"Sectarian violence seen on the march in Egypt," from AP, with thanks to all who sent this in:
CAIRO -- Egypt's latest bloodletting between Christians and Muslims has many fearing an explosion of sectarian violence in the Arab world's most populous country, fueled by frustration with plummeting living standards.Increasingly radicalized Muslims, facing growing unemployment, have found it easier to take out their anger on the small Christian minority than confront the government of President Hosni Mubarak, social commentators say....
The latest clashes erupted last Friday with knife attacks at three Coptic Christian churches in the port city of Alexandria. Three days of rioting by Christians and Muslims followed. Two persons -- a Christian and a Muslim -- died, at least 40 were wounded and more than 100 were detained....
"The strife didn't start yesterday in Egypt, or a quarter of a century ago in Lebanon, or three years ago in Iraq," columnist Khairy Mansour wrote in United Arab Emirates' al-Khaleej daily. "The worm has been growing inside the apple, eating up most of its fabric."
Mr. Mubarak's government contends that conflict between Egypt's Christians and Muslims is rare and called the Muslim man arrested in last Friday's stabbing of Coptic worshippers "deranged."
"Egyptian people don't distinguish between Muslims and Copts, and no force can affect its national unity," Mr. Mubarak said Tuesday.
Sure, Hosni. Tell us another.
This seems to be an increasingly common tactic - to assert that anyone who is actually arrested for carrying out an Islamically-motivated offence is a single "deranged" individual. I've seen this several times now.
It's a flat lie. Here's one exposé for starters:
Egyptian Reformist Thinker: ‘Egyptian Copts are Oppressed, Oppressed, Oppressed’
Denial is a river in Egypt.
You would think that Hosni would know that
Come on now, everybody knows this was a staged hoax perpetrated by the Jews and the CIA in order to get ahold of Muslim oil. Those Copts stabbed themselves and are just blaming Muslims to take the focus off their own policies.
Increasingly radicalized Muslims, facing growing unemployment, have found it easier to take out their anger on the small Christian minority than confront the government of President Hosni Mubarak, social commentators say....
Hmmm...if they would spend less time in the mosques they might have a job. And the praying five times a day doesn't do much for working either. Such a waste of time. There certainly isn't time to work when you spend your day praying, protesting, harassing Christians or promoting jihad.
Copts have initiated new concept similiar to islam jihad. They will call it "Whoop-Ass" and will open a can as needed.
It continues. Spread the word!!
YMCA warned to vacate Hamas town
After 6 years of operation, Christian organization being booted by terror group
By Aaron Klein
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com
JERUSALEM -- The leadership of a West Bank Palestinian city now controlled by Hamas has warned a local Young Men's Christian Association to close its offices and leave town or face likely Muslim violence, WorldNetDaily has learned.
The move highlighted long-standing fears Hamas would use its win in last January's Palestinian parliamentary elections to impose an anti-Christian, anti-Jewish hard-line Islamist regime in the West Bank and Gaza.
"The face of the new Hamas government is coming to the forefront now that they finally took over and have a lot more confidence. They want to create a territory free of Christians and Jews," said a Christian leader associated with the YMCA in Qalqiliya, a West Bank town under the jurisdiction of the Palestinian Authority.
Yesterday, major Muslim organizations in Qalqiliya in conjunction with local mosques, the city's Mufti and municipal leaders, sent a letter to the interior minister of the Hamas-led PA accusing the YMCA of missionary activities and demanding the Palestinian government immediately shut down the Christian offices.
The YMCA has operated in Qalqiliya since 2000.
The petition, obtained by WND, states, "We the preachers of the mosques and representatives of major families in Qalqiliya ask you to close the offices of the YMCA because the population of Qalqiliya doesn't need such offices, especially since there are not many Christians in our city."
It warned, "The act of these institutions of the YMCA, including attempting to convert Muslims in our city, will bring violence and tension."
Already this past weekend several Molotov cocktails were thrown at Qalqiliya's YMCA.
Local political sources said the attacks followed Friday sermons in dozens of Qalqiliya mosques in which preachers called upon the community to revolt against the YMCA.
"There was a coordination among the mosques to speak about the YMCA Friday night. One major imam, for example, warned if the YMCA doesn't close down it will lead to 'acts that no one would like to see,'" said one political source.
Joseph Medi, the YMCA manager in Qalqiliya, told WND his operation has never been involved with missionary activity.
"It's not what we're about. There is no missionary activity here whatsoever. The YMCA is in the city to serve the population with financial help, sporting activities and general educational programs," said Medi.
Medi pointed out many employees at his branch of the YMCA are Muslim. He said the YMCA was instrumental in establishing a number of community programs, including contributing to the financing of the Al Ahli Club, a mostly Muslim local soccer organization that has competed in national games.
Medi said Qalqiliya's YMCA received a final notification from local leaders warning the association to close its offices before "drastic measures" were taken. He said no specific measures were specified.
Qalqiliya is located at the West Bank's point of closest proximity to the Mediterranean Sea. There are reported only about 50-100 Christians in a population of about 28,300. The city's mayor, Sheikh Waji Qawwas, is a Hamas member just released from Israeli prison yesterday.
Hamas swept all 15 municipal offices in local elections in Qalqiliya in December. The terror group went on to win the vast majority of Palestinian parliamentary seats in January and officially took over the Palestinian Authority earlier this month.
One Christian leader, an aide to Jerusalem's Latin Patriarch Michel Sabah who asked his name be withheld out of fear of Muslim retaliation, called the threats against Qalqiliya's YMCA part of a general trend of Christian persecution in Palestinian areas.
"It's been happening all over the West Bank and Gaza," said the aide.
There have been rampant reports of abuses and persecution in several West Bank towns taken over by the PA.
Anti-Christian riots have been reported in Ramallah, Nazareth and surrounding villages as well as in towns in Gaza.
In Bethlehem, local Christians have long complained of anti-Christian violence. The city's Christian population, once 90 percent, declined drastically since the PA took control in December 1995. Christians now make up less than 25 percent of Bethlehem, according to Israeli surveys.
The demands for the YMCA to close are also the latest in a series of reports indicating Hamas may be seeking to impose Taliban-like Islamic rule.
Israeli officials say Hamas in the Gaza Strip has established hard-line Islamic courts and created the Hamas Anti-Corruption Group, which is described as a kind of "morality police" operating within Hamas' organization. Hamas has denied the existence of the anti-corruption group, but it recently carried out a high-profile "honor killing" widely covered by the Palestinian media.
A Hamas-run council in the West Bank came under international criticism last year when it barred an open-air music and dance festival, declaring it was against Islam.
Mahmoud al-Zahar
In response to the uproar, Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar told WND during an exclusive interview: "I hardly understand the point of view of the West concerning these issues. The West brought all this freedom to its people but it is that freedom that has brought about the death of morality in the West. It's what led to phenomena like homosexuality, homelessness and AIDS."
Asked if Hamas will impose hard-line Islamic law on the Palestinians, al-Zahar responded, "The Palestinian people are Muslim people, and we do not need to impose anything on our people because they are already committed to their faith and religion. People are free to choose their way of life, their way of dress and behavior."
Al-Zahar said his terror group, which demands strict dress codes for females, respects women's rights.
"It is wrong to think that in our Islamic society there is a lack of rights for women. Women enjoy their rights. What we have, unlike the West, is that young women cannot be with men and have relations outside marriage. Sometimes with tens of men. This causes the destruction of the family institution and the fact that many kids come to the world without knowing who are their fathers or who are their mothers. This is not a modern and progressed society," al-Zahar explained.
The terror chieftain told WND the West can learn from his group's Islamic values.
"Here I refer to what was said in the early '90s by Britain's Prince Charles at Oxford University. He spoke about Islam and its important role in morality and culture. He said the West must learn from Islam how to bring up children properly and to teach them the right values."
Mubarak is a professional lier, I don´t know how Egypt is poor with natural gas for example, I don´t understand.
My complete support to the copts.
have-mercy, I also would like to extend my sincerest heartfelt greetings, for a blessed good Friday.
As a fellow Christian (Catholic) and an American I will voice my support for the Copts of Egypt. You are the original Egyptians.
I will write to my congressman and state that since the the US sends all this money to Egypt they must guarantee the rights and safety of Copts.
Who exactly expects Mubarak to say, "Egyptian Muslims have the right to behead copts?"
Greetings to all Copts celebrating this day.
On this Good Friday, let us ponder
the fact that Christians do not support
each other,do not grieve
when other Christians are persecuted
and killed for the faith they share.
Eastern, Western, Roman, Orthodox,
Protestant, Evangelical, fuss with others
and fight among ourselves.
Why is this? What does it do to Christianity?
What of the Christians who die
under the sword of Islam?
Let us not have them die in vain.
Let us not pick at our differences
but remember what we hold in common.
May the light and love of Jesus Christ
be our guides through this dark time.
Big Pharaoh provides coverage of a rally against all the recent violence in Egypt:
http://www.bigpharaoh.com/
El Cid,
I second your comments. My Uncle and his family (my cousins and blood aunt) are/were Roman Catholic Egyptians. They are now in America for their own safety. His family can trace ancestry back to before the Arab-Muslim invasions. His father became a high-ranking career military officer in the Egyptian military and my uncle likewise served Egypt in the armed forces. Though I am pro-Israel to the hilt, I respect their service to their native land. After that service, the family has been treated like dogs.
They have seen the ever-increasing anti-Christian sentiment in Egypt. After thousands of years, this family finally left. What an absolute shame that the original Egyptians are being forced out. What an absolute shame that America (85% Christian) forks out about 2 Billion Dollars a year to this anti-Christian farce of a country.
Based on family stories and personal military experience in Egypt, I can tell you it's one of the more corrupt places. Even by Islamic standards. Another shame, when you visit the ancient Egyptian palaces, etc. you see chip-marks everywhere. The invading Muslim Armies saw the ancient Egyptian artifacts and structures as a threat.
When will we wake up to what's going on? Bethlehem, the birthplace of Jesus, has gone from 90% Christian to less than 20% (in about 50 years). Pretty soon, the birthplace of Judaism and Christianity will be have no Jews or Christians.
have_mercy and hello123, all the victems of Jihad and dihimmitude must band together to defeat Islamic intolerance.
If the spell of Islamic sharia belief can be broken and it will be with the truth, then Egypt can become a better place for Muslims and non Muslims a like.
hello123 it is a testiment of your Uncles true Egyptian self that he would seerve Egypt even if he is not accepted by Egyptian Muslims.
He is a true patriot to his homeland.
I am learning Arabic as part of my work and have watched alot of Egyptian televison to improve my language skills and have grown to like the Egyptian people.
It is a petty that I never see Copts shown on the many soap operas made there.
In my Al-Kitaab fii Ta-allum al arabiyya, on one of the DVD's under culture, there is a an interview with a Copt priest in Arabic and the exterior and interior of his church is shown. It is beautiful and the paintings of the Virgin Mary are wonderful, I wonder if his church was one of the one's attacked.
We must spread the word about the plight of the Copts and all other minorities that are oppressed under Islamic culture.
First we must educated the average Americans about the history of Christian Egypt and the dihimmitude of the Copts.
Bat Ye'or's books make a great case and I have given out some copys to friends with the hope that hey will pass them on.
God bless from El Cid
I see that our prime clown, Udi tapudi, known to the outside as Olmert, has just released a Hamas criminal from jail, thus enabling him to be mayor of Qalqilyah. I'm trying to figure out olmert's justification for such an act which dishonors the courts and justice system of Israel. Perhaps olmert wants to be our home grown version of javier solana.