Tag: egypt

Blood money

Israel, U.S. formally sign new defense agreement – Haaretz

Israel and the United States signed Thursday the Memorandum of Understanding on the new American defense package for Israel. Under the new aid agreement, the U.S. will transfer $30 billion to Israel over 10 years, compared with $24 billion over the past decade.

Israel is slated to receive the first pay out in October 2008, amounting to $2.550 billion. That sum will grow each year by $150 million, until it reaches $3.1 billion in 2011.

In addition, the agreement permits Israel to convert into shekels 26.3 percent of the aid money, thereby enabling it to procure defense equipment from Israeli companies. The rest of the aid must be used to purchase equipment from American military industries.

That last part, about being able to purchase from Israeli companies, shows the extent to which the lobby works in favor of Israel, not the United States. Most military aid deals, while they may have valid strategic or diplomatic reasons, are supported in Congress because they generate business for the armaments industry and create jobs and economic activity in a wide range of states. That is probably the most important facet of the recent $20 billion aid program for Arab Gulf states. But in this case, American taxpayer money is not even going to be spent on American firms, with a sizable chunk going instead to Israel’s military-industrial complex, one of the backbones of the occupation.

Incidentally, the fact that this agreement went through today meant that Egypt has already agreed to the changes in ratio in US military aid to Cairo and Tel Aviv. When was this done? When Omar Suleiman went to DC several weeks ago, separately from Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit? When Condoleeza Rice was in Sharm al-Sheikh as part of her military aid tour? Egyptians, you can ask yourself why your government has not told you that the Camp David agreement was amended.

Introducing Hatshepsut

This is a (very long overdue) announcement that the Arabist family has added another member. Please check out the blog Hatshepsut, which has been up and running for some time now, waiting to be officially unveiled. It contains some gems.

Hatshepsut is dedicated to covering women’s rights and issues, the history of feminism in Egypt, and pretty much anything else that strikes Hatshepsut’s interest. While the (male-dominated) writers on the main Arabist blog have occasionally reported on women’s issues, I have to admit that this hasn’t been a strong suit of the blog and having someone dedicated to these issues (and with a journalistic and academic interest in them) is, in my opinion, a great and hopefully useful step.

Please check out the archives, whether to scan the mini-biographies of notable and injustly forgotten Egyptian women (where you can also find out about the queen that this blog is named after); to read one of the many strange or insightful conversations Hatshepsut has overheard in Cairo; or to hear from Hatshepsut herself about what life for a young woman in Cairo is like.

This is the first step in making some wider changes to Arabist.net. More news soon.

Discontented Egyptians – what consequence?

A summer of discontents | Economist.com: For the last year or so it’s been social unrest after social unrest, and this story covers the situation well. What’s surprising (or perhaps not) is that despite the high prices, poor services, widespread discontent, not only is there little sign of any meaningful political change (aside from those rumors of a cabinet shuffle) but that Egypt’s political future is still as hazy as ever. Also read Baheyya on this – several recent posts touch on this point, in which she takes a slow gradual view of things.

Also, kudos to The Economist again last week for being the only major Western publication (as far as I saw) to note, when covering the recent US arms-deal funding bonanza, that the increase in military aid being given to Israel would be subject to negotiation with Egypt since the ratio of Egyptian to Israeli military aid is supposed to be set in the Camp David agreement (this of course excludes other forms of aid to Israel, such as loan guarantees.)

Shehata & Stacher: Boxing in the Brothers

Our friends Samer Shehata and Joshua Stacher have a new piece on the Muslim Brotherhood’s relationship with the Egyptian regime at MERIP. It’s a thorough overview of the last two years of mounting repression against the MB, tracking down the post-parliamentary election crackdown, the Fall 2006 labor and student election crackdown, the “Ikhwan Militia” scandal, the arrest of senior leaders such as Khairat al-Shatir, the constitutional changes, and more. A kind of Chatham House version for Islamist politics in 2006-2007, if you will. Their conclusion of where this is heading:

The Mubarak regime is intent upon remaking the rules governing the Brotherhood’s participation in formal politics. Just as the 2005 parliamentary elections placed the Brotherhood on the national stage, the regime’s current moves aim to put the Brothers back in their box. If the reinstatement of military trials and seizure of assets were warnings of worse to come, the Brothers appear to have gotten the message. As Muhammad al-Baltagi notes, “They are saying, ‘If you back down from your strong political participation, then it’s over. If you persist, then this will persist.’” In this sense, the Brotherhood is a victim of its own success — the unexpected breakthrough in the 2005 parliamentary elections and subsequent prominence in Egyptian public life has led the regime to step up its harassment.

. . .

Intensified repression notwithstanding, the Muslim Brotherhood is unlikely to exit Egyptian political life. Indeed, the very fact that the group fielded 19 candidates in the June elections for the upper house of Parliament indicates that the organization will continue its participation in formal politics. The group is adjusting to a new reality, however. As Habib stated in April, “We will continue to work according to our agenda but the tactics will be different…. The repression is as strong and as annoying as in the 1960s and the 1990s but now they [the regime] are much smarter and plan better. They know better where to hit us.”

Among these smarter regime sanctions are the severe financial measures aimed at the organization’s ability to provide social services, which many believe to be the backbone of the Brotherhood’s popular support. Seizing the assets of major financiers such as Khayrat al-Shatir might discourage others from funding the organization. The measures could also have been intended to drain the Brotherhood’s campaign coffers before the June elections (in addition to blackening the group’s image). Yet the impoundment of individual members’ accounts and the effort to normalize the use of military courts bespeak a more enduring strategy of containment.

Appeal court fines prominent poet for insulting religious extremist

IFEX : Appeal court fines prominent poet for insulting religious extremist:

The Southern Cairo court stipulated 8 August 2007 as the date for selling Hegazi’s home furniture in order to put into effect the court ruling, after Hegazi refused to pay the money, preferring his home furniture be sold.

This ruling, in an insult lawsuit brought forward by al Badri in 2003, is the latest in a series of lawsuits by al Badri against various writers, thinker and poets, sometimes in the form of a “hesba” (insult to God) case, and on other occasions as an insult case.

Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid was among the victims of sheikh al Badri in the famous case of 1993-1994, which resulted in a court ruling divorcing Abu Zaid from his wife. While Abu Zaid immigrated to the Netherlands after the court ruling, writers and thinkers continue to be brought before the court; many of those cases are raised by the sheikh. Other cases brought by the sheikh against other writers, thinkers and poets are still in court.

I mentioned this case a few days ago but thought it was worth repeating. If any reader hears of what happened today please leave a comment.

Hamas’s intelligence tour-de-force

I mean to post this days ago. For those who missed it or don’t have a WSJ subscription, this Wall Street Journal piece on intelligence files seized from the Fatah security apparatus in Gaza by Hamas is a must-read. I am providing a PDF copy of it here. Excerpt:

Some of the most potentially explosive claims from Hamas center on the alleged activities beyond the Gaza Strip of Palestinian agents loyal to Fatah. Mr. Hayya alleged the CIA utilized Palestinian agents for covert intelligence operations in other Middle Eastern countries. Hamas, he said, now possesses a roadmap detailing the names and actions of “those men whom thought were going to continue to be their hand across the region.”

Some former U.S. intelligence officials who worked closely with the Palestinian Authority confirmed that such overseas spying arrangements beyond Gaza existed with the Palestinians in the past and said they likely continued, bolstering the credibility of Hamas’s claims.

Whitley Bruner, a longtime CIA officer in the Middle East, recalled that “some of our first really good information on [Osama] bin Laden in Sudan” in the early 1990s “came from Palestinian sources.” Before leaving the agency in 1997, Mr. Bruner participated in many of the first cooperative sessions organized by Mr. Tenet between the CIA and the Palestinians.

“It’s not unlikely that continued to do things for the U.S. well beyond the territories,” Mr. Bruner said. “Palestinians are embedded all over the place, so they have access to things that the U.S. doesn’t.”

Within three-four days of the takeover, rumors emerged in the Arabic press that Hamas officials had presented contact in Egyptian intelligence officials with a bunch of dossiers detailing the Dahlan-run spying operations against Egypt. Some of that information may include all kinds of embarrassing material — info on senior regime officials, documentation of military personnel’s involvement in smuggling operations, who knows. One has to wonder (with the caveat that this is pure guesswork, I am not privy to any intelligence that is not in the public record) whether this contributed to the noticeable change of tone of Egyptian officials, including Hosni Mubarak, after the initial shock of the takeover. And to Dahlan’s recent removal as Palestinian National Security Chief. Even if half of what is alleged by Hamas officials is true, then an important intelligence-gathering network has been blown (and the intelligence could end up in the hands of all kinds of people afterwards, starting with the Iranians.)

Christian convert seeks recognition in Egypt

Christian convert seeks recognition in Egypt:

CAIRO (AFP) – An Egyptian who converted from Islam to Christianity has launched a bid to have the change recognised officially in what is believed to be the first such case, he told AFP on Thursday.

Coptic rights group the Al-Kalima Centre brought the case on behalf of Mohammed Ahmed Higazi, 25, who said he wanted to have his conversion recognised officially so that his child would be born Christian.

In light of the current controversy of the Mufti’s flip-flopping on conversion and the more general concern over growing sectarian tension in Egypt, this could be explosive. I would not be completely surprised if State Securtity intervened to keep this matter out of the courtroom, considering their habit of turning every sectarian issue into a security one. It could also agitate the more unhinged Islamists out there.