EDITOR: The one against the ten thousand!

One prisoner is well known – an Israeli soldier with a name, a picture, a history, a movement behind his release, a whole nation clamoring for his release for long years. On the other side there are ten thousand prisoners, many of them young children and boys, judged by illegal military courts of an illegal and brutal occupation.

On the one hand is the soldier of the occupying army, on the other people fighting for freedom. Why is it that we only know Gilad Shalit’s name? Because this is what the western media wants us to know. You cannot put it more delicately – it would be lying. Hundreds of the jailed Palestinian prisoners are on a hunger strike due to the way they are treated – no danger the western politicians will intervene here…

So, while (almost) the whole of Israel celebrates the return of their soldier, Netanyahu has slipped another clanger – a new town to be built at Givat Hamatos in East Jerusalem, completing the cutting off of the Arab Palestinian population from the rest of the Occupied Territories. Of course, the US, UN and EU have all remonstrated, but that is just hogwash – they will now shut up, like they did every time more houses were announced, and the town will be built with their financial and political support. Nothing new there.

But while the western governments are beholden to Israel’s aggressive interests of stealing more land, and curtaining more Palestinian lives, their populations are becoming ever more supportive of Palestine, having learnt the tricks of their biased governments when it comes to Israel. Only this week such a politician, Liam Fox, was unseated as the full range of his improper actions and relations has been exposed> His close ‘friend’ Adam Werritty, was the darling of the Israeli Lobby in the UK, screwed into the floor of BICOM, and an open advocate of any support for Israel’s policies one can think of. While it good that he and Fox were exposed and gotten rid of, there are tens of others, not just in the Tory party, but in the other two main parties: MPs and ministers who continued to support Israel even as it attacked Gaza in December 2008, who go there on visits funded by BICOM, who get financial support of their campaigns, and who are there to support Israel’s interests when needed. They are for sale, like the US Congress, and they put in  a vote or a good word when required. This is how legislation which allowed the temporary arrest of suspected Israeli war criminals was doctored to allow them entry to the UK, for example. If one even so far as mentions the many tentacles of the Israeli Lobby, one is immediately blamed for anti-semitism or called self-hating Jew, but this standard approach has now worn off, is no longer effective, and does not frighten most people. Israel is now understood to be beyond the pail, a pariah state which puts itself above the law, any law, including its own legislation.
It may be quite infuriating for the rest of us to see Israel getting off scot-free, whatever brutality it enacts; however, its time is now over, and its extreme acts of disregard for all other people, and especially for the Palestinians under its boot, are evidence of its desperation, not of great strength.

Gilad Shalit deal opposed by families of Palestinian prisoners’ victims: Guardian

Israeli PM tells families he ‘shares their pain’ but is obliged to bring home every Israeli soldier ‘sent to protect our citizens’
Chris McGreal in Jerusalem

Israel’s prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, has told the families of Israelis killed by some of the 1,027 Palestinian prisoners due to be swapped for the captured soldier Gilad Shalit that he “shares their pain in seeing their loved ones’ murderers freed” but had little choice.

Netanyahu justified the deal with Hamas in a letter delivered shortly before the relatives of victims of suicide bombings and other attacks asked the high court in Jerusalem to block the exchange. Shalit, 25, has been held incommunicado in Gaza for more than five years.

Netanyahu said he knew “the price was very heavy” for relatives of the victims. He added that the decision was among the most difficult he had ever made, because he lost a brother in the conflict with the Palestinians.

But he said he “was faced with the responsibility of the prime minister of Israel to bring home every soldier who is sent to protect our citizens”.

Critics say the agreement with Hamas is not only a concession to terrorists but will encourage the Palestinians to abduct more soldiers. Some say it is little different from a deal opposed by Netanyahu two years ago before he became prime minister.

Palestinians being freed include the founders of Hamas’s armed wing and the organisers of suicide bombings and other attacks in which scores of Israeli civilians, including children and teenagers, were killed. They include the bombings of a Jerusalem pizza restaurant frequented by families, a Tel Aviv nightclub popular with young Russian immigrants and a Netanya hotel.

There were angry scenes inside and outside the high court where the proceedings were repeatedly interrupted by family members yelling objections to the deal with Hamas.

Shvuel Schijveschuurder, who lost his parents and three siblings in a suicide bomb at a Jerusalem pizza restaurant 10 years ago, shouted at Shalit’s father, Noam, telling him to hang a black flag on his home because “this is a day of mourning”.

Schijveschuurder was arrested last week after vandalising the memorial to the assassinated Israeli prime minister, Yitzhak Rabin, who reached the Oslo peace accords with the Palestinians. He painted “release Yigal Amir” – the name of the Jewish extremist who murdered Rabin – on the memorial.

Yossi Zur asked the high court to block the release of the Palestinians who killed his son and 16 other people in a suicide attack on a bus in Haifa in 2003 because it would only encourage further attacks..

“From our experience with past deals, and sadly we have a lot of experience, we know how many Israelis will be killed as a result of the release of these terrorists. I am here to protect my children who are still alive,” he told Israeli television.

Shalit’s father said they sympathised with the victims’ pain, but asked the court not to interfere in the agreement. “Not implementing the deal will not return the murdered loved ones while, on the other hand, it would sentence Gilad to death.”

The president of the high court, Dorit Beinisch, said he recognised the government’s agreement with Hamas meant the negation of legal decisions to jail the Palestinian prisoners. “The moral and legal difficulty is laid out before us … we are sitting among our own people. There is no need to explain the painful history and the very difficult dilemmas we face.”

The government told the court that the exchange is a political matter which it is authorised to carry out, as recognised by the failure of legal challenges in similar cases before.

“The court has refused, time after time, to interfere with the release of prisoners as part of a deal reached through political negotiations,” the government told the court.

A ruling was expected on Monday evening. If the court does not block it, the handover will take place in stages. Israel will first release 27 Palestinian women prisoners. Shalit, a corporal who was promoted to sergeant major while in captivity, will then be moved from Gaza in to southern Israel, possibly directly through one of the crossings between the two territories or briefly via Egypt. Israel will then release 450 male prisoners to Gaza and the West Bank, aside from a small number destined for exile in Turkey and other countries in the region.

The remainder of the 1,027 Palestinians are to be freed in the coming weeks.

Netanyahu, his defence minister, Ehud Barak, and senior military officers will greet Shalit at an air force base in the south of the country. He will undergo a medical examination and then be flown to his parents’ home in Mitzpe Hila, near Israel’s border with Lebanon.

Shalit was captured by Palestinians who tunnelled from Gaza into Israel and killed two other members of his tank crew before snatching him.

Fresh questions over company that funded Adam Werritty’s jet-set life: Guardian

Pargav set up just before Liam Fox’s charity was closed and paid for the self-styled adviser’s flights and five-star hotel bills
The multimillionaire Australian businessman who gave £104,000 to Liam Fox’s Atlantic Bridge charity and provided office space for his best man Adam Werritty has hosted the new defence secretary, Philip Hammond, at a number of fundraising dinners.

Michael Hintze, a hedge fund owner and major Tory party donor, provided Werritty with free office space at the plush headquarters of his £5bn CQS hedge fund and allowed Fox and Werritty to travel on his private jet.

Hammond lists him on the MPs’ register of interests as a donor several times, although his spokesman yesterday said the hospitality before and after the election had been properly registered, and openly declared.

As the Liberal Democrats indicated they will use Fox’s resignation to speed up the introduction a register of lobbyists, it emerged that the company set up to support Werritty’s jet-set lifestyle was created days before regulators demanded that Atlantic Bridge, which had been paying for Werritty’s flights around the world, suspend all its activities.

The Guardian has discovered Pargav Ltd, which paid for Werritty to travel the world first class and stay at the most exclusive five-star hotels, was founded on 25 June last year – just eight days before the Charity Commission demanded that Atlantic Bridge’s activities “must cease immediately”.

Pargav, which received £147,000 in donations from Tory party supporters and businessmen, was founded at offices of the same accountancy firm that audited the charity.

The revelation raises questions as to whether Atlantic Bridge’s trustees, who were led by Fox until May 2010, set up Pargav after they got wind that the watchdog was about to force the suspension of the charity, which was run by Werritty.

A Charity Commission spokesman said it would have allowed the trustees of Atlantic Bridge to see the details of its report a “couple of weeks” before it was completed on 5 July 2010.

There was a further blow for Werritty last night when the City of London police confirmed that its economic crime unit is considering whether to launch an investigation into allegations that the lobbyist may have committed fraud. Police may decide to investigate whether Fox’s long-term travel companion profited from misrepresenting himself as an official adviser to the former defence secretary. If an investigation is launched it is likely to centre on whether Werritty was gaining pecuniary advantage by misrepresentation by handing out business cards embossed with the logo of House of Commons portcullis and describing him as an “adviser to Rt Hon Dr Liam Fox MP”.

Defence business people who claim they were misled by Werritty, including Dubai-based private equity boss Harvey Boulter, are understood to be pressing police to launch a full-scale investigation. Boulter said he passed on financially sensitive information to Werritty only because he was led to believe Werritty was an official government adviser.

Werritty has been accused of seeking to misrepresent himself to a string of foreign generals, business people and even overseas heads of state.

Hintze was at a Buckingham Palace reception for prominent Australians last Thursday when he learned that further details of his involvement with Werritty were to be made public.

That night, Lord Bell, the PR man who helped Lady Thatcher win three elections, assisted Hintze to leak full details of Werritty’s funding to the media. The next day, Fox resigned as defence secretary.

The sole director of Pargav is Oliver Hylton, one of Hintze’s closest aides and the manager of his charitable foundation that paid the donations to Atlantic Bridge. Hylton has said he was “naive” to sign the documents that allowed Werritty to create Pargav, which also sought donations from private equity boss Jon Moulton and companies linked to the defence industry.

Both Pargav and Atlantic Bridge gave their registered addresses as the offices of accountants Kingston Smith at 60 Goswell Road, central London.

Also registered at that address was Security Futures, a global risk consultancy which counted both Werritty and Hylton on its board until it was wound up last year. The company secretary of Security Futures was Tory MP Iain Aitken Stewart, a close friend of Fox and Werritty.

One of the key donors to Pargav has been Michael Lewis, who is a former vice-chairman of Bicom, an organisation that lobbies on behalf of Israel. He has donated £13,832 to Atlantic Bridge and £5,000 to Fox. Bicom has been linked to Werritty, and paid for the 33-year-old’s flight and hotel bills when he attended a conference in Israel in 2009 to speak about Iran.

Bicom’s former communications chief is Lee Petar, who left the lobby group to set up PR outfit Tetra Strategy a few years ago. Emails seen by the Guardian show Petar had been working to arrange a meeting between Werritty and private equity boss Harvey Boulter in Dubai in June. An invoice seen by the Guardian shows Petar received thousands of pounds from Boulter for help setting up the meeting and for PR advice.

Jon Moulton, the private equity tycoon who bought Reader’s Digest and has donated £400,000 to the Tories, has given £35,000 to Pargav.

He said Fox requested he pay money into the company. “After the election, I was asked by Dr Fox to provide funds to a non-profit group called Pargav involved in security policy analysis and research and after obtaining written assurances as to its activities I provided personal funding to Pargav,” Moulton said.

“Neither I, nor any of my associates, have sought or received a benefit of any form from Pargav. I have not received an account of Pargav’s activities, nor have I been involved at all with Pargav, since funding. I will not be doing this again.

Other donors to Pargav include Tamares Real Estate – an investment company owned by Tory donor and Bicom chairman Poju Zabludowicz – and the Good Governance Group (G3), a private investigations company staffed by former MI6 officers and founded by Andries Pienaar, a South African who once worked for the security giant Kroll.

The concerns over Werritty’s funding come as the Guardian reveals that ministers held meetings with corporate officials on more than 1,500 occasions in the first 10 months of the coalition government.

The Charity Commission’s report into the Atlantic Bridge, published on 26 July last year, said the primary objective of the charity, which was supported by George Osborne, William Hague and Michael Gove, appeared to be “promoting a political policy [that] is closely associated with the Conservative party”.

It said “current activities must cease immediately” because “the activities of the charity have not furthered any of its other charitable purposes in any way”. The Atlantic Bridge was finally dissolved last month.

Kingston Smith accountants did not respond to requests for comment.

 

Prepare to release the next Shalit: Haaretz

The Shalit case raises the urgent need to set a regulation, if not pass a law, that will be obligatory should we face this situation again.
By Akiva Eldar
To salve their consciences, and/or to calm their right-wing voters, various ministers and MKs are drawing up a bill that will presumably be dubbed the “Shalit Law.” Its main purpose will be to reduce the motivation of terror groups to kidnap Israelis.

In the case of an abduction, the bill is intended to set a price tag for retrieving Israeli prisoners of war/kidnap victims that is based on the 2008 Shamgar Committee recommendations, which were not made public. According to unofficial sources, the panel included a recommendation that Israel not release more than one Palestinian prisoner for each Israeli POW/kidnap victim.

If this policy had been in place today, captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit would be returning in a coffin (in exchange for how many Palestinian prisoners? ). Passing such a law will be a death sentence for the next Shalit.

The handcuffs that our decision makers would like to place on members of terror groups will deter them about as much as the death penalty would deter a suicide bomber.

Hamas will exploit any opportunity to kidnap an Israeli, just as Israel does not miss any opportunity to assassinate wanted Palestinians. The fact that 1,000 of their brethren sat in Israeli prisons for the past five-and-a-half years did not reduce the price Hamas was demanding during the negotiations for Shalit’s release. The deal went through because of a substantial change in the regional power structure, not because of any substantial change in the price.

Indeed, the Shalit case raises the urgent need to set a regulation, if not pass a law, that will be obligatory should we face this situation again. What follows is an outline of a “prisoner-exchange bill,” complete with explanations.

Introduction: The ethical platform on which this bill rests is the words of the Mishna: “Whoever brings about the loss of one soul, it is as if he has lost an entire world. And anyone who preserves one soul, it is as if he has sustained an entire world” (Sanhedrin 4:5 ).

An army chaplain who supports the approach of former Israel Defense Forces Chief Chaplain Avichai Ronsky, to the effect that “Shalit should have been viewed as dead and not retrievable,” will be transferred to the Quartermaster Corps. Israelis have paid the cost of the occupation with their lives before the release of these prisoners, and unfortunately they will continue to pay it as long as the occupation continues.

Section 1: The exchange rate will be determined solely by the circumstances of each incident.

Explanation: What would we do if the chief of general staff’s helicopter were forced to make an emergency landing in the center of Gaza. Would we offer Hamas two prisoners “with blood on their hands” (by the way, how would we describe a pilot whose bombing of a residential neighborhood kills dozens of children? ) in exchange for him and the regional commander who was with him? Will the government inform the terrorists that the law does not allow us to release more than 50 “lighter” prisoners? And what would we do if the bastards threaten to kill children if their demands are not met?

Section 2: After the security echelons determine that there is no chance of rescuing the kidnap victim safely, the government will give the negotiating team a period of time, not to exceed two months, to conclude a deal.

Explanation: The Shalit deal proves that bargaining does not assure any significant price reductions that are comparable to the price being paid by the kidnap victim and his family. Footdragging erodes the public’s confidence in the political echelon’s commitment to the wellbeing of our soldiers, and leads to whatever deal emerges looking like capitulation to public opinion, rather than the result of a rational decision.

Section 3: The prime minister will not take credit for the return of the kidnap victim and will not participate in any reception for him.

Explanation: See the end of Section 2.

Section 4: The heads of the Shin Bet security service will not be asked their opinions “in principle” regarding exchanges like the one for Shalit.

Explanation: Shin Bet heads Yoram Cohen and Ami Ayalon supported such deals, while Avi Dichter and Yuval Diskin opposed them. Who among them was more correct?

Section 5: A minister who supports outposts and opposes negotiations with the Palestinian camp that is working to contain Hamas terror and supports the two-state solution cannot argue that prisoner exchanges “will provide a tailwind to terror and strengthen the Hamas government” (Moshe Ya’alon, during the cabinet debate on the Shalit deal ).

No explanation is necessary.

Egypt’s Copts: A cry of pain: Ahram Online

The state sanctioned persecution suffered by Coptic Christians in Egypt under Mubarak’s rule shows no sign of ending under the military council, ensuring the struggle for rights remains as vital as ever
Yasmine Fathi , Friday 14 Oct 2011

Last February, two young Egyptian men sat together in Tahrir Square. They laughed, joked and sang as they participated in the mass anti-government protests against Egypt’s former president Hosni Mubarak.
Young and hopeful, they camped in the square, chilly night after chilly night, until Mubarak announced that he would step down. They thought they won, that they had helped shape a better Egypt. What they didn’t know is that only nine months later one of them would be dead.

The two friends, Beshoy Tamry, 23, and Mina Daniel, 25, are both Coptic Egyptians. Despite, the years of discrimination they faced because of their Christian faith, they stood in Tahrir Square first and foremost as Egyptians. Egypt’s fight for freedom was their fight for freedom. For them, the Muslim protesters in the square were like brothers, sisters, comrades but most of all partners in the nation.

“For me, the fight was about Egypt, because I felt that the Coptic problem was a part of the overall Egyptian problem,” remembers Beshoy. “And if you can free Egypt, then you can free the Copts.”

But they were wrong. Less than a month after the revolution, the attacks on Coptic Christians began. Churches were burned, Coptic homes torched and fanatical anti-Coptic tirades began being hurled at them by Islamists. The latest attack took place in September in Aswan, when Muslim youths in the village of El-Merinab torched a church that was being renovated. A statement in response to the attack by the Aswan governor, who justified the attack by saying that the church did not have a permit, infuriated the Copts even further.

A group of activists, including Beshoy and Mina organised a march from Shubra to Maspero on 9 October to express their anguish over the latest crisis.

The doomed march turned bloody with protesters clashing with the army, which used tear gas and live ammunition to quash them.

That night, Egyptians watched with shock, as horrific images of Armoured Personal Carriers driving over protesters played out on screens across the nation. A few hours later, endless photos of young Copts, lying motionless on the streets and hospitals, dead and disfigured were posted all over the social networking sites. One of those images was of Mina, covered in a blanket up to his neck, as he lay dead on the hospital floor.

“My friend Mina fought for Egypt’s freedom during the revolution,” says Beshoy. “But he was also a Copt and he wanted to fight for his people too, but he didn’t make it. He was killed because he wanted to say the truth.”

And with these sad words, Beshoy summed up decades of pain as Copts struggled against various forms of discrimination and fought to gain their rights, build their churches and be treated as equals.

For years, the long-suffering Copts struggled as an increasingly Islamised Egypt turned against them. Former friends and neighbours began using a variety of derogatory terms to describe them, including Kafirs (heretics) and Blue Bone. Muslim Sheikhs, during the Friday sermon and through the proliferation of satellite religious channels, every day told Muslims that it is haram (sinful) to give holiday greetings to Copts for Christmas or Easter, that it is better not to be friends with them or have common business interests. And slowly the Copts found themselves isolated.

“I wouldn’t call it outright persecution but it was definitely some kind of discrimination,” says Ehab El Kharat, a psychiatrist and human rights activist. “In terms of opportunities to get promoted to places of authority [like] the government, the army or the university, you don’t have among the highest ranks of the army or university professors a proportionate representation of Copts.”

Copts also found themselves struggling to find jobs because of their faith as well as being looked over for promotions in favour of Muslim colleagues.

Additionally, while state TV aired thousands of hours of Muslim religious material per month, the Coptic Christians had to make do with a twenty-minute sermon by the Pope in Easter and Christmas.

However, the revolution seemed to bring Muslims and Christians together at last. Rampant corruption, increasing poverty and police brutality had compelled Egyptians to stand together to bring down a dictator who had ruled with an iron fist for three decades.

And gradually Tahrir Square turned into utopia. Chants of “Muslims and Christians united,” and “Long live the Crescent and the Copts,” warmed the hearts of many Egyptians as the whole world watched in awe as Christians created a human shield to protect Muslims as they prayed in the square during the uprising.

“In the square, they were faced with a common goal, common threat and an ambiguous future,” El Kharrat explains. “In social psychology, when you put people in such a situation, you produce solidarity.”

However, shortly after Mubarak stepped down, and much to the chagrin of Copts, these chants of solidarity began to fade as they were overpowered by a stronger, more powerful call, namely the chants of “Islamic State, Islamic State,” which began to be heard in protests.

Islamists, who after years of suffocation under Mubarak, were all of a sudden free, and directed much of their venom towards the Copts. On 5 March, less then a month after Mubarak stepped down, a church in the town of Sol, Atfeeh was set on fire, following a dispute between two over the romance between their Muslim daughter and Christian son.

This incident, which led to mass protests by Copts, was followed by one attack after another. In Qena, a Coptic resident was mutilated when Salafists cut his ear off as punishment for running what they claimed to be a brothel. Also in Qena, locals, once again led by Salafists, held protests in front of the governorate’s office and blocked train tracks passing through the district in protest against the appointment of a Coptic governor.

The anti-Coptic fire was catching more momentum every day. For someone like Beshoy, it came as a huge shock.

“When Mina and I were in the square, we were incredibly happy,” remembers Beshoy. “We thought that there won’t be anymore discrimination against Copts, that life will finally be good and fair. I never expected that it would become worse.”

Beshoy grew up in Naga Hammadi, a town that had nothing to do with the national unity rhetoric often bellowed on Egyptian TV. The Muslims and Christians there barely mixed. They did business together yes, but there were no house visits or exchanges of greetings during holidays. Beshoy was not invited into a Muslim home until he was 23.

“The Copts lived in isolated communities and were on their own,” says Beshoy. “I fear that this will be the model, not just in Naga Hammadi, but all over Egypt, if we don’t solve this crisis.”

For years Copts in the town – which only had one church – campaigned for a new church, but to no avail. The town’s MP, says Beshoy, was prejudiced against Copts and repeatedly denied them a licence to build a new church. It was only when he briefly lost the elections in 2002 that the locals managed to galvanise support and quickly build a new church.

Then in 2010, the massacre happened. A gunman opened fire on Christians as they emerged from a Christmas service, killing six Copts.

This incident brought Beshoy and Mina together for the first time.

After the attack, Beshoy, a soft-spoken, bespectacled computer engineering student, decided to enter politics to defend the rights of Copts against the increasing discrimination they faced. A couple of weeks after the attacks he joined the Copts for Egypt movement, which is where he met Mina. Together they headed to Naga Hammadi to attend their first anti-government protest.

“It was the first time either of us entered politics, but that’s what Naga Hammadi did, it motivated a lot of Copts to become politically active,” Beshoy remembers.

The duo became increasingly active on the political scene and participated in the pro-change movement that called for an end to the 30-year rule of Mubarak.

“I was the first to scream ‘down with Mubarak’ at the Abbassiya Cathedral,” Beshoy smiles proudly.

It was during one of his brief visits to his family in Naga Hammadi that thousands of protesters marched through Cairo and occupied Tahrir Square on 25 January, the first day of the 18-day uprising that was to oust Mubarak. Mina, who was in Cairo, joined the protests on the first day, while Beshoy returned to the capital as soon as the roads were re-opened.

“Mina and I were flying with happiness,” smiles Beshoy. “We were so filled with hope and with big dreams that things will change, that they will get better. That a new fairer Egypt will emerge.”

When the anti-Coptic attacks began, the duo held tightly to their optimism. That is until the Imbaba crisis in May when two churches and a number of homes were burned in the district after Salafists insisted that a young woman was being held captive in a church after converting to Islam.

“At this point, I saw with my very own eyes Muslims and Christians clashing and beating each other,” says Beshoy. “I also saw that the army was there and they didn’t try to stop it.”

Beshoy, who was accompanied by Mina – both wearing long beards – managed to infiltrate a group of Islamist thugs and watched with horror as they burned Coptic homes.

“We just pretended to be one of them,” says Beshoy. “And we watched helplessly as they destroyed homes.”

Then the final tragedy occurred when they both decided to join the Maspero march last Sunday.

It was during those doomed hours, that Beshoy watched his friend die. The two, who were walking together throughout the march, were both running as an army truck tried to run them over.

“Then I heard a shot and saw Mina fall to the ground,” says Beshoy. “I thought it was a silly wound. So I carried him and ran to the ambulance.”

Leaving his friend, in the care of the medics, Beshoy ran back to the scene, to help more of the wounded, but when he returned, Mina was dead.

“I was just in a state of shock,” says Beshoy. “I just stayed there the whole night with him in the hospital and until the funeral and I just couldn’t believe that my friend is gone.”
Now, only four days after his friend’s funeral, Beshoy is still seeking answers to a complicated question. Why are the Copts being targeted?

One reason, says El Kharrat, is the oppressive nature of the Mubarak regime, which made it difficult for Egyptians to accept one another.

“The Salafists were oppressed, the Muslim Brotherhood were oppressed, the Copts were oppressed and the common man was oppressed,” says El Kharrat. “And everyone found security in this kind of equation. Then suddenly, after the revolution, the lid was lifted and everybody saw other members of the group; they saw each other for the first time and many people felt that they didn’t like what they see.”

However, there are other more sinister reasons to explain the recent clashes between Egypt’s Muslims and Christians. Mubarak has previously been accused of using sectarian tension and the threat of divisions of the country to remain in power.

Analysts believed that whenever the voices of his opposition became too loud, he would pit Christians and Muslims against each other, so the attention would move away from the corruption of his regime. It was also his way of teaching Egyptians that he is the force that unites them. His famous words, “it’s either me or chaos,” were repeatedly used to silence voices of dissent.

After his fall, the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) took power. While there was an initial honeymoon period, revolutionaries repeatedly express their anger with the way the military council is handling the transitional period and demand that they hand over power to a civil authority. It is this tug of war between the revolutionaries and the SCAF that has made some analysts suspicious over the recent flare of sectarian tension in the country.

“Just like Mubarak used the Coptic card to control the people and stay in power, so the military council is doing so now,” says Mounir Megahed, an activist and long-time campaigner for the rights of Copts.

To compound the sense of injustice, criminals who perpetrated and led the attacks on churches and Copts during Mubarak’s rule were never brought to justice. This was a major source of pain to Copts, who had to watch as murderers got away with their crimes year after year. Instead, the former regime held reconciliation meetings between the two faiths. Now, again, the military council is using the same technique.

“The whole point of these reconciliation meetings is to pressure the victim to not pursue the case,” says Megahed.

But, this technique may no longer do the trick.

“They need to apply the law, which is what we have been asking for decades,” insisted Sameh Fawzy, a political analyst. “If someone kills a Christian, then he should be put on trial.”

They also need to find a way to deal with those who incite hatred against Copts.

“We need to bring these people to justice. To make them accountable for what they say,” Fawzy says. “The governor of Aswan said that the church was attacked because a religious cleric in the town is turning villagers against Christians. Fine, who is this cleric and why is he not being punished?”

Emad Gad, a political analyst and member of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, added that the army is purposefully attacking Copts to gain legitimacy from among the country’s Muslims.

“During the Maspero clashes, they made it look like the Christians were attacking the army, which is largely Muslim,” says Gad. “And they urged people to go protect the Muslim army.”

The army, says Gad, also allowed religious parties to enter the political scene, including Al-Jamaa Al-Islamiya.

“Even the man who assassinated President Anwar El-Sadat [Aboud El Zommor] now has a party,” fumed Gad. “They also allowed the Mujahadeen who were hiding in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Bosnia to return to Egypt. The whole point of this is to get the support of Islamists, a powerful faction, so that they can remain in power.”

Even Islamist parties, says Gad, have turned their back on Copts. Even though after the 18-day uprising they assured everyone that they want a civil state where all citizens will be equal, now they call for a Muslim state that applies the Sharia Law.

“They were only pretending and now they are showing their real face and using the ‘Islam is the solution’ slogan again,” says Gad.

There may also be another reason for the disturbing frequency of attacks on Copts. According to Sameh Naguib, professor of sociology at the American University in Cairo, the SCAF is using the Copts to send a warning message to other factions in the country. Egypt, he says, witnessed its biggest workers’ strikes in history during the last few months, causing the military council to panic.

“But can they massacre the members of the public transport strike?” asked Naguib. “No, that could result in an even bigger strike by the country’s entire workforce. So they decided to attack the Copts, because they are the weak and vulnerable group in society and (can) use that attack as a warning signal to everyone else.”

All this has made many Copts feel even more alienated. Already thousands have packed their bags and left the country, while others are disappointed and disillusioned.

With the pain of his friend’s death still raw, Beshoy feels that he has no fight left in him. But, he says, he will continue in the struggle, at least so that his friend’s death will not be in vain.

“I will do it for Mina,” says Beshoy. “Even if this world is filled with injustice, the Copts will not live on their knees with their heads bowed. No, we will fight and fight and fight.”

And in an act of defiance, Beshoy, decided to do his friend one last favour.

“Mina always told us that if he is ever killed in a protest, he wants a funeral march to Tahrir Square, because that’s where it all started and that’s the last time we were happy,” says Beshoy.

However, while walking to the square, Mina’s funeral march was attacked.

“It didn’t matter,” smiles Beshoy. “We held Mina’s coffin and continued walking. We let him say goodbye to the place he loved best, Tahrir Square.”

Palestinian prisoners’ hunger strike in third week: IOA

12 OCTOBER 2011
The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat – 12 Oct 2011

Palestinian prisoners have entered their third week of hunger strike. After two weeks of hunger strike, physical symptoms become increasingly severe and prisoners’ lives and health are ever more at risk. As prisoners have put their lives and bodies on the line to defend the rights of themselves and their people, international support and solidarity are continually escalating and much-needed.

The health of Ahmad Sa’adat, General Secretary of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and Palestinian national leader who has been in isolation for two and one-half years and whose struggle is at the center of the demand for an end to isolation, is in crisis. Two lawyers visited Sa’adat on October 7 and October 9, and reported that he was fainting and vomiting – a direct consequence of the Israeli Prison Service’s confiscation of salt from prisoners. He has already lost over 7 kilos on the hunger strike. Nevertheless, no independent doctors or medical professionals have been permitted to examine Sa’adat. It is urgent that independent medical care reach Sa’adat – call and protest at your Israeli consulate or embassy or demand that the International Committee of the Red Cross take action to protect Sa’adat’s life!

Despite his own health crisis, when asked about the duration of the strike, Sa’adat responded: “We are going to continue. We will not accept these degrading conditions. Either we live in dignity or we die with our heads high.”

It is clear that if there are any consequences to Sa’adat’s health or life, Israel and its isolation policy bear full responsibility and have yet more blood on their hands – but silence is complicity, and the world governments, officials and authorities who allow this to continue without raising a word of protest are also responsible for the ongoing crimes against Palestinian political prisoners and the Palestinian people as a whole.

As of October 9, 300 prisoners were participating in a complete open ended hunger strike and 3000 in a partial hunger strike. Additional prisoners have been joining the strike on a daily basis – on October 10 and 11, over 1500 prisoners at Nafha, Ramon, Eshel, Asqelan, and Gilboa prisons have joined in the open-ended strikes

Hunger strike tents continue to grow in cities throughout Palestine – in Ramallah, Qalqilya, Nablus, Gaza, Salfit, Tulkarem, Nazareth, Haifa. Palestinian activists have gone on solidarity hunger strike and engaged in ongoing mobilizations throughout Palestinian cities. In Gaza, three international activists have joined in the solidarity hunger strikes. Demonstrations in front of Ofer and Asqelan prisons were organized by Palestinians in ’48 Occupied Palestine. On October 12, 2011, a general strike is expected to close businesses, schools and offices throughout Palestinian cities for hours, to express mass popular support for the prisoners’ struggle.

Negotiations to end the strike failed on Monday as Israeli prison authorities continue to disregard Palestinian prisoners’ rights. Prisoners have been repeatedly denied lawyers’ visits in several prisons. Prisoners have been increasingly denied salt or their salt confiscated – a potentially deadly action for Sa’adat and other hunger strikers.

Abdel Latif Gheith, Chair of the Board of Directors of Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, was today slammed with a six-month ban on entry into the West Bank (as defined by Israel.) Gheith is a resident of East Jerusalem and was called to al-Moskobiyeh interrogation center in Jerusalem to order him arbitrarily forbidden from entering the West Bank, a severe violation of his right to freedom of movement and obvious retaliation for his work in support of the prisoners’ hunger strike.

International solidarity to support Palestinian hunger strikers is growing rapidly:
In Gaza, international solidarity activists have joined solidarity hunger strike tents. ”Palestinian prisoners are bravely resisting a system that seeks to crush them, their families, their communities, and their national life. Their struggle deserves our full support,” said Joe Catron, an activist from the U.S. engaged in an open-ended hunger strike.

éirígí, an Irish republican socialist political party, held a demonstration in Dublin demanding freedom for Ahmad Sa’adat and supporting the hunger strike.

Protests took place throughout the U.S., including in San Francisco and at Occupy Wall Street in New York, in support of the hunger strike – and in solidarity with prisoners in California on hunger strike. Protesters called for the freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners. See a video of a protest organized by the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network.

Greek organizations and social movements have stood in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners, including Greek trade unionists, city councillors, and the Communist Organization of Greece.

Georges Ibrahim Abdallah, an Arab prisoner in French jails, joined the hunger strike as protests took place in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Paris. Activists in Denmark, Sweden and Italyjoined in the solidarity actions across Europe.

The National Lawyers Guild in the US and the Palestinian Boycott National Committee issued statements and calls to action in support of Palestinian political prisoners.

A play, Ana Hurra, supporting Palestinian prisoners and telling their stories, began a two-week tour of the United States, and activists on Twitter plan global solidarity hunger strikes.

TAKE ACTION TO SUPPORT AHMAD SA’ADAT AND ALL PALESTINIAN PRISONERS!

1. Picket, protest or call the Israeli embassy or consulate in your location and demand the immediate freedom of Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian political prisoners. Make it clear that you support the demands of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike! Demand that independent doctors and medical experts be allowed to examine and treat Ahmad Sa’adat. Send us reports of your protests at Israeli embassies and consulates.

2. Distribute the free downloadable Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat flyer in your community at local events.

3. Write to the International Committee of the Red Cross and other human rights organizations to exercise their responsibilities and act swiftly to demand that the Israelis ensure that Ahmad Sa’adat and all Palestinian prisoners are freed from punitive isolation. Email the ICRC, whose humanitarian mission includes monitoring the conditions of prisoners, at JER_jerusalem@icrc.org, and inform them about the urgent situation of Ahmad Sa’adat. Make it clear that Ahmad Sa’adat’s life and health are gravely at risk and that he must be permitted independent medical care, and that the ICRC is aware and responsible for any risk to Sa’adat’s life or health..

4. Join in the Twitter solidarity strike for Palestine – Tweet: My name is ( ) and I will go on a hunger strike on Wednesday in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners. #TweepStrike #HS4Palestine

5. Email the Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat at info@freeahmadsaadat.org with announcements, reports and information about your local events, activities and flyer distributions.

The Campaign to Free Ahmad Sa’adat

Back by popular demand!!!

MAD ISRAELIS: From the horse’s mouth!

You don’t have to be an Israeli rabbi of the IDF to be mad, but it is great help! This is just one such rabbi speaking, but there are hundreds of them about, coming up with new fatwas all the time. If this was in Iran, the US would be all indignant about it, but it is OK when it happens in Israel, of course. Many of these rabbis are themselves US citizens.

Israeli soldiers should kill terrorists ‘in their beds’ following Shalit deal, former IDF rabbi says: Haaretz

Avihai Rontzki says can understand bereaved family members who would want to avenge Palestinian prisoners released in the prisoner swap agreement, adding ‘a normal country would destroy them.’

The Israel Defense Forces’ former chief Rabbi criticized a prisoner swap deal that is due to set abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit free, saying on Monday that Israeli soldiers should from now on “kill terrorists in their beds.”

Public debate over the Shalit swap deal has been raging in Israel ever since the Israel-Hamas agreement was revealed, with the expected release of hundreds of Palestinian terrorists who are responsible for numerous attacks on Israeli citizens.

Referring to the deal, due to take place on Tuesday, former Chief Military Rabbi Avihai Rontzki said in an interview to Arutz Sheva that IDF soldiers should no longer arrest terror suspects, instead urging them to “kill them in their beds.”

“A lot of cases shouldn’t even reach court,” Rontzki said, saying that the army should instead rely on the “wisdom of commanders and fighters.”

“When you arrive to arrest terrorists like the murderers of the Fogel family, they should just be shot, exterminated. They were terrorists that murdered people and should be killed in their beds,” the former chief IDF rabbi said.

Rontzki also referred to the possibility that family members of those killed in attacks would wish to avenge those who were released in the Shalit deal, saying: “I’m not calling for vengeance or anarchy. But it can happen.”

“Any normal country would…destroy those who seek to hurt it. The murderer who perpetrated the [2000] lynch in Ramallah, it’s inconceivable, it would bring disgust to any normal person,” Rontzki said, referring to the expected release of two Palestinians involved in the mob attack on two IDF reservists in the West Bank city.

“A country that would allow something like that needs to realize that people will rise up and do something. It’s understandable,” he added.

The former chief military rabbi also said the Shalit deal would provide a significant boost to Hamas, saying: “Terrorists don’t have tanks. Their strength comes from their fighting spirit, and Hamas got several divisions of fighters and fighting spirit today.”

Rontzki’s comments to Arutz Sheva came after a High Court session earlier Monday, which assembled to discuss petitions by bereaved families against the Shalit swap deal.

Four petitions were submitted to the court, filed by the Almagor Terror Victims Association and relatives of Israelis killed in Palestinian attacks. Judging from similar appeals in prisoner exchange deals in the past, however, the court is unlikely to intervene in what it considers a political and security issue.

During the hearing, Shvuel Schijveschuurder, a 27-year-old from Givat Shmuel who lost his parents and three of his siblings in the 2001 terror attack at the “Sbarro” restaurant in Jerusalem, yelled at Gilad Shalit’s father Noam, who came to court as a defender.

Schijveschuurder – who last week vandalized Yitzhak Rabin’s Tel Aviv memorial in protest of the Shalit deal – shouted: “Hang a black flag over your home in Mitzpe Hila, this is a day of mourning.”