «وسادة» ناعمة، لا يخبئ «ريشها» احتمال حصول انقلاب جذري في السياسة الخارجية المصرية، علماً بأن خصومها يضحكون في سرّهم، لأنها «وسادة من أوهام»،
سيستفيق عليها «القواتيون» بعد انتهاء «الكابوس».
في تقدير «القيادة الجعجعية» أن الغليان المصري، وإن كان من المبكر بنظرها الحكم على نتائجه العملانية والسياسية، لن ينتج سوى تبديل في «الوجوه»، على أن يحافظ
«الجوهر» على تماسكه وحضوره... من عمرو موسى وصولاً إلى محمد البرادعي، مروراً بعمر سليمان، وغيرهم من «المرشحين الرئاسيين»، لا تطرح هذه الأسماء أي مخاوف في
أذهان حلفاء القاهرة اللبنانيين، من احتمال تحوّل في النظرة المصرية إلى التركيبة اللبنانية. بمعنى أن «الانقلاب» المصري، فيما لو تمّ بتوقيع التظاهرات الشعبية،
فإن ذلك لن يعني تغييراً عقائدياً للنظام، أو وصول «الإخوان المسلمين»، على سبيل المثال، إلى رأس السلطة.
وحتى إشعار آخر، فإن أقصى ما يمكن لهذا التحرّك أن يحصده هو استبدال «سيّد» القصر الرئاسي، بـ«سيّد» آخر... «يموت الملك ليعيش ملك جديد»!
في أفق المشهد المصري، لا يرى «القواتيون» سيناريو واضح المعالم. «حتى اللحظة، النظام الحالي لم يرفع راية الاستسلام. الإصلاحات السياسية والاجتماعية المطلوبة،
حق مقدّس، كان يفترض الانحاء أمامه، من دون السماح لكوب الاعتراضات الشعبية بالطوفان. والدعوة للترقّب لا تعني الاعتراض على حركة الاحتجاج، لأن لكل شعب حق تقرير
مصيره، وإنما هي من باب صياغة قراءة واقعية».
البركان المصري يغلي تحت حمم اجتماعية ـ معيشية، لا أبعاد سياسية عميقة للأزمة، وفق قراءة معراب، التي لا تخشى ترددات الزلزال المصري، وانعكاساته على «بلاد
الأرز» و«أبطال ثورتها».
واشنطن التي ترصد الحركة المصرية عن كثب، من خلال بيانات «داعمة» لأقدام الثوار، ومواقف مؤيّدة لمطالب أصحابها، لا تدفع «حلفاءها» اللبنانيين إلى اتهامها بالتخلي
عمن ساندوها واستندوا إلى «جدارها» في «معاركهم الداخلية»... برأيهم «الإدارة الأميركية لم تدر ظهرها للنظام المصري، ولكنها تعتمد سياسة التقليل من الخسائر،
بدليل قدرتها على التعامل مع أي وضع جديد قد تفرزه الثورة. البراغماتية لا تعني أن البيت الأبيض فقد واحداً من حجاراته الداعمة له في الشرق العربي، أو أهمل
أحد حلفائه».
وبانتظار أن تنقشع الرؤية في بلاد الأهرامات، يتفرّج خصوم «القوات» على انهيار وحدات المنظومة الدفاعية لـ«قلعة معراب»، الواحدة تلو الأخرى، ويجاهرون بالقول:
بعد انكفاء المملكة السعودية، وانغماس «أبو الهول» في مستنقع احتجاجاته المليونية، فلنراقب مسار التأليف الحكومي في لبنان، ومن بعدها لكلّ حادث حديث...
السفير
قهوجي تفقّد فوج المجوقل بغوسطا
ونوّه بأداء الجيش خلال الاستحقاق
عـون: أنقـذنـا الحـريـري وأنفسـنا بعـدم تكليفـه
اعتبر رئيس تكتل التغيير والإصلاح العماد ميشال عون بعد ترؤسه اجتماع التكتل، أمس، أن التقديرات عن الحكومة الجديدة تشبه تقديرات سباق الخيل، قائلا إن كل هذه
التسريبات ليست صحيحة، فبالكاد انتهينا من تأطير الأجواء العامة التي نعمل ضمنها لتأليف الحكومة وإن شاء الله يتم التأليف خلال الأيام القادمة».
وعلق عون على كلام رئيس الهيئة التنفيذية للقوات اللبنانية سمير جعجع انه «مش ماشي الحال مع قوى 14 آذار»، بالقول: «هذا ما أعتقده أنا أيضاً. ومن يريد الدّخول
إلى الحكومة لا يمكن أن يدخل بلباسه الّذي نزلَ به إلى الشّارع، بل يجب عليه أن ينزع هذا الثوب عنه وأن يقبل بالخط السّياسي الجديد، لن نقبل أن يكونوا نواطير
للمراقبة ولنقل ما يحصل في الداخل الى جهات أخرى، بل يجب أن يكونوا متضامنين مع الحكومة». أضاف: هناك خطوط كبرى في السّياسة، ولا يمكن القول «إننا مع المحكمة،
وإننا لا زلنا معها كما هي وسندخل في الحكومة»!. هناك أصول لإقرار هذه المواضيع يجب أن نتّبعها، واحترام رأي الأكثرية. فإذا أردنا في الحكومة إجماعاً وأتى من
يريد فقط تخريب الإجماع، فبالطبع لن يدخل. والشّارع لم يكُن لينحسِر لو تمكنوا من تأمين استمرارية تصعيده، وهم ما زالوا يحلمون بهذا التصعيد، يسعون لتأمين استمرارية
في الاعتصام ويطوّرونه تدريجاً حتى 14 شباط.. هذه ليست أجواء مشاركة بل أجواء تسويف ورِبح وقت تماماً كما فعلوا مع المبادرات العربية حتى أوصَلونا إلى نقطة
الصّفر».
وقال إن «تضييعَ الوقت غيرُ مفيد، فلو بقيت الحكومة السابقة لكنّا رحلنا نحن والحريري في تموز، كما يرحل الحكام العرب حالياً.. ولكن نحن أنقّذناه وأنقّذنا أنفسَنا،
فدَعونا نُكمل طريق الخلاص».
وعما يجري في مصر قال «إنّ هذه الأنظمة كرتونية لأنها لا تستند إلى قواعد شعبية سليمة، وكلّنا نعلم أنّ هناك تزويراًَ في الانتخابات حصل في مصر. نحن نتأمل أن
يخرجَ الشّعب المصري من الأزمة محققاً أمانيه، معتبراً ان المخرج يكون بتغيير الحكم، الذي لن يسقط وحده.
ونفى ان تكون قوى الأكثرية الجديدة قيدت ميقاتي بشيء، معتبراً انه «يعي الوضع جيداً وطبعاً لن يلتزم بشيء يعيدُه للمشكلة الّتي سبّبَت سقوط الحكومة وتكليفه».
المطارنة الموارنة يتمنون النجاح لميقاتي ويأسفون لسفك الدماء العربية
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رأى المطارنة الموارنة في بيان اجتماعهم الشهري امس في بكركي، برئاسة البطريرك الكاردينال مار نصر الله بطرس صفير ان الوضع في المنطقة، وفي العالم العربي على وجه الاجمال، يدعو الى الترقب والقلق. فهناك انقلابات وثورات خرج معها الناس الى الشوارع ونادوا بإسقاط الحكام، على ما حدث في تونس ويحدث في مصر. واذ يأسف الاباء لما سفك من دماء، يسألون الله ان يجنب المنطقة المزيد من الاضطرابات، وان يلهم المسؤولين العمل على احلال العدالة والسلام في بلدانهم.
وشكروا الله على ان وضعنا في لبنان ما زال بخير على الرغم مما يعرفه من تعقيد، ويتمنى الاباء للرئيس المكلف تشكيل الحكومة الجديدة، والنجاح في مهمته لمواجهة الوضع الراهن بما ينبغي من الحكمة والحزم.
«المسيحي المشرقي»: وزارة للأقليات
طالب تجمع المسيحي المشرقي، خلال اجتماعه الدوري برئاسة ادمون بطرس، الرئيس المكلف تشكيل الحكومة نجيب ميقاتي، بوزارة لطوائف الأقليات المسيحية، إذ أنهم مهمشون
على المستوى النيابي. وأكد المجتمعون ضرورة رص الصفوف والالتفاف حول ميقاتي لتأليف حكومة وطنية، ليتمكن من نقل لبنان إلى بر الامان وتجنيبه أي صراع.
«الكتائب» تميل للمشاركة.. ولكن ماذا لو قرر جعجع ونديم التخريب؟
مارون ناصيف
على الرغم من الهجوم غير المباشر الذي شنّه رئيس الهيئة التنفيذية في «القوات اللبنانية» سمير جعجع ضد كل من يريد من قوى 14 آذار المشاركة في الحكومة، واصفاً
من يقبل الجلوس الى الطاولة بـ«الزينة التي لا تمثل كثيراً». وعلى الرغم من رفع رئيس «تكتل التغيير والإصلاح» العماد ميشال عون سقف الإنضمام الى الحكومة، إذ
قال «أهلاً وسهلاً بالكتائب» وغيرها ولكن يجب على من يريد ذلك أن يخلع ثوبه السياسي ويلتزم بمشروع المعارضة السابقة»، ما يزال النقاش قائما داخل أروقة البيت
المركزي الكتائبي في الصيفي على خلفية المشاركة أو عدمها في الحكومة.
هذا النقاش البارز من خلال التصاريح الحزبية، وبغض النظر عن كل التفسيرات والتحليلات، ينطلق من ثابتة واحدة مفادها أن المقاطعة المسيحية للانتخابات النيابية
ما بعد اتفاق الطائف أثبتت فشلها وكانت لها تداعياتها السلبية على صعيد التمثيل المسيحي، لذلك فالمشاركة في أي حال وأياً تكن الظروف تبقى أفضل من المقاطعة.

غير أن هذا النقاش الذي قد يشكل في النهاية، فيما لو نجحت المفاوضات، جسر العبور الكتائبي الى المقلب السياسي الآخر المواجه للمعسكر الآذاري، خلق داخل الحزب
ما يمكن تسميته بـ«التجاذبات» بين فريق يريد المشاركة من دون تغيير سياسي يمثله النائب سامي الجميل، وآخر يرفضها إطلاقاً أياً تكن الحجج والأسباب، ويقوده النائب
نديم الجميل الذي عبّر عن رأيه في أكثر من تصريح، أضف الى هذين الرأيين هناك من يتحمس للمشاركة من الطامحين الحزبيين مثل الوزير سليم الصايغ ومستشار الرئيس
أمين الجميل سجعان القزي، كما أن هناك أيضاً من هو معارض للمشاركة من دون تغيير سياسي على صعيد الخطاب الحزبي.
وفي الوقت الذي لم يقفل فيه فريق الجميل الإبن الباب أمام المشاركة أم لا حتى في بيان رده على العماد عون، تشير أوساط كتائبية مطلعة الى أن الرئيس الجميل يفضل
المشاركة وذلك مواكبة لكل ما تشهده المنطقة ولبنان من تغييرات، وحصراً المتن الشمالي بعد الضربات المتتالية التي أصابت آل المر، في الصميم.
من هذه الزاوية، يرغب الرئيس الجميل بمد جسور انتخابية مع ميشال عون في كسروان والمتن، أخذا بالاعتبار أن الأخير يحتاج للجسور نفسها، علما ان القاسم المشترك
بين عون والجميل هو الخوف من سمير جعجع، بفارق غير بسيط، هو أن عون يعتبر جعجع خصما فيما الجميل يتحالف مع جعجع ويخشاه ويعرف أن الأخير يريد له ولحزبه ما لا
يمكن أن يتمناه له أي خصم سياسي في 8 آذار.
وتندرج في هذا السياق حركة الاتصالات البعيدة عن الأضواء بين رئيس لجنة الادارة والعدل ابراهيم كنعان وبين سامي الجميل الذي رد، أمس، على ما قاله النائب ميشال
عون، أمس الأول، حول أن المهمّ أن يكون خيار مشاركة حزب الكتائب في الحكومة المقبلة من ضمن نفس الخطّ السياسيّ للحكومة وأن يكون ذلك معلناً وملتزماً وقال الجميل
«إن المبادئ والثوابت التي قام عليها حزب الكتائب منذ تأسيسه وحتى اليوم والتي هي سبب وجوده، من مشروع بناء الدولة والمحافظة على الحياة الديمقراطية، الى رفض
السلاح غير الشرعي لأي جهة انتمى وبسط سلطة الدولة على كامل أراضيها، الى تأمين الاطمئنان والسلام لجميع اللبنانيين عبر التمسّك بتحقيق العدالة، لم ولن تتغير،
وليست قيد التداول وسندافع عنها بجميع الطرق التي تراها الكتائب مناسبة ولا يلزم حزب الكتائب سوى القرارات والمواقف الصادرة رسمياً عنه».
غير أن رغبة سامي بالمشاركة مقرونة بخوف من بعض القواعد الشعبية الكتائبية التي قد لا تتماهى بسرعة مع الإنقلاب على قوى 14 آذار، وهذا ما يفكّر به الجميل الابن
علما أن هناك من سأله هل «وجدت لنفسك أو لحزبك مكانا في كل الورقة التي كان يفاوض سعد الحريري المعارضة عليها من المحكمة الى الـ11 مليار دولار الى قرارات حكومة
السنيورة الى أشرف ريفي ووسام الحسن»، وكان جواب سامي أنه لم يجد حزبه ولا طموحاته في كل تفاهم «السين سين».
يسري الأمر نفسه على المحكمة التي يريدها الكتائبيون عنوانا سياسيا ولو أنهم يدركون أنها لن تجلب اليهم حقيقة من اغتال الوزير والقيادي الكتائبي الشاب بيار
الجميل.
وحسب أوساط كتائبية «من الصعب جداً أن ينتقل سامي من فريق الى آخر وهو الذي اعتاد على رفع السقف عالياً في الغالبية الساحقة من تصريحاته ضد فريق المعارضة السابقة
وهذا ما يدركه جيداً الرئيس الجميل، فاذا راعى الجنرال عون والمعارضة هذه الخصوصية في الموقف فان سامي سيكون مستعدا لحماية قرار المشاركة وتحمل كل تبعاته».

هذا النقاش الكتائبي الذي ينسحب من القاعدة الشعبية الى الرئيس الأعلى، يراه رئيس مجلس الإعلام في الحزب سيرج داغر «ديموقراطياً بإمتياز»، ويقول لـ«السفير»:
لقد علمتنا التجارب أن تخلي المسيحيين عن مواقعهم في السلطة غير مشجع لأنه يصعب عليهم استعادتها، فالقطار يمشي ويتركهم، والموقع الذي يجب أن يملأه كتائبي لن
يبقى شاغراً وسيشغله بالتأكيد سياسي آخر لا ينتمي الى حزبنا، لذلك يجب أن نسعى الى تحقيق المشاركة ولكن من دون التخلي عن ثوابتنا وعلى رأسها المحكمة الدولية.

وفي الوقت الذي ينفي داغر كل كلام عن أن «الكتائب» تتفاوض مع الرئيس المكلف نجيب ميقاتي على الحصص والحقائب، علمت «السفير» أن الرئيس الجميل جدد مطالبته بحقيبة
التربية لمصلحة نجله سامي، هذا بالإضافة الى الإبقاء على حقيبة الشؤون الاجتماعية للوزير سليم الصايغ، على أن يحصل الحزب أيضاً على وزارة دولة، الأمر الذي يشير
الى رغبة بالحصول على حقيبتين ويرجح التضحية بوزارة الدولة فيما لو أثمرت المفاوضات نجاحاً.
«المكتب السياسي هو الذي يقرر المشاركة أم لا»، يقول مسؤول كتائبي عريق لـ«السفير» «ومن لا يلتزم هذا القرار يكون خارج الحزب حتى لو كان نجل الرئيس بشير الجميل».
رسالة واضحة من القيادة الحزبية الى نائب الأشرفيه نديم الجميل الذي حاول التسويق خلال اليومين الماضيين لمبدأ التصدي للمشاركة مع الفريق الذي يسميه بـ«محور
الثامن من آذار في الكتائب». ويقر القيادي المذكور بأن ليس من السهل إقناع القاعدة بالمشاركة في الحكومة «ولكن لن يكون ذلك بالأمر المستحيل».
يمكن القول انه لو لم تكن هناك رغبة لدى أمين وسامي الجميل بالمشاركة في الحكومة الميقاتية لما كانت المفاوضات انطلقت بين الطرفين، ولو لم تكن هناك رغبة لدى
ميقاتي بضم «الكتائب» الى حكومته لما كان فاوضهم على ذلك، فهل سيفضل المكتب السياسي الحكومة على المعارضة تاركاً «القوات اللبنانية» و«تيار المستقبل» في اعتصام
ساحة الشهداء، أم أنه لن يستطيع السير عكس ما تشتهيه رياح قواعده الشعبية؟
السفير
«الكتائب» و«القوات» في «الصالون الميقاتي»... عودة الإبن الضال؟
كلير شكر
في الخارج، أصوات «عتاة» «تيار المستقبل» تملأ فضاء المشاورات الحكومية، رافضة تغطية «الرئاسة الميقاتية». في الداخل سمير جعجع إلى مائدة نجيب ميقاتي المسائية،
وقبله أمين الجميل على «الصبحية». مشهد مفعم بالتناقض الشكليّ، لكنه لا يلغي التناغم الجوهريّ.
حتى اللحظة، يتسلّح النواب «الزرق»، بورقة المطالب التي تقدمت بها «كتلة المستقبل» النيابية إلى رئيس الحكومة المكلف، لإشهار اعتكافهم عن الجلوس إلى طاولة حكومية
برئاسة معقودة لغير سعد الحريري. يفلشون حججهم بطلاقة تعوقها «غصّة» التطورات غير المحسوبة: استشارات نيابية مكبّلة بقوة الضغط، تركيبة جديدة تسرق بساط الأكثرية
النيابية من تحت أقدام قوى الرابع عشر من آذار، ومستقبل غامض.
وبينما يستوي ميشال عون متربّعاً على «عرش» انتصاره وحلفائه، في «المعركة الحكومية»، وإن كانت «حربهم» لم تنته بعد، يستقبل مستوزيرين، ويودّع طامحين... يحاول
خصومه، لا سيما المسيحيين منهم، اللحاق بآخر عربات «القطار الميقاتي» الذي سينطلق حكماً، بمن حضر، ليترك البقية على رصيف الانتظار... والمعارضة. نداءات رئيس
الحكومة المكلف المكثّفة، لـ«حلفائه السابقين»، المحصّنة بإشارات إقليمية، أعادت إحياء الأمل في أذهان هؤلاء، بأن الواقف على باب السرايا الحكومية، متأهّباً
لدخولها، يفتح أمامهم «كوة» للعودة مجدداً إلى أحضان السلطة التنفيذية. ولا بدّ من إخضاعها لـ«المعاينة».
خلال الاجتماع الرباعي الذي استضافه سعد الحريري يوم الأحد الماضي، وضمّه الى كل من أمين الجميل، فؤاد السنيورة، وسمير جعجع، اتخذت «القيادة العليا» لقوى الرابع
عشر من آذار قرارها بالعودة عن قرار «المقاطعة» الحكومية، وفتح الباب أمام مفاوضات المشاركة، لتلقي المهمة على كتفيْ الجناحين المسيحيين، لا سيما أن «لقاءيْ
الدقائق المعدودة» بين الخلف والسلف، لم يتركا «للصلح مطرحاً».
على هذا الأساس، حضرت «سيرة» قوى الرابع عشر من آذار، طروحاتها، وطموحاتها، على جدول أعمال الرئيس ميقاتي. لقاءات بالمفرق، عقدها رئيس الحكومة المكلّف مع «الكتائب»
و«القوات»، وإن كان ضيوفه يقدّمون «عروضهم» على طبق «التفاهم» مع حلفائهم «المستقبليين». أكثر من دافع رفع من منسوب حماسة مسيحيي 14 آذار، وحملهم إلى «الصالون
الميقاتي»: انقلاب الصورة الإقليمية، التجاذب على الشارع المسيحي، والخوف من عزل قد يصيبهم بفعل تكرار تجربة المقاطعة المسيحية التي ارتدت سلباً على المسيحيين،
من دون إغفال هاجس الخوف من حليف قد يتخلى عنهم...
تراجع صوت المدافع «الزرقاء»، ورفغت رايات الهدنة. في هذه الأثناء، الجلستان بين الرئيس المكلف ورئيس الكتائب، أثبتتا، وفق أوساط «الكتائب»، أن قيادة «الصيفي»
لم تذهب «عارية» أو «يتيمة» إلى «أرض الخصوم»، وإنما متسلّحة بدرع التضامن الجماعي لمكونات 14 آذار، وأن هذا الفريق يحافظ على وحدة صفّه، وأن المفاوضات تتمّ
وفق أطر واضحة وصريحة.
أولى جلسات التفاوض «الماراتوني»، انتهت إلى إذابة جبل جليديّ، ارتفع دفعة واحدة بعد تحوّل «الأكثريات». تبلورت نيّة جديّة لدى الفرقين، لإيجاد صيغة مشتركة
تعيد إحياء حكومة الوحدة الوطنية. تلك النيّة تلمستها «القوات» وفق أوساطها، منذ أيام، لتقطع شكّها بيقين مسند إلى إشارات وصلتها من أكثر من اتجاه: مساعي رئيس
الحكومة الحثيثة لتوسيع بيكار حكومته، التي حوّلت الكلام من وراء الميكروفونات إلى جلسات عمل جدّية، مواقف «الخصوم» المطالبة بشراكة كلّ القوى، حتى لو تحت سقف
«الثلث المعطّل».
أصوات الاعتراض «الزرقاء» عل ألسنة «الصقور» و«الحمائم» على حدّ سواء، لا تنكرها «القوات»، ولا تصمّ اذنيها عنها، لا بل تحيلها إلى ردّات الفعل الانفعالية الطبيعية.
ولكنها في المقابل، تجيّر لنفسها النجاح في مهمّة إقناع الحريري، في التخلي عن «الفيتو»، والانضمام لنادي مشجّعي البقاء تحت جناح السلطة التنفيذية. كما أن عدداً
لا بأس به من الوزراء المسيحيين في قوى الرابع عشر من آذار، انضم إلى الصف المؤيد للعودة الحكومية، لترسّخ القناعة بأن هذا الفريق، فعلاً وقولاً، يسعى للاحتفاظ
بمقاعده الوزارية، وبأن مفاوضاته مع رئيس الحكومة المكلّف ليست من باب المناورة السياسية، وإنما على قاعدة «جدوى» الاعتراض من الداخل.
نقطتان أساسيتان استحوذتا على نقاشات رئيس الحكومة المكلّف مع ضيوفه: البيان الوزراي، ونسبة المشاركة في الحكومة. يهمّ قوى الرابع عشر من آذار، أن «تغطّي» قرار
انضمامها إلى «التركيبة الميقاتية» ببيان وزاري يعكس «لائحة الثوابت» التي عرضتها خلال الاستشارات النيابية. المحكمة الدولية، وقبلها القرارات الدولية، على
رأس تلك الثوابت، احتراماً لقناعاتها ولقناعات جمهورها. لا يبدي سيّد الدار، اعتراضه على هذه الصيغة، لأن «البيانات الوزارية لحكومات الوحدة الوطنية المتعاقبة،
كانت متشابهة إلى حدّ بعيد، ولا يفترض أن يكون البيان المرتقب شديد الاختلاف عما سبقه»، كما نقل عنه من التقاه من «القوات» و«الكتائب».
بداية مشجّعة، في ميزان قوى الرابع عشر من آذار، للمضي قدماً في مشوار المفاوضات، الذي «حمّلته» شرطاً ثانياً، ألا وهو حصتها الحكومية، حيث تطالب بمعاملتها
بالمثل، لناحية الحصول على الثلث المعطّل، بالمباشر أو «بالمواربة»، وفق صيغة 15+5+10 التي كانت قائمة.
نقطتان تنتظران ردّ رئيس الحكومة المكلف، وفق أوساط «الكتائب» كي تقول قوى الرابع عشر من آذار كلمتها النهائية من هذ الاستحقاق، قبل أن يبدأ البحث في التفاصيل،
من أسماء وحقائب، لم تجد بعد طريقها إلى النقاشات المشتركة... لكنها قادرة أن تجذب كلّ شياطين الأرض. ولكن بالنتيجة، إما تكون كلّ القوى الآذارية، موالية، وإما
لا تكون، وفق تأكيد الفريقين المسيحيين المذكورين.
ماذا عن موقف مسيحيي الأكثرية الجديدة وتحديداً العماد ميشال عون؟ هناك من يقول إن الرابية هي ممر الزامي لعودة «الكتائب» و«القوات» إلى أحضان الحكومة... وهناك
من يغمز من قنوات اتصال انتعشت بين بكفيا والرابية، تحسّباً لتطورات إيجابية قد تفرض نفسها، وإن كانت الكتائب تعتبر أن التلاقي المسيحي ـ المسيحي مشروع سابق
للحكومة، وغير متصل بها.
السفير
العمّال ليسوا بخير: الموت واللصوص يتربّصون بهم

العمال الأجانب في لبنان عرضة للحوادث (أرشيف ــ هيثم الموسوي)
المصري خالد علي مصطفى، لم يمت في شوارع القاهرة أو السويس أو الإسكندرية، وسط جموع الغاضبين الثائرين على نظام حسني مبارك. العامل الأربعيني فارق الحياة في لبنان، الذي لجأ إليه، بحثاً عن لقمة عيش ناشفة، لا يغمّسها بشيء. مات في حادث عمل في جورة الترمس
بيسان طي
عود على بدء...
كأنّ شيئاً لن يتغيّر في حياة العمال العرب والأجانب في لبنان، بل في معاناتهم، ولو تبدّلت أرقام تدلّ على التواريخ، والسنوات. عام 2011 لا يبشّر بخير، وعام 2010 أُقفل على عشرات الوفيّات في حوادث عمل، أو سقوط من شرفات، ومئات عمليات السلب والضرب والصدم والتهديد بقوة السلاح...
أمس، وقعت الفيليبينية لورانا بدريوان من شرفة منزل مشغّليها في الفنار، في الطبقة الرابعة، وتوفيت على الفور. جاء في خبر نشرته الوكالة الوطنية للإعلام أنها «رمت نفسها» وأن قوى الأمن الداخلي بدأت التحقيقات لمعرفة الملابسات.
في عزّ الغليان «الطائفي» الذي طغى على الشارع اللبناني، حين كان النقاش يحتدم بين جماعة 8 آذار وجماعة 14 آذار، عمد شبان في البقاع الأوسط الى توقيف سيارات تقلّ عمالاً سوريين، اعتدوا عليهم بالضرب، وفق ما أكد شهود عيان لـ«الأخبار»، لكن هذا الخبر لم يتبلّغه مركز أمني، أو لم يُعلن في التقارير الأمنية.
يوم السبت 8 الشهر الجاري، عثر على جثة باكستاني في بلدة عمشيت، وتحديداً على الطريق البحريّة للبلدة، قرب خزانات النفط فيها. وعثر صباح الثلاثاء على العامل السوري حسن عمر صبرين (32 عاماً) من التابعية السورية، جثة داخل غرفته في ورشة بناء تعود لـ ج.م. م، حيث يعمل الراحل في بلدة البريج ـــ جبيل.
مأساة العمال المصريين المختفين منذ 24 كانون الأول الماضي، والعمال السودانيين الذين خطفوا، أليست بذاتها دليلاً بارزاً على حال الإهمال الذي يحيط بظروف عمل العمال في لبنان ومعيشتهم؟ عدد المختفين لم يُحدد حتى اليوم، هل هم ثلاثة أم خمسة أم أكثر؟ ولماذا لم يضأ على خبر اختفائهم ـــ أو اختطافهم ـــ إلا بعد مرور نحو أسبوعين على الحادث؟
نظرة إلى ما تحمله البلاغات والتقارير الأمنية، تلفت إلى أن بداية العام تشهد عدداً كبيراً من الحوادث. على أي حال، لم يقفل العام الماضي مودعاً إلا بمأساة طاولت عاملين باكستانيين، حيث سُجّل حادث مأسوي في قرنة شهوان، الساعة 11،00 ليل الجمعة 31 كانون الأول الماضي. فقد صدمت سيارة «رانج روفر» دراجة نارية، على متنها عاملان من مدغشقر، ونتج من الحادث احتراق الدراجة ووفاة أحد العاملَين على الفور، فيما نُقل العامل الثاني إلى المستشفى، لكنه ما لبث أن فارق الحياة بعد فترة قصيرة. الراحلان هما: رودولف بلايدان (52 عاماً) وجاندي ديديو (52 عاماً). وبنتيجة المتابعة والتحقيقات تبيّن أن سائق السيارة الصادمة يدعى ماريو م. (27 عاماً).
مطلع العام، عُثر على جثة العاملة الإثيوبية آنشا محمد (25 عاماً) داخل مكتب لتشغيل عمال المنازل في النبطية. وجاء في بلاغ أمني أن طبيباً شرعياً كشف على الراحلة وخلص إلى أنها أقدمت على الانتحار بخنق نفسها بشريط كهربائي يعود للهاتف.
حوادث العمل تستمر في حصد أرواح العمال، فقد سُجلت وفاة عامل في مرفأ طرابلس، هو السوري محمد سلطان (28 عاماً) الذي تعرض لصعقة كهربائية خلال العمل، ما أدى إلى وفاته، وذلك يوم الجمعة الماضي.
في منطقة الضم والفرز، سقط العامل السوري مصطفى المطر (16 عاماً) من مبنى قيد الإنشاء يوم الأربعاء الماضي، ما أدى إلى مقتله. خبر وفاته ورد في سطرين من بلاغ أمنيّ، ولم يُصر إلى التوسع في التحقيق، ولم يُسأل صاحب الورشة كيف استعان بعامل لم يبلغ سن الرشد بعد، إضافة إلى السؤال المحوري، الذي يتعدّى حالة مصطفى ليطال كل العمال، والمتعلق بغياب وسائل الحماية من مخاطر العمل، وخصوصاً أن الأعمال التي يُستخدم فيها العمال العرب ـــ من سوريين ومصريين وسودانيين ـــ هي مهن شاقة وخطرة في آن واحد.
عاملات منازل أيضاً لقين حتفهن، سقطت الفيليبينية ماري في غارسيا من شرفة منزل مشغّلها في الطبقة السابعة من مبنى في قريطم، ما أدى إلى وفاتها الأربعاء الماضي. وكان قد عُثر يوم الثلاثاء 4 الشهر الجاري على جثة الفيليبينية جيني أنتونينو (30 عاماً) في منزل مشغّلها في غبالة (قضاء جونية)، ولم تعرف أسباب الوفاة وإن كان ثمة آثار للعنف على الجثة.
سألت «الأخبار» النائب عاطف مجدلاني، رئيس لجنة الصحة والعمل والشؤون الاجتماعية النيابية، عن قضايا العمال العرب والأجانب وما يتعرضون له، وهل تعمل اللجنة النيابية المختصة على إعداد اقتراح أو مشروع قانون لحماية هؤلاء العمال مما يتعرضون له حالياً؟ فأجاب بأن قانون العمل الحالي كافٍ وهو يُعالج كل المشاكل، ولا حاجة إلى تعديله.
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تعديل قانون العمل حاجة ماسّة
وُضع قانون العمل في لبنان في 23/9/1946، وخضعت بعض مواده لتعديلات، كان آخرها قبل عقد. متحدثون من جمعيات مهتمة بحقوق الإنسان يلفتون إلى أن مواد القانون لا تسمح بتغطية كل المشاكل الحديثة للعمال العرب، ويتوقفون عند ضرورة تشديد العقوبات على أرباب العمل الذين يتغاضون عن تأمين سبل الحماية من حوادث العمل، كذلك يدعو المهتمون إلى تفعيل التحقيقات والمحاكمات ضد المعتدين على العمال.
إلا أن المهتمين بحقوق الإنسان والمتابعين لشؤون العمال لا يملّون من تكرار مطلب تشديد العقوبات على المعتدين على العمال غير اللبنانيين، لافتين إلى تزايد نسبة الاعتداءات ذات الطابع العنصري، ومركّزين على ضرورة تشديد العقوبات على أرباب العمل الذين لا يقومون بواجب التصريح عن العمال.
لقطة
الآمال معلّقة على الحكومة الجديدة بوضع حد لحالة التهاون في التعاطي مع المعتدين على العمال العرب والأجانب، ورغم صدور أحكام قضائية تنصف العمال في وجه ممارسات بعض المشغلين، إلا أن غالبية العمال والعاملات لا يثقون بأن الأنظمة والمؤسسات اللبنانية ستنصفهم. وبحسب ناشطين، فإن القضيتين اللتين يجدر أن تلقيا اهتماماً مركزاً هما: أولاً قضية الإسراع في إعلان وفاة عاملات أجنبيات «انتحاراً»، إذ يجدر أن يتخذ التحقيق مجراه لمعرفة القاتل أو الدافع وراء الانتحار إن صح، أما القضية الثانية فتتعلق بمحاسبة أرباب العمل عند وفاة أي عامل في حادث عمل وذلك لغياب وسائل السلامة، وإجبار المشغّلين وشركات التأمين على أن تدفع تعويضات لذوي الضحايا من دون التلاعب أو دفع فدية منخفضة جداً، كما يحدث حالياً.
العدد ١٣٣٠ الاربعاء ٢ شباط ٢٠١١
الاخبار
الإنجيل اليومي بحسب الطقس الماروني
يا ربّ، إِلى مَن نَذهَب وكَلامُ الحَياةِ الأَبَدِيَّةِ عِندَك ؟
(يوحنا 6: 68)

الخميس 03 شباط/فبراير 2011
الخميس الرابع بعد الدنح

في الكنيسة المارونيّة اليوم :سمعان الشيخ وحنّة النبيّة


إنجيل القدّيس لوقا .19-11:17

وفِيمَا كانَ يَسُوعُ ذَاهِبًا إِلى أُورَشَلِيم، ٱجْتَازَ ما بَيْنَ السَّامِرَةِ والجَلِيل. وفِيمَا هُوَ يَدْخُلُ إِحْدَى القُرَى، لَقِيَهُ عَشَرَةُ رِجَالٍ بُرْص، فَوَقَفُوا مِنْ بَعِيد، وَرَفَعُوا أَصْواتَهُم قَائِلين: «يا يَسُوع، يَا مُعَلِّم، إِرْحَمْنا!». وَرَآهُم يَسُوعُ فَقالَ لَهُم: «إِذْهَبُوا وأَرُوا أَنْفُسَكُم لِلْكَهَنَة». وفيمَا هُمْ ذَاهِبُونَ طَهُرُوا. فَلَمَّا رَأَى وَاحِدٌ مِنْهُم أَنَّهُ قَدْ شُفِيَ، عَادَ وَهوَ يُمَجِّدُ اللهَ بِصَوتٍ عَظِيم. وٱرْتَمَى عَلَى وَجْهِهِ عِنْدَ قَدَمَي يَسُوعَ يَشْكُرُه، وكانَ سَامِرِيًّا. فَأَجَابَ يَسُوعُ وَقال: «أَمَا طَهُرَ العَشَرَة؟ فَأَيْنَ التِّسعَة؟ أَمَا وُجِدَ فِيهِم مَنْ يَعُودُ لِيُمَجِّدَ اللهَ سِوَى هذَا الغَريب؟!». ثُمَّ قالَ لَهُ: «قُمْ وٱذْهَبْ، إِيْمَانُكَ خَلَّصَكَ!».

النصوص مأخوذة من الترجمة الليتُرجيّة المارونيّة - إعداد اللجنة الكتابيّة التابعة للجنة الشؤون الليتورجيّة البطريركيّة المارونيّة (طبعة ثانية – 2007)



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"الإيمان الذي يُطَهِّر"


ترى مَن يمثّل الرجال البُرْص العشرة غير الخطأة؟... عندما أتى ربّنا يسوع المسيح، كان البشر يعانون برص النفس، حتّى لو لم يكونوا مصابين ببرص الجسد... وفي الحالة هذه، فإنّ برص النفس هو أسوأ من برص الجسد.

"استقبله لَقِيَهُ عَشَرَةُ رِجَالٍ بُرْص، فَوَقَفُوا مِنْ بَعِيد، وَرَفَعُوا أَصْواتَهُم قَائِلين: يا يَسُوع، يَا مُعَلِّم، إِرْحَمْنا!". كانوا واقفين عن بعد لأنّهم لم يكونوا يجرؤون على الاقتراب منه بسبب برصهم. هذا الأمر ينطبق علينا: طالما نحن في الخطيئة، نقف عن بعد. إذًا، لكي نستعيد الصحّة ونشفى من برص خطايانا، فلنتوسّل بصوت قوي ونقول: "يا يَسُوع، يَا مُعَلِّم، إِرْحَمْنا!". هذا التوسّل يجب ألاّ ينبع من أفواهنا، إنّما من قلوبنا، لأنّ القلب يتكلّم بصوت أقوى. صلاة القلب تدخل السّموات وترتفع عاليًا، إلى عرش الله.
Yezidis Minority in Iraq Demand Ministerial Post
Dohuk, North Iraq -- A Yezidi MP from Kurdistan Blocs Coalition (KBC) stated on Sunday that the Yezidi MPs in the Iraqi parliament represent 600,000 Yezidis, indicating that they have the right to hold a ministerial post in the Iraqi government. The Yezidis have seven MPs, six of them within the KBC, and the other was the share of the Yezidi sect according to the "quota" system. Amina Said Hassan told AKnews the six Yezidi MPs represent about 600,000 people, according to the electoral law. "Those Yezidis who voted for us are proud of belonging to Kurdish nationalism", she said pointing out that "the voters have the right to have a minister in the Iraqi government, like other Iraqi components such as Turkman and Christians ... We as yezidi MPs in the KBC sent a letter to the Kurdish leadership and President of the negotiating Kurdish delegation in Baghdad, and demanded of a ministerial position before the formation of the Iraqi government." "During the meeting of the Kurdish bloc, we also presented the same subject and we asked about our share as Yezidis, and we got the answer that the issue was resolved, and we will have a ministerial post." "If the Yezidi MPs got a ministry, it will be within the share of the KBC, because in such cases, the ministries are not distributed according to the components, but according to the blocs internalized within a single bloc." The Kurds got in the new government formation headed by Maliki the ministries of foreign affairs, health, Displacement and Migration, trade, Women's Affairs, Civil Society Affairs, and State ministry. The Foreign ministry was given to Hoshyar Zebari, health to Majeed Mohammed Amin, Displacement and Migration for Dindar Nujman,and the persosn who will hold the other ministries will not be named. According to researchers, the Yezidi religion is an ancient Kurdish religion because all the religious texts are recited in the Kurdish language in the Yezidi events and religious rituals. According to informal Yezidi sources, about 85% of the Yezidi areas are found within the areas whose ownership is disputed by Baghdad and Erbil governments. According to government estimates, the number of Yezidis is about half a million people in Iraq including the Kurdistan Region, with the majority of them living in Nineveh and Dohuk provinces.
South Sudan Referendum: 99% Vote for Independence
(BBC) -- Some 99% of South Sudanese voted to secede from the north, according to the first complete results of the region's independence referendum. A total of 99.57 percent of those polled voted for independence, according to the referendum commission. Early counting had put the outcome of the ballot beyond doubt, indicating Southern Sudan had secured a mandate to become the world's newest nation. The poll was agreed as part of a 2005 peace deal to end two decades of war. Final results from the 9-15 January vote, which Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir has said he will accept, are expected early next month. If the result is confirmed, the new country is set to formally declare its independence on 9 July. Hundreds of officials and diplomats gathered in Juba at the grave of rebel leader John Garang for the first official announcement of the results. 'The prayer of a country' The revered South Sudanese leader died in a plane crash just days after signing the January 2005 peace agreement ending more than 20 years of conflict between the black Christian-dominated south and the mainly Arab Muslim north. "The prayer I say the people of Southern Sudan have been waiting for for 55 years, the prayer of a country," Episcopalian Archbishop Daniel Deng said as he opened the ceremony. "Bless the name of this land, Southern Sudan," he said. According to the commission website, 3,851,994 votes were cast during the week-long ballot. Five of the 10 states in Sudan's oil-producing south showed a 99.9% vote for separation, the lowest vote was 95.5% in favour in the western state of Bahr al-Ghazal, bordering north Sudan, Reuters reports. North and south Sudan have suffered decades of conflict driven by religious and ethnic divides. Southern Sudan is one of the least developed areas in the world and many of its people have have long complained of mistreatment at the hands of the Khartoum government. The BBC's James Copnall, in Khartoum, says independence for the South now seems inevitable. Our correspondent adds that though the South Sudanese are celebrating that their dream of having their own country is a massive step closer there are still issues to resolved - including underdevelopment and inter-ethnic conflict. Tough negotiations remain on how to divide up economic resources between north and south - which has the bulk of oil, he adds.
Religious Freedom in the World was one of the sources of the resolution.
ACN will shortly be publishing its biennial report* on the oppression of Christians -- Persecuted and Forgotten? Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, condemned the recent terrorist attacks targeting places of worship, in a statement on 19th January. She said: "I think we can all agree that these attacks are unacceptable, perpetrated by extremists with an agenda of intolerance that must be condemned and resisted." "Long-established Christian communities in the Middle East face difficulties, which have led to significant displacement in some countries and dwindling numbers in the region as a whole. "The EU will not turn a blind eye to their plight. We consider their demand to have their rights respected as citizens of their own country as entirely legitimate." This was echoed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe which adopted 17 points on "Violence against Christians in the Middle East" on 27th January. The assembly specifically condemned the 31st October 2010 attack on the Syriac Cathedral in Baghdad, Iraq and the New Year bombing of the church in Alexandria, Egypt. The assembly stated: "The situation [in the Middle East] has become more serious since the beginning of the 21st century and if it is not properly addressed, it could lead to the disappearance of Christian communities in the Middle East, which would entail the loss of a significant part of the religious heritage of the countries concerned."
Plans for New Hospital, University Offer Hope to Catholics in Iraq
Baghdad -- An archbishop in Iraq is calling plans for a new Catholic hospital and university in the country "symbols of hope" in an area rife with tension and violence. Archbishop Bashar Warda of Erbil in northern Iraq announced to Catholic charity Aid to the Church in Need that the two building projects -- planned for Ankawa, a suburb of the Kurdish capital, Erbil -- passed a critical phase on Jan. 31 when the regional government granted land for the structures. A 322,917 square-foot site has been allocated for the university and is near a 86,111-square-foot plot intended for the 100-bed hospital which will have eight operating rooms and a medical wing. Archbishop Warda said in a Feb. 1 interview that a fundraising campaign was necessary before the building work could begin. He expressed hope that the the two institutions would open within the next couple years. "The plans we have been developing over the past few months are symbols of hope for the Christian presence in our country," he said. Archbishop Warda noted that a primary motivation behind the projects was to provide jobs and other opportunities for local Christians and stave off their plummeting decline in the country. In the last decade, the population of Christians has fallen in Iraq from more than 800,000 to barely 200,000. Recent violence -- such as the attack at the Syriac Catholic cathedral in Baghdad by Islamic militants that left more than 50 dead and over 70 wounded on Oct. 31 -- have added to the growing unease felt by Christians in the area. "We do not want Christians to leave Iraq," the archbishop underscored. "It is clear that our society here needs schools, universities and hospitals and this provides us with an opportunity to encourage the Christians to build a future for themselves here." Archbishop Warda said both initiatives would provide jobs, training and other opportunities for thousands of Christians fleeing to Kurdistan from the religious persecution in Baghdad and Mosul. The hospital and the university will be run and owned by the Archdiocese of Erbil but Archbishop Warda underscored that both would be open to all individuals, regardless of faith affiliation.
Perilous Choices for Egypt's Military
Washington (CNN) -- Egypt's government is not just Hosni Mubarak's government, it is a military government. Generals and former generals control much of the government, and many are influential in business. Since the military overthrew Egypt's monarchy in 1952, senior military officers have constituted Egypt's new aristocracy, holding on to positions of privilege from the socialist 1950s and 1960s to the capitalist present. Mubarak is, of course, a former air force chief of staff who led Egypt's air campaign in the country's 1973 war against Israel -- a war that Egyptians remember as their country's greatest military triumph. He has a military bearing, a military distrust of disorder, and a military attachment to hierarchy. His new vice president, Omar Suleiman, is a product of the country's internal security service, and he shares the president's bearing and his attitudes. Two-thirds of the country's governors are former generals, as are many of the country's Cabinet members -- especially those in noneconomic positions. They are still generals, but they are generals in suits. When things have needed to be done in Egypt, from alleviating a bread shortage in 2008 to providing relief supplies to Upper Egypt after floods in 1994, Mubarak has turned to the military. He trusts the military, he understands the military, and the military delivers for him. The relationship has been mutually advantageous. When Egypt began privatizing its public sector businesses in the 1990s, former generals were able to swoop in and get bargains, often financing their purchases with loans from state-owned banks at attractive rates. As censorship in Egypt has dwindled in recent years, the military has remained beyond scrutiny. While journalists criticize the government, the president's family and even the president himself -- something unthinkable 20 years ago -- the military has remained sacrosanct, a curious void in an increasingly lively press. Journalists report on a wide range of government operations, but they are silent on a huge range of issues, from the size of the military budget to the activities of the army-owned factories that produce everything from munitions to food and clothing. And yet, the military remains a respected institution in Egypt. Egyptians see the military as the national bulwark, an object of veneration and an outlet for their patriotism. There is deep respect for the sacrifices the military has made and gratitude for the wars it has fought. The Egyptian public's attitudes toward the military are not recent; in fact, they date to the 19th century. It was desperation with where Egypt was going in the early 1950s that led to popular support for the military takeover in 1952; it may yet be desperation with the chaos unfolding on Cairo's streets that leads to support for continued military control in the coming days. As we think forward to how events in Egypt might play out, it is worth remembering the stake that the Egyptian military has in preserving at least some of the status quo. Not only might officers and former officers stand to lose a great deal economically, but the collapse of the government might deal a severe blow to the military as an institution as well. Egypt's military officers, then, face a difficult choice. If they must choose, are they to be loyal to their commander or to their institution? If it is clear to everyone but Hosni Mubarak that the time has come when he must stand aside, or at least begin a process that will end with his departure from office, what is their role in securing that transition? Right now, the military is the only government institution that still enjoys broad legitimacy. It is at a time of maximum peril. The choices it makes in the coming days will not only help determine the military's future, but the fate of the country as well.
Food Staples Starting to Run Out in Egypt
(CNN) -- While discontent, resentment and nationalism continue to fuel demonstrations, one vital staple is in short supply: food. Many families in Egypt are fast running out of staples such as bread, beans and rice and are often unable or unwilling to shop for groceries. "Everything is running out. I have three children, and I only have enough to feed them for maybe two more days. After that I do not know what we will do." school administrator Gamalat Gadalla told CNN. The unrest has paralyzed daily life in Egypt with many grocers closing shop and spotty food shipments. "With the curfew, there are no restaurants, food or gas. Basic goods will soon be in shortage," Sandmonkey, an Egyptian blogger said via Twitter. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has ordered a curfew in Egypt to be extended from 3 p.m. to 8 a.m. on Monday, further stifling normal life in the embattled nation. Egyptian state-run Nile TV has set up a hotline for citizens to call in and report bread shortages. There has been no other indication of what the Egyptian government is doing to address the crisis.
Egyptian Imams and intellectuals: Renewing Islam towards modernity ) is attracting great interest on the Internet. In one day alone it was published by at least 12,400 Arab websites. Each of these sites received many comments from the public. We must clarify one point of which we received confirmation today: yesterday we attributed the document directly to 23 figures from the Islamic world. In fact, the 23 figures are not really signatories: the document was prepared by the magazine according to indications received from more than 23 people interviewed. For each of the 22 items listed there are also comments and explanations that make it clearer and more profound. The importance of the document lies foremost in the themes indicated by the 23 scholars and the magazine's attempt to launch an interesting project of reform in Islamic discourse. Of course, it is worrying to see that 88% are opposed to the document, with about 12% favourable. However among those who are against it, there are those opposed to just one or two points. Another interesting aspect is that this project of reform of Islam was published Jan. 24, one day before the outbreak of demonstrations in Egypt. These protests have economic and political roots. This means that in addition to current politics, there is an intellectual current that is fed up with the Islam that has spread in the last 30 years in the country, an "externalized" Islam that puts the emphasis on external things (clothing, beard, veil, etc. ..). This shows that there is a global movement - both spiritual and political - in Egypt that wants to transform the country. And since it is a leading country in the Middle Eastern world, one can expect that the changes in act in Cairo will spread throughout the region. Perhaps the same demonstrations that are taking place on the streets of the capital will have an influence on this "externalized" Islam. Now we come to our comments on some of the more important points. Fraternisation of the sexes Take, for example, point 3, which talks about the fraternisation of the sexes. Their commentary states that the ulema should take into account the circumstances in which this takes place and ensure it is in accordance with sharia. If fraternisation of the sexes is a necessity, then there is no problem. But if there is no need, then it is bad. They cite an example: there are male and female students in university. Since this is a necessity of study, there is no problem in the fraternisation of male and female students. The same applies to the workplace. What is absolutely sinful is a man and a woman finding themselves alone, touching, hugging. On the contrary, hardliners reject any form of fraternisation. In Saudi Arabia, male university students sit in front of the professor; female students are in another room, and follow the lesson via television monitor. The reformist declaration, however, argues that Islam does not prohibit all contact between men and women. Such relationships are becoming problematic in Egypt because of a "Puritan" style which is increasingly becoming the norm. Some time ago, a fatwa issued by a doctor of Koranic law (faqih) caused quite a stir. In a television program, a woman explained that for work reasons she had to be in the same office with a man. But this was forbidden by Sharia, the woman could not resign and called for help. The ulema offered a solution: the woman should breastfeed her colleague. In response to the public's scandalised reaction, the ulema explained that by doing so her colleague would thus become "like a son" to the girl and so they could stay together in the office, without the risk of possible sexual relations (given their new familial "relationship"). The ulema defended himself from the public outrage by saying that "we must not judge with our emotions, but with the law." This fatwa gave rise to strong reactions in the Islamic world, so much so that the ulema was in danger of losing his job. Jihad The sixth point is jihad (holy war). According to the reformers of the document, in Islam jihad is directed against occupiers of Muslim countries "Fight against those who fight against you in the way of Allah, but do not transgress," (Qur'an 2.190). In comments on this verse, it is clearly stated that it is forbidden to kill unarmed people, children, old people, women, priests, monks, houses of prayer. And they add: this vision - so modern -- has been present in Islam for 1400 years. The reformers, in this clarification, point out that jihad can only be defensive and only on Muslim lands. The problem arises when Muslims carry out jihad at the wrong time and in the wrong places (obviously it means that it is wrong to attack people in Europe for example, which is not "Islamic land"). When it is done, who can do it, where it can be done: the answer to these questions makes correct jihad from Islamic point of view. In this way the reformists condemn all Islamic terrorism, the attacks on the Church of Alexandria and Baghdad. It must be said that this interpretation of jihad is classic, but unfortunately there are very contrary interpretations that justify terrorism. Outward piety Section 7 explains the need to "stop attacks on outward piety and the use of foreign practices that come to us from neighbouring states". Those battling against this externalized Islam, says it is a new phenomenon, only 30 years old. This is due to the fact that many Egyptians went to work on the Arabian Peninsula and came back with foreign customs. The magazine explains that Egypt too has its own customs and ways of dressing for a few positions in Islam. But - they say - "we have recently begun to imitate the dress in the neighbouring countries [ in short Saudi Arabia - ed] with the long beard flowing to the chest, the long robe (jilbab), the veil .... Then arrived the obligation for women to use the niqab, the full veil as an expression of modesty". And they quote the Koran 24.30: "Tell the believing men that they should restrain their gaze and be chaste." The document states that "the important thing is the modesty of the gaze." It is recalled that last year there were thousands of attacks on women not dressed in an Islamic way. "The exterior - explain the expert reformers - has now become the true religion. The appearance of piety has now become the model of the believer in Egypt, without questioning the purity of heart and chastity of the eye, which the niqab can not hide. " These emphases are fundamental and very close to the Gospel. It is a new mystical inspiration that warns: you will not be able to save the purity of the relationship between men and women by the clothes they wear. And they add: these people -- who have brought ways of dressing from elsewhere -- have divided families, playing one off against the other, because the men want to impose the veil and the women rejected it. "We are now - ends the comment - a nation that takes care of the outside and that is empty on the inside". Separation between religion and state, secularism Section 8, on the division between religion and state, I believe to be the most important. The document uses the word 'almaniyyah, secularism. At the Synod on the Middle East we were afraid to use that word because it is commonly understood as "atheism", only indicating a secular enemy of religion and therefore to be rejected. Instead, the document uses this very word. And it explains that this is based on the idea of separation between religion and state. Secularism - they say - should not be regarded as the opposite of religion; instead it needs to be seen as a safeguard against the political or commercial use of religion. "In this context - it claims - secularism is in harmony with Islam and secularism is therefore legally acceptable. The same can be said about the control of the (Islamic) activities of the State. " At the same time it says: "All that distances religion from ordinary life is unacceptable." And it explains that it is necessary to affirm "the rights of God" and "the rights of the servant of God", namely human rights. Atheistic secularism instead regards religion as a ball and chain and therefore demands absolute freedom. This secularism is opposed to Islam, which places certain limits. Those who want to choose faith must do so out of conviction and, therefore, accept the rules of religion, and can not play with them. It is therefore claimed that there is a extremist secularism and a good one. On the Internet, this point on secularism attracts a lot of criticism. For example, the site "The guardians of the dogma" publish the following criticism. "Everyone must know that secularism means anti-religiosity, and that anti-religiosity is the fast track to atheism. Islam has to fight it, because secularism is the seed of all evil, etc. .. ". This point, though much discussed, shows that Egypt is developing the concept of civil society, not immediately coinciding with the Islamic community. Attitude towards Salafism Point 9 is also interesting. It demands the "purification of the patrimony of the 'early centuries of Islam' (Salafism), eliminating myths (khurâfât) and attacks against religion". The document states that "liberty, equality, knowledge, justice and science are the most important values that the Koran brought to us when it was revealed 14 centuries ago. They are the same values on which the society formed by the Prophet in Medina was founded. They are clear values on which there is no conflict. These values can not be minimised. We have a great need for these great values, more than in the past. " And it adds: "Countries do not develop other than in accordance with these values and will have no Renaissance (nahda) except with the abolition of this Salafi heritage that should be considered a drag on Islamic society, in its relation to myths (= human inventions), or inventions of schisms, or aggressions of religion". These statements tackle the stifling practices of fundamentalism (dress codes, the pure and the impure, laws, etc ...) head on, which wants to reproduce the society of the time of the Prophet. For a Salafi, for example, it is forbidden to sit on a chair because the prophet sat on the ground; it is forbidden to use common toothpicks, instead he must clean his teeth with a twig taken from a plant in Saudi Arabia (miswak)! With these criticisms, the document aims at reforming Islam pushing it towards a more spiritual religious momentum. Final Reflection Judging from comments found on the Internet, we see that the great majority, contrary to the document, are prey to the external, traditional, formal, self-righteous Islam. There are still many intellectuals and religious thinking in a modern way, but they do not have the support of the institutions. In the face of social unrest and pressures for change that are occurring in several countries of the Middle East and North Africa, we must say that Salafism is somehow a kind of "opium of the people", it focuses people's attention on external religious and secondary practices, regardless of the development, the well-being of society,. For their part, the political powers to leave be, provided they do not involve themselves in politics. In Egypt, the political power is not a pure dictatorship, but to maintain power it allies itself, giving ever greater concessions to Salafism. The political power shows itself to be "Islamic" to avoid becoming an object of criticism of Salafism, or the Muslim Brotherhood. But each concession reinforces this exterior Islam and results in other, new concessions.
Egypt Unrest Signals Danger for Christians
As growing unrest in Egypt leaves the country on the brink of revolution, there are fears that radical Islamists may capitalise on the crisis to seize power - signalling danger for the beleaguered Christian community. Protests against President Hosni Mubarak's authoritarian regime have been gathering momentum throughout this week. And off the back of the Tunisian uprising, which resulted in the ousting of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, there is the mood and momentum for radical change in Egypt. The unrest gained new impetus when the largest opposition movement, the Muslim Brotherhood, said it would back demonstrations on Friday (28 January). The banned Islamist group demanded that Mubarak dissolve the nation's recently formed parliament and hold a new election, threatening in a statement on its website that if the Egyptian government "does not move fast and shoulder responsibility to start a serious reform process, stability might not last for long". Egypt is 90% Muslim, and the Brotherhood, which lost all 88 of its parliamentary seats in last November's election, appears to be trying to harness the political, economic and social unrest that sparked the riots to gather support for its Islamist agenda.The Brotherhood wrote: The events in Tunisia are a cornerstone for the rest of the people of the Arab and Islamic world. It is a message to all the despotic leaders and the corrupt regimes that they are not safe and they are living on the tip of a volcano of people's anger and God's wrath. Many commentators have warned of a domino effect from Tunisia across the Arab world, as instability grows in Algeria, Lebanon, Yemen and Jordan. If Egypt were to be taken over by Islamists, the consequences for the region could be very serious. Global intelligence analyst George Friedman of Stratfor has warned: An Islamist Egypt would give dramatic impetus to radical Islam throughout the Arab world... The transformation of Egypt into an Islamist country would be the single most significant event we could imagine in the Islamic world, beyond an Iranian bomb. The protests in Egypt follow targeted attacks against the country's Christians, most notably the suicide bombing at a church in Alexandria on New Year's Day that killed at least 21 worshippers. Christians took to the streets in protest over the lack of protection and justice for their community. Their insecurity could only be increased under an Islamist regime, and in the worst case they could even be forced to flee the country en masse. In addition, Egyptian Christians are already second-class citizens in their own country. They suffer severe discrimination in many areas of life, such as in education and employment. And if the Muslim Brotherhood were to seize power, they could rapidly be subjected to a raft of even more humiliating regulations, designed to exclude and degrade them further. All Christian gatherings and church meetings have been cancelled for the third day in a row; a Barnabas Aid contact said believers were staying in their homes, adding that they were "praying hard" and "trusting God."
Egypt's False Prophet
The Mubarak regime is likely in its last days and the Muslim Brotherhood has now endorsed former IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) director Mohamed ElBaradei to replace him. The wise move by the Islamists will allow them to control the next government while soothing the fear over the creation of the Islamic Republic of Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood has allowed ElBaradei to lead a new coalition called the National Association for Change that also includes secular democrats and other opposition figures like Ayman Nour and Dr. Osama al-Ghazali Harb. This coalition led by ElBaradei is going to begin forming a national unity government that will exclude President Mubarak's National Democratic Party, removing a potential secular voice in the next regime. Once this national unity government is put together, it will force the U.S. to pick either the Mubarak regime or the opposition regime as the government of Egypt. The Brotherhood decided to embrace ElBaradei because it will make it easier to pursue an Islamist agenda. One of the group's officials did not try to disguise this, saying "The Brotherhood realizes the sensitivities, especially in the West, towards the Islamists, and we're not keen to be at the forefront." The West should not find comfort in the prospect of ElBaradei leading Egypt instead of an official Brotherhood member. He may be a secular democrat ideologically, but his foreign policy stances are not much different than the Brotherhood and he is a stalwart defender of the organization. He has just compared them to "new evangelical…groups in the U.S., like the orthodox Jews in Jerusalem" and says "[t]his is total bogus that the Muslim Brotherhood are religiously conservative. They are [in] no way extremists." He also asserts that the Brotherhood has "not committed any acts of violence in five decades," drawing a deceitful distinction between the Brotherhood and its Palestinian branch, Hamas. The constitution of Hamas states it is "the arm of the Muslim Brotherhood in Palestine" and in March, a top Hamas operative reaffirmed that it remains so. There are already unconfirmed reports that armed members of Hamas are now entering Egypt to link up with the Brotherhood. ElBaradei has in the past defended "the Palestinian resistance," saying that "the Israeli occupation only understands violence." An Egypt under ElBaradei would be friendly to Iran. As the director of the IAEA, El-Baradei was repeatedly accused of covering-up incriminating evidence about the Iranian nuclear program. He opposes sanctions on Iran and says "they are not like the stereotyped fanatics bent on destroying everybody around them. They are not." It has been reported that an Iranian official gave $7 million to an associate of his in Hungary to finance a presidential campaign and the Iranians also offered other forms of assistance, including information to undermine Mubarak. This could be an attempt by Egypt's Arab allies to undermine ElBaradei but at the very least, the Iranian state media is supporting the revolution. The U.S. is currently in a difficult position as the stability of the Mubarak regime is in its geopolitical interests. However, preserving the West's strategic position requires siding against democratic change and it would reinforce the Brotherhood's narrative that the U.S. supports dictatorships as part of an imperialistic agenda. The Muslim Brotherhood leader in Jordan is making that argument right now, stating that "We tell the Americans, enough is enough" and that "Obama must understand that the people have woken up and are ready to unseat the tyrant leaders who remained in power because of U.S. backing." Likewise, ElBaradei blames the U.S. for Mubarak's "life support" and says that the U.S. is "losing credibility every day." Secretary of State Clinton's earlier description of Mubarak's regime as "stable" and Vice President Biden's remark that Mubarak is not a dictator and should not resign assists the Egyptian opposition in making these arguments. Tawfik Hamid, a former member of Egyptian Islamic Jihad, says that the U.S. must now force Mubarak to resign because it is the "ONLY thing that can calm the political situation sufficiently [emphasis original]" and have him replaced by a secular military leader. Hamid argues that a new presidential advisory office that includes the opposition must be created that the U.S. can work with. The Washington Post's Jackson Diehl argues that the U.S. should support the replacement of Mubarak with a transitional government led by ElBaradei. He feels that if elections are held off for six months to a year while a new constitution is written, this would undermine the Brotherhood. "Given time to establish themselves, secular forces backed by Egypt's growing middle class are likely to rise to the top in those elections--not the Islamists that Mubarak portrays as the only alternative," Diehl writes. However, a poll last year shows strong support for an Islamist agenda. Over 80 percent support stoning adulterers; over three-fourths support whippings and the cutting off the hands of those that commit robbery; 84 percent favor the death penalty for apostates and 59 percent would vote for "Islamists" over "modernizers," who would get only 27 percent of the vote. One-fifth express a favorable view of Al-Qaeda, 30 percent view Hezbollah favorably, and 49 percent view Hamas favorably. The other problem with Diehl's analysis is that the opposition coalition has not stated how long of a period there would be before elections. The Brotherhood would push for a minimal delay so its opponents could not organize effectively. ElBaradei has tried to ease concerns about his alliance with the Brotherhood by estimating they would only have the support of "maybe 20 percent of the Egyptian people." This is unlikely given the results of the aforementioned poll, but even if it were true, the Brotherhood would still be in a position to have a significant say over the direction of the government. The decision by the Brotherhood to rally behind ElBaradei is a trick to win power without bringing scrutiny that could derail its agenda. El-Baradei may not share the Brotherhood's ideology, but his advent will empower the group and he will make Egypt an opponent of the U.S. and Israel and a friend to their enemies. With Hezbollah taking over Lebanon and Mubarak likely on his way out in Egypt, the balance of power has shifted in favor of Iran and its Islamist allies. The pro-American Arab regimes may feel they have to cave to Iran after having lost their powerful Egyptian ally. The fall of the Mubarak regime may pave the way for a Middle East whose future is dictated from Tehran.
Egypt Protests: ElBaradei Tells Crowd 'Change Coming'
(BBC) -- Leading Egyptian opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei has joined thousands of protesters in Cairo defying a curfew to demand President Mubarak stand down. Addressing the crowd in Tahrir (Liberation) Square, the Nobel peace prize winner urged patience, saying "change is coming". In a tense sixth day of protests, the army sent tanks into the square only to see them blocked by demonstrators. Air force jets and a helicopter repeatedly flew low over the square. "You have taken back your rights and what we have begun cannot go back," Mr ElBaradei told the crowd. "I bow to the people of Egypt in respect. I ask of you patience, change is coming in the next few days." Mr ElBaradei has been asked by opposition groups to negotiate with the authorities on forming a national unity government. However, the BBC's Jim Muir in Cairo said the former UN official did not attract the attention of the whole crowd, which contained other political factions. Embattled President Hosni Mubarak earlier met top commanders during a visit to a military headquarters. Over the weekend, US President Barack Obama made a number of calls to foreign leaders to discuss the situation in Egypt, the White House said. A statement said Mr Obama had spoken to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia and British Prime Minister David Cameron. He asked them for their assessment of the situation and agreed to stay in close contact, it said. Mr Cameron's office said he and Mr Obama were "united in their view that Egypt now needed a comprehensive process of political reform". Echoing an earlier US statement, a spokesman for Mr Cameron said the two leaders wanted to see an "orderly, Egyptian-led transition" leading to a democratic future for Egypt. Mr ElBaradei, however, has said Washington is losing credibility by talking of democracy while still supporting a president viewed by Egyptians as oppressive. The BBC's Jeremy Bowen, in Tahrir Square, said the arrival of a column of tanks and the sound of jets roaring overhead significantly raised the tension among the crowds. In Cairo on Sunday, there was no sign of the riot police with whom protesters have clashed violently in recent days, although state television said they were being ordered back on to the streets. Late Sunday night, state television also reported that the 1600 (1400 GMT) curfew - which has been widely ignored - would be extended in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez to run from 1500 to 0800. Clashes are reported to have left at least 100 people dead since rallies began on Tuesday in cities including Cairo, Suez and Alexandria. Thousands more have been injured. Although Sunday is the start of the working week in the Middle East, many businesses in Cairo remained closed and internet access is still intermittent. In Alexandria, in the north, the BBC's John Simpson said more protests were being held there and the army was out in force. In the capital, citizens have formed armed groups to protect their property from looters. Across the country, thousands of prisoners are reported to have escaped from jails after overpowering their guards. They are said to include senior members of the Muslim Brotherhood - the largest opposition group in Egypt. On Sunday, a number of Egyptian political movements issued a joint statement calling on Mr ElBaradei to form a transitional government. The Muslim Brotherhood is also reported to have asked him to negotiate with Mr Mubarak's regime. Mr ElBaradei, a former head of the UN's nuclear watchdog, is a leading advocate for political reform and a likely challenger for Egypt's presidency. Correspondents say that although he has become a leading figurehead of the opposition, protesters have not yet called for him to be their leader. President Mubarak, in an attempt to regain control, has appointed a vice-president - intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. Aviation Minister Ahmed Shafiq has been appointed prime minister. The US embassy in Cairo said on Sunday it would begin flying Americans out of Egypt on Monday. It had earlier advised US citizens in Egypt to consider leaving as soon as possible. The UK is advising its nationals in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez to leave if it is safe for them to do so. A number of other European countries have also advised against visiting the country. The unrest in Egypt follows the uprising in Tunisia which ousted President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali two weeks ago after 23 years in power. The Tunisian turmoil began with anger over rising food prices, high unemployment and anger at official corruption - problems which have also angered many people in Egypt.
Egypt's Armed Forces: 'No Violence' Against the People
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- As anti-government demonstrations persist across Egypt and the country's military firmly puts its boots on the ground to establish order, the army said it won't deploy "violence" against the people. A military spokesman said on state TV Monday that "freedom of opinion in a peaceful manner is allowed for all" and the "armed forces are aware of the legitimate demands of the honest citizens." "The presence of the armed forces in the Egyptian streets is for your benefit to protect your safety and peace," said the spokesman for the army, which has been regarded favorably by many protesters who despise the police and see that institution as an ally. The armed forces "will not use violence against this great people which have always played a significant role in every moment of Egypt's great history. And we reassure the armed forces are a force of stability and security for this great nation. The protection of the people is one of its core values," the spokesman said. This statement comes as activists in Cairo, Alexandria and other restive Egyptian cities robustly took to the streets in peaceful rallies Monday and a major outpouring is planned for Tuesday. They protested the rule of embattled Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, who remains in power despite repeated grassroots calls for his ouster and widespread dissatisfaction over his Cabinet selections. And many observers regard the seething rage of the past week as the calm before the storm. Egyptians plan another huge wave of demonstrations on Tuesday, so-called "million-man" marches in Cairo and Alexandria that will occur a week after the historic anti-government protests began. Egyptian security forces in Cairo have been setting up concrete barriers around key locations ahead of the march, including iconic sites such as Tahrir, or Liberation, Square, the Egypt State TV building and the Interior Ministry. The ongoing demonstrations, inspired in part by a Tunisian uprising, follow years of social, political and economic grievances that bubbled up among the citizenry. Fed up with years of corruption, poverty and lack of opportunity, masses of people have boldly shouted their displeasure with Mubarak in public protests. After ruling Egypt with an iron fist for three decades, Mubarak has given no indication of giving up his rule. He swore in a few new Cabinet members on Monday. After discharging his previous Cabinet on Saturday, Mubarak appointed his trusted and powerful intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, as his vice president, the first time the authoritarian regime has had such a post. The president charged newly appointed Prime Minister Ahmed Shafiq with shaping the Cabinet of his reshuffled government, which will have the goal of restoring national security and Egyptians' faith in their country's economy. Mubarak on Monday swore in Mahmoud Wagdy as the new interior minister. He replaces Habib el-Adly, who has been criticized by protesters because of police actions. Others sworn in on Monday were Finance Minister Samir Radwan, a former economist at the International Labor Organization, and Health Minister Ahmed Hosni Farid. Radwan told CNN's "Quest Means Business" that his priority is "to show that this is a government that responds to the demands -- the fair demands, I would say -- of the people in Tahrir Square." "We need to use public expenditure to achieve some sort of social justice and a better distribution of the fruits of growth, as to the bottom 40% of this country." At the same time, he said, Egypt shouldn't sacrifice economic reforms and gains "that enabled it to stand the storm of two successive crises -- the food crisis and the financial crisis." Meanwhile, there are international indications that the world could accept a changed Egypt without Mubarak. Asked Sunday on TV whether the Obama administration still backs Mubarak as the legitimate president of Egypt, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton hedged. "We have been very clear that we want to see a transition to democracy. And we want to see the kind of steps taken that will bring that about. We also want to see an orderly transition," she said. She said the United States wants to see a "well-thought-out plan that will bring about a democratic, participatory government." "I also believe that this is in Egypt's long-term interests. It's in the interest of the partnership that the United States has had with Egypt," she said, noting that the situation is "intensely complex," without "quick yes or no answers." While it was widely believed Mubarak was grooming his son, Gamal, as his successor, that plan now has been complicated by demands for democracy. Mohamed ElBaradei, the Nobel laureate and former head of the International Atomic Energy Agency, is one of several opposition figures whose names surface when protesters talk about possible future leaders of Egypt. Among other names is Amre Moussa, head of the Arab League. Several opposition movements have been represented on the streets in the demonstrations. Mounir Fakhry Abdel Nour, secretary-general of the Wafd Party, told CNN the group's followers have been "extremely active." He said he hopes opposition forces such as his party can help bring about a peaceful transition of power. A government-imposed curfew began at 3 p.m., but this daily restriction has been largely ignored by protesters over the past few days, and it was again Monday. In Alexandria, an armored personnel carrier fired warning shots as about 2,000 to 3,000 people gathered. The shots were seen as an apparent effort to intimidate protesters near a hotel. In Cairo, the crowd has swelled compared with Saturday and Sunday, and people gathered Monday in Tahrir Square, a focal point of the protests. Some of them said they had spent the night. The smell of smoke from campfires lingered in the air. Police have been virtually absent from the streets since Saturday, after a brutal crackdown a day earlier when thousands of riot and plainclothes police clashed violently with protesters. But police forces were scheduled to start deploying and resuming their duties throughout Egypt on Monday, state-run Nile TV reported. Human Rights Watch researcher Heba Morayef said the army is controlling the square and checking people's IDs at all entry points. She said there are some police visible in Cairo, such as traffic officers, but no state security police could be spotted downtown. While it's difficult to ascertain a solid death toll during the violence, Human Rights Watch staffers have confirmed 80 deaths from two hospitals in Cairo, 36 deaths in Alexandria and 13 fatalities in Suez, Morayef said. The unrest has paralyzed daily life in Egypt. Many essential supplies are running low, said Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch emergencies director. Gas stations throughout Cairo and Alexandria were closing because they were out of fuel. The amount of goods in shops were low and many were rationing how much food people could buy. The Egyptian stock exchange and banks were closed Monday, and the Moody's ratings agency downgraded debt ratings for the country because of the turmoil. There were long lines in front of bread shops and supermarkets, ATMs and gas stations were closed, and there was a minimal police presence. In one neighborhood of Cairo, however, sanitation workers were seen collecting garbage. In Alexandria, people waited in long lines outside bakeries and supermarkets. Nile TV set up a hotline for citizens to call in and report bread shortages across the country. A private sanitation company was seen collecting trash there, also. Shops and businesses were looted and abandoned police stations were stripped clean of their arsenals. Men with makeshift weapons patrolled neighborhoods, creating checkpoints to fill the void left when police stopped patrolling the streets. The self-appointed defense groups appear to be working closely with the military. There have been reports of prison breaks, and state-run Nile TV said Monday nearly 2,100 escaped inmates had been arrested. Al-Jazeera, the Qatar-based news network, said six of its journalists arrested in Cairo earlier Monday have been released, but their camera equipment remains seized. The unrest has prompted evacuations of foreigners. More than 500 Americans have departed on five flights, the State Department said. A team of heavily armed Marine Corps security personnel have been sent to the U.S. Embassy in Cairo to provide additional security for the facility, defense officials tell CNN. The dozen or so Marines are part of a Fleet Antiterrorism Security Team. Suez Canal authorities have said operations there are unchanged and the army is in control. However, shipping companies are predicting delays. Soldiers are guarding the pyramids in Giza. Meanwhile, the popular uprising that toppled the Tunisian government before spreading into Algeria, Jordan, Yemen, Sudan and, of course, Egypt, may now be headed for Syria. Opposition movements in Syria are calling for mass protests on Saturday against the rule of President Bashar Al-Assad.
Dictatorships and Revolutions
The pressure in Egypt has been building for a long time and has now finally exploded -- inspired by the events in Tunisia. The fact that the Egyptian government has been taken by surprise is a sign of how disconnected the regime has become from the reality on the ground. Mubarak has wasted many opportunities to transfer power to another administration peacefully. He could have gone down in history as the first Arab leader to conduct a fair election, but instead, he kept ignoring the inevitable and kept re-electing himself for 30 years, followed by grooming his son to take over. Now he will go down in history as just another Arab tyrant in the dysfunctional political history of the Muslim world. Having been born and raised in the Muslim faith during the generation of the 1952 Egyptian revolution, in which my father held a prominent role in the Nasser revolutionary government of that time, I see things repeating themselves. The Nasser 52 revolution promised freedom, democracy, Arab Nationalism and self-rule. Nasser toppled what he called the tyrant King Farouk, promised a new era of freedom, democracy and prosperity, but ended up giving Egyptians more of the same. The era of Nasser was one of the most oppressive periods in Egyptian history, ushering in a long period of wars, socialism, poverty, illiteracy, and a police state. Judging from Arab history, revolutions do not necessarily bring about democracy or freedom. Will the current Egyptian uprising bring what it was intending to bring? Or will it end up in a vicious cycle of uprising and tyranny following the footsteps of the earlier 52 revolution? In a recent poll, over 70% of Egyptians stated that they want to live under Sharia Islamic law. And most of these people do not understand that Sharia law will result not in a democracy but in a theocracy like Iran or Saudi Arabia. That unrealistic expectation by the majority of Egyptians will probably end up in a great disappointment -- the same way the Iranian revolution could not deliver the freedom and democracy the Iranian people had hoped for. Many Egyptians chant "Allahu Akbar" and "Islam is the solution." But the truth is, Islam or more accurately, Sharia, is the problem. The Muslim Brotherhood, which is entrenched in Egyptian society, has announced that it is currently in talks with Mohammed ElBaradei -- the former UN nuclear watchdog chief -- to form a national unity government. They have chosen to ally themselves with a well known moderate international figure which might make them more acceptable to the moderates and reformists in Egypt. The Muslim Brotherhood will use the democratic process to come to power but the true nature of the Brotherhood will come out as soon as they take power. According to their basic beliefs, they must rule according to Sharia, which is the official law of Egypt anyway. Perhaps the most dangerous law in Sharia that stands in the way of democracy is the one that states that "A Muslim head of State can hold office through seizure of power, meaning through force." That law is the reason every Muslim leader must turn into a despotic tyrant to survive, literally. When a Muslim leader is removed from office by force, we often see the Islamic media and masses accept it and even cheer for the new leader who has just ousted or killed the former leader, who is often called a traitor to the Islamic cause. Sadat's assassination followed many fatwas of death against him for having violated his Islamic obligations to make Israel an eternal enemy. He became an apostate in the eyes of the hard-liners and had to be killed or removed from office. This probably sounds incredible to the Western mind, but this is the reality of what Sharia has done and is still doing to the political chaos in the Muslim world. Westerners often described the Mubarak administration as secular when in reality it is not. It is true that Mubarak comes from a military background and neither he nor his wife wear Islamic clothes. But no Muslim leader can get away with or even survive one day in office if he is secular in the true sense of the word. It was during Mubarak's rule in 1991 that Egypt signed the Cairo Declaration for Human Rights stating that Sharia supersedes any other law. So even though Sharia is not 100% applied in Egypt, it is officially the law of the land. Mubarak, like all Muslim leaders, must appease the Islamists to avoid their wrath. According to Sharia itself, a Muslim head of state must rule by Islamic law and preserve Islam in its original form or he must be removed from office. That law leaves no choice for any Muslim leader. Because of that law Muslim leaders must play a game of appearing Islamic and anti-West while trying to get along with the rest of the world. It's a game with life and death consequences. The choice in Egypt is not between good and bad, it is between bad and worse. Many in the Muslim world lack the understanding of what is hindering them as well as a lack of a moral and legal foundation for forming a stable democratic political system. I fear that my brothers and sisters in Egypt will end up embracing extremism instead of true democracy and thus will continue to rise and fall, stumble from one revolution to another and living under one tyrant to another looking for the ideal Islamic state that never was. The 1400 year-old Islamic history of tyranny will continue unless Sharia is rejected as the basis of the legal or political systems in Muslim countries. Sharia must be rejected if Egyptians want true democracy and freedom.

009 01-31-2011 The Middle East's Intifada
Now that the Muslim Brotherhood has begun talks with opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei to form a national unity government after the fall of Mubarak, which apparently all concerned expect to be imminent, the character of the Egyptian revolution has become clearer. Whether or not the majority of demonstrators were pro-Sharia, the Brotherhood was the sole entity in Egypt capable of constituting an organized and energized vanguard that could put an ideological cast on the rapidly unfolding revolt. And so Egypt now stands on the brink of installing in power a group that wants to see it become an Islamic state. Many Western analysts have welcomed the demonstrations currently roiling Tunisia, Egypt, and elsewhere in the Middle East as an outpouring of democratic sentiment against repressive authoritarian rulers -- and that they are. But it is no coincidence that Islamic supremacist pro-Sharia leaders and groups are also applauding these demonstrations. They know that if the people truly rule in the Middle East, so will Islamic law (Sharia). For belying the widespread assumption in the West that Islamic supremacists, whether violent or stealthy, represent only a tiny minority of extremists among Muslims, in reality the imperative for Islamic rule (which is also the ultimate goal of jihad terror attacks) enjoys broad popular support among Muslims. It thus came as no surprise that when Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali was toppled from power and fled to Saudi Arabia, Rached Ghannouchi, the London-based leader of the banned Tunisian pro-Sharia party, the Tunisian Renaissance Party (Hizb al-Nahdah), quickly dubbed the Tunisian uprising an "intifada," claimed it as a victory for Islam, and returned to the country. In Egypt, opposition leader Mohamed ElBaradei, who has the backing of the pro-Sharia Muslim Brotherhood, adopted the same language, warning that "if the regime does not step down, the people's Intifada will continue." The word intifada in Arabic signifies resistance to oppression, but in this case the oppression that Ghannouchi and others, possibly including ElBaradei, had in mind was clearly that of secular rule and the failure of Ben Ali, Mubarak and other Arab rulers to implement Islamic law fully. The internationally influential Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi, head of the International Union of Muslim Scholars, also applauded the demonstrations; a website linked to him last week posted a chapter of his 2009 book Laws of Jihad, including this passage: "The laws of Islam instruct us to… oppose the tyrant… All types of oppression [including] of subjects and peoples by their rulers -- are reprehensible and forbidden, and jihad must be waged against them." In Iran, the Ayatollah Mohammad-Taghi Mesbah-Yazdi claimed that the Iranian Islamic Revolution was the model for the new demonstrations: "Today, as a result of the gifts of the Islamic revolution in Iran, freedom-loving Islamic peoples such as the peoples of Tunisia, Egypt and nearby Arab countries are standing up to their oppressive governments." He praised the Egyptian demonstrators, asserting that what they were doing was "based on the principles" of revolution that installed the Islamic regime in Tehran in 1979. Likewise, when the demonstrations first began in Tunisia, pro-Sharia MP's in Kuwait applauded "the courage of the Tunisian people," and Abdelmalek Deroukdal, a leader of Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, hailed the revolution as a jihad and expressed solidarity with the Tunisians. In Gaza, the jihadist groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad were both thrilled at events in Tunisia. Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri hailed the victory for democracy, and Gaza Foreign Minister Fathi Hammad emphasized that "we are with the Tunisians in choosing their leaders, no matter what sacrifices it takes." Islamic Jihad praised the Tunisian people for liberating themselves "through blood, sacrifices and the expression of free will," adding ominously that the toppling of Ben Ali was "a message to Arab and Islamic countries to pay attention to the aspirations of their people that are rejecting hegemony and tyranny before it is too late." Islamic Jihad held a rally in Gaza City, featuring hundreds of jihadists waving Tunisian flags festooned with the words "Revenge against tyranny." With Islamic supremacism comes Islamic anti-Semitism, and that abundantly true in the case of these demonstrations. Islamic Jihad spokesman Dawud Shehab sounded a drearily familiar note in accusing the Ben Ali regime of maintaining "suspicious ties" with Israel. In Egypt, meanwhile, demonstrators toted signs depicting Hosni Mubarak with a Star of David drawn on his forehead. CNN's Nic Robertson, interviewing demonstrators on a street in Alexandria, Egypt, found several who explained that they hated Mubarak for the uneasy peace he maintained with Israel. "Israel is our enemy," one said flatly, explaining why she wanted Mubarak to go. Another added, "If people are free, they're gonna destroy Israel. The country who controls the United States is Israel." Iran's PressTV interviewed a lawyer, Marwan al-Ashaal, in Cairo; al-Ashaal also ascribed much of the popular resentment of Mubarak to his non-belligerence toward Israel: "Currently the Egyptians demand a new rule for the country, a new government, a new leader. The American-Egyptian relationships were based on Israeli security and I think Mubarak has been very dedicated to Israeli security more even than to his own people's security or the national interests." The Iranians, Qaradawi and other Islamic supremacist pro-Sharia elements are excited about the events in Tunisia and Egypt because of the great unacknowledged truth about the Islamic world in general: that Islamic jihadists and pro-Sharia forces, far from being the "tiny minority of extremists" of media myth, are actually quite popular. Any genuine democratic uprising is likely to install them in power. That's why they're hailing recent events in Tunisia and Egypt. That is also why all lovers of freedom should view those events with extreme reserve -- for a Sharia government in either country will be no friend of the United States. If these uprisings continue to spread (there have already been rumblings in Jordan and Yemen), an already hostile anti-American environment could become much, much worse. All this yet again demonstrates the crying need for realistic analysis in Washington of the jihad threat, rather than the fantasy-based analysis that prevails there now. If Washington had been working to limit the influence of pro-Sharia forces in Egypt and elsewhere, events unfolding now might be very different. But it is rapidly becoming too late.
Date With a Revolution
Cairo -- On Friday, the "day of rage," I was in the streets with the protesters. Friends and I participated in a peaceful demonstration that started at the Amr Ibn al-As Mosque in Old Cairo near the Church of St. George. We set off chanting, "The people want the regime to fall!" and we were greeted with a torrent of tear gas fired by the police. We began to shout, "Peaceful, Peaceful," trying to show the police that we were not hostile, we were demanding nothing but our liberty. That only increased their brutality. Fighting began to spread to the side streets in the ancient, largely Coptic neighborhood. A friend and I took shelter in a small alleyway, where we were warmly welcomed. The locals warned us not to try to escape to the metro station, and pointed us toward a different escape route; many of them even joined the protests. Eventually, a man drove us in his own car to safety. Clearly, the scent of Tunisia's "jasmine revolution" has quickly reached Egypt. Following the successful expulsion in Tunis of the dictator Zine el-Abidine Ben Ali, the call arose on Facebook for an Egyptian revolution, to begin on Jan. 25. Yet the public here mocked those young people who had taken to Twitter and Facebook to post calls for protest: Since when was the spark of revolution ignited on a pre-planned date? Had revolution become like a romantic rendezvous? Such questions abounded on social networking sites; but even cynics -- myself included -- became hopeful as the calls continued to circulate. In the blink of an eye, the Twitter and Facebook generation had successfully rallied hundreds of thousands to its cause, across the nation. Most of them were young people who had not been politically active, and did not belong to the traditional circles of the political opposition. The Muslim Brotherhood is not behind this popular revolution, as the regime claims. Those who began it and organized it are seething in anger at police cruelty and the repression and torture meted out by the Hosni Mubarak regime. And, from the outset, the government decided to deal with the people with the utmost violence and brutality in the hope that the Tunisian experience would not be repeated. For days now, tear gas has been the oxygen Egyptians have inhaled. So much was in the air that there are reports of small children and the elderly having suffocated on the fumes in their homes. The security forces in Cairo started by shooting rubber bullets at the protesters, before progressing onto live ammunition, ending dozens of lives. In Suez, where the demonstrations have been tremendously violent, live ammunition was used against civilians from the first day. A friend of mine who lives there sent me a message saying that, Thursday morning, the city looked as if it had emerged from a particularly brutal war: its streets were burned and destroyed, dead bodies were strewn everywhere; we would never know how many victims had fallen to the police bullets in Suez, my friend solemnly concluded. After having escaped from Old Cairo on Friday, my friends and I headed for Tahrir Square, the focal point of the modern city and site of the largest protests. We joined another demonstration making its way through downtown, consisting mostly of young people. From a distance, we could hear the rumble of the protest in Tahrir Square, punctuated by the sounds of bullets and screams. Minute by painstaking minute, we protesters were gaining ground, and our numbers were growing. People shared Coca-Cola bottles, moistening their faces with soda to avoid the effects of tear gas. Some people wore masks, while others had sprinkled vinegar into their kaffiyehs. Shopkeepers handed out bottles of mineral water to the protesters, and civilians distributed food periodically. Women and children leaned from windows and balconies, chanting with the dissidents. I will never forget the sight of an aristocratic woman driving through the narrow side streets in her luxurious car, urging the protesters to keep up their spirits, telling them that they would soon be joined by tens of thousands of other citizens arriving from different parts of the city. After several failed attempts to break through the security checkpoints and get to Tahrir Square, we sat in a cafe to rest. Three officers from the regime's Central Security Forces, all in civilian clothing, sat down next to us. They appeared to be completely relaxed, as though they were impervious to the sounds of bullets and shouting, or to the numbers of wounded and dead Egyptians being reported on Al Jazeera, which was being broadcast on the coffee shop's television. They and their colleagues were all over the city, spying on their countrymen. Hour by hour on Friday evening, the chaos increased. Police stations and offices of the ruling National Democratic Party were on fire across the country. I wept when news came that 3,000 volunteers had formed a human chain around the national museum to protect it from looting and vandalism. Those who do such things are certainly highly educated, cultivated people, neither vandals nor looters, as they are accused of being by those who have vandalized and looted Egypt for generations. The curfew meant that I couldn't return home, so I spent the night at a friend's house near the Parliament building and Interior Ministry, one of the most turbulent parts of the city. That night, the sound of bullets was unceasing. We watched from the window as police shot with impunity at the protesters and at a nearby gas station, hoping, perhaps, for an explosion. Despite all of this and despite the curfew, the demonstrations did not stop, fueled by popular fury at President Mubarak's slowness to address the people and, a few hours later, indignation at the deplorable speech he finally gave. On Saturday morning, I left my friend's house and headed home. I walked across broken glass strewn in the streets, and I could smell the aftermath of the fires that had raged the night before. The army, called in by the regime to put down the protests, was everywhere. I tried first to cross over to Tahrir Square, in order to see for myself whether the museum was safe. A passer-by told me that the army was forbidding people from entering the square, and that shots were being fired. I asked him, anxiously, "Is the army shooting at the demonstrators?" He answered, confidently: "Of course not. The Egyptian army has never fired a shot against an Egyptian citizen, and will not do so now." We both openly expressed our wish for that to be true, for the army to side with the people. NOW that army troops were monitoring the demonstrations, the police force had completely disappeared from the streets, as if to taunt people with the choice between their presence and chaos. Armed gangs have mushroomed across the city, seeking to loot shops and terrorize civilians in their homes. (Saturday night, a gang tried to rob the building where I have been staying, but was unable to break in.) Local volunteers have formed committees to stand up to the criminals, amidst an overwhelming feeling that the ruling regime is deliberately stoking chaos. Late Saturday, as I headed toward Corniche Street on the Nile River, I walked through a side street in the affluent Garden City neighborhood, where I found a woman crying. I asked her what was wrong, and she told me that her son, a worker at a luxury hotel, had been shot in the throat by a police bullet, despite not being a part of the demonstrations. He was now lying paralyzed in a hospital bed, and she was on her way to the hotel to request medical leave for him. I embraced her, trying to console her, and she said through her tears, "We cannot be silent about what has happened. Silence is a crime. The blood of those who fell cannot be wasted." I agree. Silence is a crime. Even if the regime continues to bombard us with bullets and tear gas, continues to block Internet access and cut off our mobile phones, we will find ways to get our voices across to the world, to demand freedom and justice.
Call to Stop Attacks on Christians Welcomed
(ACN) -- An international Catholic charity that helps persecuted Christians has welcomed calls by the European Parliament to step up action to defend religious freedom. The ACN International statement welcoming the European Parliament's resolution comes ahead of Monday's (31st Jan) discussion in the EU Foreign Affairs Council about stepping up measures to promote religious liberty. Council members are expected to debate the impact of incidents detailed in the EU Parliament's resolution including the bomb attack on Coptic Christians in Egypt on New Year's Day, the bombing of a chapel in the Philippines on Christmas Day, the arrests of Christians in Iran and attacks on Christians in Nigeria. Members of the European Parliament also expressed horror at the January 4th murder of Pakistani governor Salman Taseer, who had criticised the country's blasphemy laws and called for the reprieve of Asia Bibi, a Christian woman sentenced to death in November. She was convicted under the laws that punish anyone who "defiles the sacred name of the Holy Prophet Mohammed" with life imprisonment or death. She denies the charges. Parliamentarians expressed concern that Pakistan's blasphemy laws are "still being applied in order to persecute faith communities, including Christians". ACN International's 2010 report on Religious Freedom in the World was one of the sources of the resolution. ACN will shortly be publishing its biennial report* on the oppression of Christians -- Persecuted and Forgotten? Catherine Ashton, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, condemned the recent terrorist attacks targeting places of worship, in a statement on 19th January. She said: "I think we can all agree that these attacks are unacceptable, perpetrated by extremists with an agenda of intolerance that must be condemned and resisted." "Long-established Christian communities in the Middle East face difficulties, which have led to significant displacement in some countries and dwindling numbers in the region as a whole. "The EU will not turn a blind eye to their plight. We consider their demand to have their rights respected as citizens of their own country as entirely legitimate." This was echoed by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe which adopted 17 points on "Violence against Christians in the Middle East" on 27th January. The assembly specifically condemned the 31st October 2010 attack on the Syriac Cathedral in Baghdad, Iraq and the New Year bombing of the church in Alexandria, Egypt. The assembly stated: "The situation [in the Middle East] has become more serious since the beginning of the 21st century and if it is not properly addressed, it could lead to the disappearance of Christian communities in the Middle East, which would entail the loss of a significant part of the religious heritage of the countries concerned."