Egypt court votes against transfer of islands to Saudi Arabia

June 25, 2017 By administrator

An Egyptian woman holds up a national flag bearing the names “Tiran” and “Sanafir,” two islands that the government has agreed to transfer to Saudi Arabia, in Cairo, January 16, 2017. (Photo by AFP)egypt

An Egyptian court has overruled a previous verdict authorizing the transfer of two strategic Egyptian islands to Saudi Arabia, something President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has agreed to in a controversial deal with Riyadh.

The administrative court ruled on Tuesday that all judicial decisions taken to date by the Urgent Matters Court would be considered invalid. The latter had previously ruled in favor of the bilateral deal enabling the transfer in 2016.

Tiran and Sanafir, as the islands are named, can be used to control access to the Israeli port of Eilat. Recent reports have indicated that Riyadh and Tel Aviv are mulling over establishing economic relations.

“The ruling (on Tuesday) signifies that the land is Egyptian,” said Khaled Ali, a lawyer who argued at the administrative court that the islands belonged to Egypt.

The verdict would affirm that any attempt to transfer the islands to Saudi Arabia would be considered unconstitutional “even if the president ratified the agreement,” he added.

Israel had captured the isles back in 1967 along with vast swathes of other Arab territory but returned them to Egypt as part of the 1979 Camp David Accords deal with Cairo.

The Egyptian parliament has endorsed the accord between Sisi and the Saudi king, Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud. But the Egyptian president is yet to ratify it. However, he risks further angering the Egyptian public, who have already launched protests against the transfer of the islands to Saudi Arabia.

Egyptian Air Cairo airline launches first flights to Yerevan from Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada

June 19, 2017 By administrator

Egyptian Air Cairo airline launches first flights to Yerevan from Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada The first flights en route from Sharm El Sheikh and Hurghada to Yerevan will operate on June 20 by Egyptian Air Cairo airline. Flights will be operated twice a week on Tuesdays and Thursdays. The first flight will arrive in Yerevan Zvartnots Airport at 8:00 a.m. local time on Tuesday.

Yerevan-based tour agent “Anriva Tour”, acting as the official representative of Air Cahiro, reports the first flight to Armenia will carry renowned members of the Armenian community of Egypt, including culture and political figures, representatives of Hay Dat, the Armenian Catholic Church, diplomats and journalists.

Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Arab Republic of Egypt in Armenia, the Consul, the Head of tourism department at The Development Foundation of Armenia (DFA), other high-ranking officials will greet the arriving guests at the airport.

It is noted, that Air Cahiro, enters the Armenian market for the first time providing a unique opportunity for Armenians to leave for Egyptian resorts directly from Yerevan, instead of long practiced transit from Georgia. The release also noted that the tour prices do not exceed those suggested by Georgian companies.

Egypt: Pope Francis, “There is a need for peacebuilders, not weapons”

April 28, 2017 By administrator

By Annachiara Valle

28/04/2017 Pope Francis, at the first speech in Egypt at the International Peace Conference, recalls that the task of religions is to eradicate violence and build peace. Faithful to God’s Commandment on Sinai “Do not Kill”

“God’s ignorance leads to violence.” Shaykh Ahmad Al-Tayeb, the great Imam of Al Azhar is on the same wavelength as Pope Francis. The two hug them several times, they call themselves brothers. In the great university hall, a point of reference for the Sunni world, they talk to participants at the International Peace Conference. And peace is the word that is most frequently quoted. He also uses the speaker to give the floor to Francis, the “Pope of Peace who presents his allegiance.” Bergoglio greeted the great imam calling him brother and thanking him for having devised this encounter between religions for peace. A discourse of frankly breathing is that of Francis, who points above all to education “because there will be no peace without proper education of younger generations. And there will be no adequate education for young people today if their training offerings will not be well-respected in the nature of man. “

An education that becomes wisdom when it is able to make the best of each one when it is able to overcome the temptation to stiffen or close itself, when it knows how to look to the past because “from the past learns that evil only arises from evil and Violence only violence, in a spiral that ends up imprisoning. “

Talk of dialogue, Pope Francis, of walking together “in the belief that the future of all depends on the encounter between religions and cultures”. Dialogue and meeting that have three fundamental pillars: “The duty of identity, the courage of alterity, and the sincerity of intentions. The duty of identity, because there is no real dialogue about ambiguity or about sacrificing good to please each other; The courage of alienity, because someone who is different from me, culturally or religiously, should not be seen and treated as an enemy but welcomed as a street companion, in the genuine conviction that the good of each one resides in the good of all; The sincerity of intentions, because dialogue, as an authentic expression of humankind, is not a strategy to achieve second ends, but a path of truth that deserves to be patiently undertaken to transform competition in collaboration. “

Francis reiterates his dear concepts, recalling that ” the only alternative to the civilization of the encounter is the incivility of the clash. And to really counter the barbarity of those who blow on hatred and incite to violence, it is necessary to accompany and mature generations that respond to the incendiary logic of evil with the patient’s growth of good: young people who, like well-planted trees, are rooted in the soil of History and, growing up to the High and next to each other, every day transform the polluted air of hate into the oxygen of the fraternity. “

Bergoglio hopes that this civilization of the encounter will be here, in Egypt, “from this sun-kissed land.” And he asks for the intercession of “Saint Francis of Assisi, who came to Egypt eight centuries ago and met Sultan Malik at Kamil.”

Earth kissed by the sun, a land of alliances where “over the centuries, differences of religion have constituted” a form of mutual enrichment in the service of the only national community . Different faiths have come together and various cultures have mingled, without confusion but acknowledging the importance of alliances for the common good. Alliances of this kind are urgent today. “

The Pope uses “as the symbol of the” Mount of the Covenant “which rises in this land. Sinai reminds us first of all that an authentic alliance on earth can not be ignored by Heaven, that humanity can not propose to meet in peace excluding God from the horizon, nor can it ascend to the mount to seize God . “

Point your finger against the paradox he wants, on the one hand relegate religion to the private and, on the other, confuse it with politics. “There is a risk,” says Pope Francis, “that religion is absorbed by the management of temporal affairs and tempted by the flattery of world powers which in fact make it instrumental.”

We need to look up, remember the ten words God gave to man on Mount Sinai. “At the center of the” ten words “, it turns to the men and peoples of all time, the command” do not kill “. And they are the leaders of the religions called to follow this command, “we,” the Pope still says, “are called upon to expose the violence that is abused by presumptuous sacredness , leveraging the absolutization of egoisms rather than the genuine opening to the” Absolute. We are required to denounce violations of human dignity and human rights, to bring to light attempts to justify any form of hatred in the name of religion and condemn them as idolatrous fake of God: His name is holy, He is God of Peace , God of salam. Therefore, only peace is holy, “he repeats as he had already done in the meeting People and religions summoned to Assisi last year,” and no violence can be perpetrated in the name of God, for he would profane his name. “

The Pope, repeatedly interrupted by the applause of the present, asks to repeat together, “From this earth of encounter between Heaven and earth, of alliances between peoples and believers, a” no “strong and clear to all forms of violence, Revenge and hatred committed in the name of religion or in the name of God. Together we affirm the incompatibility between violence and faith, between believing and hating. Together we declare the sacredness of every human life against any form of physical, social, educational or psychological violence. Faith that does not originate from a sincere heart and an authentic love to God Merciful is a form of conventional or social attachment that does not free man but crushes. Let’s say together: the more you grow in faith in God the more you grow in the love of your neighbor. “

And there is not only the denunciation of evil. “Without giving up conciliatory syncretism, our task is to pray for each other by asking God for the gift of peace, meeting, dialogue and promoting harmony in a spirit of collaboration and friendship,” emphasizes Francesco, adding: ” Come Christians, I am a Christian, we can not invoke God as the Father of all men if we refuse to act as brothers to some of the men who are created in the image of God. “

That against the arms race, “little or nothing is needed to raise the voice and run to rearm in order to protect itself” and recalls that ” today there is a need for peace-makers, not of arms , of peace-makers who are not provocateurs of conflict; Of firemen and not of incendiari; Of reconciliation preachers and not of destruction bandits. “

Denounce populisms and demagogues, “which certainly do not help to consolidate peace and stability: no violent incitement will guarantee peace, and any unilateral action that does not start constructive and shared processes is in fact a gift to the advocates of radicalism and violence » . And he explains that “in order to prevent conflicts and build peace, it is essential to strive for the removal of poverty and exploitation situations, where extremes are easier to capture, and to block money and arms flows towards those who are fomenting violence . Even more to the root, it is necessary to stop the proliferation of weapons that, if produced and traded, will sooner or later be used as well. Only by making the turbulent maneuvers that feed cancer can be transparent if they can prevent real causes. This urgent and heavy commitment is held by those responsible for the nations, the institutions and the information, as we are responsible for civilizations, summoned by God, from history and from the future, to initiate, in their own field, peace processes, not subtracting By throwing solid bases of alliance between peoples and states. “

Source: http://www.famigliacristiana.it/articolo/papa-in-egitto.aspx

Deadly bomb blasts hit Two Coptic Christian churches in Egypt

April 9, 2017 By administrator

Two Coptic Christian churches have been targeted in separate bombings, the deadliest to hit the community in months. The Coptic community has witnessed a sharp rise in targeted attacks by extremists in the past year.

Two separate bombings targeting Coptic Christian churches in Egypt on Sunday left at least two dozen people dead and many more wounded in the deadliest attacks to strike the community in months.

An explosion ripped through a Coptic Christian church in the city of Tanta, north of Cairo, as worshippers were celebrating Palm Sunday. At least 25 people were killed and more than 60 were injured.

Hours later, a suicide bomber detonated an explosive in front of Saint Mark’s Church in the coastal city of Alexandria, killing at least 18 people and injuring 66 more, state media reported. The blast occurred after Coptic Pope Tawadros II attended mass at the church.

Egypt’s foreign minister described the attack in a tweet as a “failed attempt against our unity.”

An “Islamic State“-affiliated group claimed responsibility for the attack, according to the Amaq news agency, which is known for its ties to the militant organization.

Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population. Coming a week before Easter, Palm Sunday marks an important day for the religion, namely the celebration of Jesus’ entrance to Jerusalem before his crucifixion.

‘Despicable terrorist bombing’

German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel condemned the attacks in a statement, saying “the aim of the perpetrators, to drive a wedge between people of different faiths living peacefully side-by-side, must not be allowed to happen.”

Pope Francis, who has joined discussions with Egypt’s al-Azhar University to counter extremism, also condemned the attack and offered his condolences.

The pontiff asked God “to convert the hearts of those who spread terror, violence and death, and also the hearts of those who make, and traffic in, weapons.”

Francis is scheduled to visit Egypt later this month to show solidarity with the country’s embattled Christian community. The pontiff will also visit Saint Mark’s Coptic Orthodox Cathedral which is the seat of Coptic Christian Pope Tawadros II.

Grand Sheikh Ahmed el-Tayeb, head of al-Azhar, considered the highest Sunni Islamic center of learning, described the attacks as a “despicable terrorist bombing that targeted the lives of innocents.”

Ousted President Mohammed Morsi‘s Muslim Brotherhood organization and Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas also issued statements denouncing the attacks.

Coptics targeted

In December, 29 worshippers at Cairo’s largest Coptic cathedral were killed in a suicide bombing claimed by the so-called “Islamic State” (IS) group.

A number of jihadist-linked attacks and threats against Christians in the Sinai Peninsula have also forced hundreds to flee.

Egypt’s army is fighting a counter-insurgency campaign against an IS affiliate in Sinai, where militants have carried out scores of attacks against police and army positions.

Inter-communal relations between Christians and Muslims can sometimes be tense in conservative areas of Egypt with tensions flairing occasionally.

ls,cw/se (AFP, AP, dpa)

MIDDLE-EAST Two Christians burned alive in Sinai

February 22, 2017 By administrator

EL-ARISH: Egyptian security officials said suspected militants have killed two Christians in the restive north of the Sinai Peninsula, days after a Daesh affiliate vowed to step up a wave of attacks on the embattled minority.

The officials said Saad Hana, 65, was shot dead and his son Medhat, 45, was abducted and burned alive before their bodies were dumped on a roadside in El-Arish on Wednesday. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to brief reporters.

Coptic Christians, who make up 10 percent of Egypt’s population, have increasingly come under attack since the military overthrow of an elected president in 2013.

A Daesh video released this week cast them as allies of the West and vowed further attacks.

Separately on Wednesday, Jean-Louis Tauran, a representative from the Vatican French cardinal, and Abbas Shuman, the deputy imam of Al-Azhar mosque, attended a joint seminar on ways to tackle religious intolerance in the world.

Blind Sheikh’s body back home

The body of a blind Egyptian jihadist convicted of plotting terror attacks in New York was brought back to Egypt for burial after he died in a US federal prison over the weekend.

Omar Abdel Rahman, the so-called Blind Sheikh, was arrested in 1993 and convicted in 1995 along with nine followers of conspiracy to blow up the UN building and several New York landmarks. He was serving a life sentence in prison when he died on Saturday.

Abdel-Rahman was the leader of a radical organization, the most feared militant group in Egypt in the 1980s and 1990s. He fled to the US in 1990.

Dozens of his followers waited at the Cairo airport on Wednesday to receive the body and take it to his hometown in Dakahliya province.

Source: http://www.arabnews.com/node/1058311/middle-east#.WK5e5WEYvgc.twitter

Bin Laden’s son was denied entry to Egypt, asks to be sent to Turkey

December 23, 2016 By administrator

Osama bin Laden’s son Omar was refused entry to Egypt on Saturday, airport sources said, giving no reason why his name was on a list of people banned from the country.

Security officials at Cairo International Airport say Omar bin Laden, 34, son of the former leader of al-Qaeda Osama bin Laden, has been denied entry to the country and was deported to Turkey.

Osama bin Laden’s fourth-eldest son, was travelling with his British wife Zaina al Sabah from Doha, and they asked to be sent to Turkey, the sources said.

Omar bin Laden and his wife arrived Saturday from Qatar but after checking details of his Saudi passport, security officials found his name on a list of those banned from entering the country.

The couple, who lived in Egypt for several months in 2007 and 2008, were previously denied entry to the country in 2008.

Archbishop of Armenian Diocese of Egypt on explosion in Coptic Cathedral Complex

December 13, 2016 By administrator

Leader of Diocese of the Armenian Apostolic Church in Egypt Archbishop Ashot Mnatsakanian has spoken about the explosion in the Coptic Christian cathedral complex during the interview conducted by the correspondent of the Hay Dzayn (Armenian Voice) news agency.

“We know that all this is temporary and whatever happened has also been denounced by the Egyptian population. This is comforting for us as we feel that the majority of the country’s population do not share their viewpoint,” the Archbishop noted.

He said the explosion had taken place not in the Coptic Cathedral but in the big church located in another part of the city. “Currently no specific steps have been taken yet. The entire neighborhood is under the control of the security officials who are trying to specify the details of the explosion. Thus the details are changing at any moment. For instance a few hours ago it was announced that the suspect is a woman, later it was stated that the suspect is a 22-year-old boy,” the Archbishop added.

He said that although many details have not been revealed yet accurate information will be provided soon so as the society becomes aware of the incident, as “the incident raises grave concerns.”

“The concerns refer not only to the fact that there is a big community of Copts living in Egypt who have their churches where they frequently hold ceremonies, but also to the efforts directed to maintain the overall stability of the country. This incident destroys the measures taken by the Egyptian government to maintain peace and security in the country,” Archbishop Ashot Mnatsakanian added.

In response to the question whether the Armenian Church held a liturgy during the incident he said the following: “We have our own Saint Gregory the Illuminator Cathedral in Cairo which is closer to the Coptic Patriarchate. But we also have chapels in the middle of the two cemeteries and we hold six liturgies in each of them annually. The Saint Minas, the church of our old cemetery, is the oldest church of Egypt constructed in 1843. On the day of the incident we organized a pilgrimage to the church celebrating St. Minas’s holiday and during that time we were in the church which is far away both from our cathedral and the Coptic cathedral. However the news spread quite quickly and we immediately gave instructions to avoid unexpected incidents.”

Thousands protest over Cairo church bombing

December 12, 2016 By administrator

Thousands of Egyptians have taken to the streets in the capital Cairo, protesting against the government after a bombing attack on the city’s Coptic Cathedral killed many worshipers.

The protesters marched on the streets and hundreds of them gathered near the targeted Coptic Cathedral in the Abbasia district of Cairo on Sunday.

They demanded justice for the victims of the attack, which occurred during Sunday mass and killed at least 25 people, among them women and children.

Prime Minister Sherif Ismail arrived at the site of the attack shortly after it took place. Angry protesters started hurling insults at him, accusing officials of negligence.

One protester said there had been no security at the gate of the Church, and that security staffers “were all having breakfast inside their van” when the bombing occurred.

Police moved in to contain the crowd as Ismail visited the site.

The protesters shouted “leave, leave, leave” as high-ranking security officials escorted Minister of Interior Major Magdy Ibrahim along a road. Police and armored vehicles were deployed to the scene.

“As long as Egyptian blood is cheap, down with any president,” and “The people demand the fall of the regime,” the protesters chanted.

President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has condemned the attack and promised justice. He has also declared three days of mourning.

“Vicious terrorism is being waged against the country’s Copts and Muslims. Egypt will emerge stronger and more united from this situation,” the Egyptian president said after the attack.

Exiled Muslim Brotherhood officials also condemned the bombing on the Coptic church. Church officials have said they would not allow the bombing to trigger sectarian turmoil.

Coptic Christians make up about 10 percent of Egypt’s population of 90 million.

The last major attack on a church in Egypt took place in Alexandria weeks before the start of a 2011 uprising and killed at least 21 people.

EGYPT Twenty dead in Cairo explosion in Coptic Cathedral

December 11, 2016 By administrator

At least 25 people were killed Sunday in an explosion in Cairo in a Coptic church belonging to the complex of the cathedral. The explosion also caused at least 35 wounded. No claims have been made at this time. Egyptian state television quoting the Ministry of Health talks about an attack.

The explosion took place in full celebration around 10:00 in the church of St. Peter and St. Paul, contiguous to the Coptic Cathedral of St. Mark.

The Coptic Church is one of the sister churches of the Armenian Church.

Egypt deploys pilots to boost Syrian anti-terror fight: Paper

November 25, 2016 By administrator

An Egyptian helicopter gunship (file photo)

Egypt has reportedly sent 18 helicopter pilots to Syria to support the war-torn Arab nation in its fight against terrorism, and mulls more deployments to the same end early next year.

On Thursday, Lebanese As-Safir paper cited “well-informed Arab sources” as reporting that Egypt had dispatched the pilots to an airbase in the western Syria city of Hama on November 12, adding that the contingent was joined by four senior Egyptian military figures upon arrival.

It added that two Egyptian major generals had also been operating at the Armed Forces Staff Headquarters in the Syrian capital Damascus since last month. They have been touring frontlines, including the “Southern Front” in the city of Quneitra.

The daily cited one source “close to the Syria file” as saying that a large deployment of Egyptian troops will arrive in Syria in late January 2017 to take part in military operations “not limited to air support at Hama airbase.”

Major General Ali Mamlouk, the head of Syria’s National Security Bureau, had paid an official one-day visit to the Egyptian capital, Cairo, in October and held talks with senior Egyptian intelligence officials.

The two sides reached an agreement on “coordinating political standpoints” and improving bilateral “cooperation in the combat against terrorism” during the talks, official Syrian Arab News Agency reported at the time.

A month earlier, Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry had announced that Cairo and Riyadh did not share common attitudes vis-à-vis the ongoing crisis in Syria. Shoukry had said that terrorist groups cannot remain in Syria if peace is to be achieved in the conflict-stricken Arab country.

While Saudi Arabia and its allies in the Persian Gulf region, particularly Qatar, are financially and militarily supporting the extremists fighting to unseat Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Egyptian officials have reiterated that the crisis in Syria can only be solved through political means.

On Tuesday, Egyptian President Abdul-Fattah al-Sisi said he supported the Syrian army in its war against terrorists.

“Our priority is to support national armies, for example in Libya to assert control over Libyan territories and deal with extremist elements. The same with Syria and Iraq,” he said.

Despite having received billions of dollars in aid from Saudi Arabia, Cairo has refused to align itself with Riyadh on issues concerning Syria and also stopped short of joining the kingdom’s March 2015-present war on Yemen, which has killed thousands.

Cairo’s decision to play a role on the battlefield against terrorists, including Daesh, in Syria comes at a time when Egypt is also battling the Takfiri outfit’s branch at home.

Valayat Sinai, previously known as Ansar Beit al-Maqdis, as the group is named, has been leading a deadly campaign of violence against both Egyptian security forces and civilians in Cairo and the restive Sinai Peninsula.

On Thursday, more than a dozen people, including security forces, were killed in Sinai in two separate terror attacks.

There have been no claim of responsibility for the attacks, but Egyptian officials usually blame the Daesh-linked militants for such acts of violence.