EGYPTIAN INTIFADA: Did Israel have a hand in Egypt’s Internet blackout?

Veterans Today; February 12, 2011

Just after midnight on Friday, January 28, following three days of popular demonstrations calling for the ouster of longstanding Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, Internet access (along with mobile-phone communications) in Cairo, Alexandria and the northern canal city of Suez — where demonstrations were most intense — was abruptly cut. The Internet remained inaccessible for the next three days.
Now reports have emerged in the Hebrew- and Arabic-language press that the Mubarak regime had sought Israel’s help in imposing the Internet blackout. On February 9, Egyptian Arabic-language news website Youm al-Sabea, citing reports in Hebrew-language daily Yedioth Ahronoth published the same day, asserted that the Egyptian regime had “requested the assistance of Israeli technicians to disrupt Egypt’s Internet network with the aim of quelling the revolution.”

The Youm al-Sabea report reads:

Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has revealed that the Egyptian [Mubarak] regime used cutting-edge Israeli techniques to disrupt Internet connectivity throughout Egypt, preventing Egyptians from accessing the Internet for the first week of the Tahrir Revolution, which began on January 25.

The newspaper, in its economy supplement, reported that Egypt’s ruling regime had been forced to request the assistance of Israeli technicians to disrupt Egypt’s Internet network with the aim of quelling the revolution by thousands of demonstrators who assembled in [Cairo's] Tahrir Square late last month to demand…Mubarak’s ouster.

Yedioth Ahronoth cited statements by a high-level communications source who said that the Israeli software company Narus had designed the advanced software used to paralyze the Internet in Egypt. The newspaper noted that the Israeli company has had a longstanding relationship with Egypt’s largest public-sector company for communications and Internet services [this presumably refers to government-owned TE Data, see below], with which it provides additional special systems.

The Israeli company also provides similar services to communications companies in Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, and is specialized in the production of supercomputers used by intelligence agencies worldwide for numerous applications, such as phone-taps; tracking voice communications on the Internet [presumably Skype, see below]; recording email and browsing habits; and disrupting Internet connectivity in any country at any time if needed.
Israeli dailies Yedioth Ahronoth and Haaretz both pointed to the fact that Israeli President Shimon Peres indirectly admitted the veracity of these reports at Israel’s annual security conference in Hertzliya on Tuesday, where he noted that, despite the restrictions and surveillance that governments are able to impose on the Internet, the media and Internet nevertheless played major roles in the eruption of popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia.

The following is the original Arabic-language text of the article:

يديعوت أحرنوت: مصر استعانت بتقنية “إسرائيلية” لتعطيل الإنترنت

كشفت صحيفة يديعوت أحرنوت الإسرائيلية أن النظام المصرى استخدم تقنيات إسرائيلية حديثة للغاية، مكنته من تعطيل شبكة الإنترنت فى جميع أنحاء جمهورية مصر العربية، وجعلت المصريين عاجزين على تصفح الإنترنت طوال الأسبوع الأول الذى اندلعت فيه ثورة التحرير الذى شهدها أشهر ميادين مصر فى 25 يناير.
وذكرت الصحيفة الإسرائيلية فى ملحقها الاقتصادى، أن النظام الحاكم فى مصر اضطر إلى الاستعانة بطاقم من خبراء إسرائيل التقنيين لحجب شبكة الإنترنت فى مصر، وذلك بهدف تهدئة ثورة آلاف المتظاهرين الذى خرجوا بميدان التحرير آواخر الشهر الماضى، مطالبين بالتغيير والحرية ومحاربة الفساد والبطالة، إلى أن امتدت مطالبهم بإسقاط النظام، ورحيل الرئيس مبارك.
ونقلت يديعوت أحرنوت تصريحات مصدر إسرائيلى كبير بمجال الاتصالات، قال إن شركة “نايروس” الإسرائيلية للبرمجيات، صممت برنامج متطور للغاية استخدم لشل الإنترنت فى مصر، وأشارت الصحيفة إلى أن هذه الشركة الإسرائيلية تتعامل مع أكبر شركة حكومية مصرية لخدمات الاتصالات والإنترنت، منذ وقت طويل وتزودها بتقنيات خاصة.

هذا بجانب دور الشركة الإسرائيلية فى تقديم خدمات مماثلة لشركات الاتصالات فى السعودية وباكستان، لتخصصها فى إنتاج أجهزة كمبيوتر عملاقة تستخدمها أجهزة الاستخبارات فى العالم فى أغراض عديدة، مثل التنصت على المكالمات الهاتفية، ورصد الاتصالات الصوتية عبر الإنترنت، وتسجيل كل ما يدور فى الإنترنت، مثل استعادة المراسلات الإلكترونية، والكشف عن أى مواقع التصفح، وبالطبع تعطيل الشبكة العنكبوتية فى أى دولة وفى أى وقت عند الحاجة.

وأخيرا أشارت صحيفتا يديعوت أحرنوت وهاآرتس الإسرائيليتان، إلى أن شيمون بيريز الرئيس الإسرائيلى اعترف بشكل غير مباشر بصحة هذه المعلومات، وذلك خلال كلمة ألقاها أمس الثلاثاء فى مؤتمر هرتزليا للمناعة القومية، مؤكدا أنه رغم القيود والمراقبات التى يمكن أن تفرضها الحكومات على شبكة الإنترنت، إلا أن الإعلام والإنترنت عجلا باندلاع الثورة فى مصر وتونس.

http://www.youm7.com/News.asp?NewsID=348587

Notably, Israeli software company Narus (http://www.narus.com/) is also mentioned in the following article from the Huffington Post (which refers to it as a ‘US corporation’), published on the third day of the uprising:

One US corporation’s role in Egypt’s brutal crackdown The Huffington Post; January 28, 2011

The open Internet’s role in popular uprising is now undisputed. Look no further than Egypt, where the Mubarak regime today reportedly shut down Internet and cell phone communications — a troubling predictor of the fierce crackdown that has followed.

What’s even more troubling is news that one American company is aiding Egypt’s harsh response through sales of technology that makes this repression possible.

The Internet’s favorite offspring — Twitter, Facebook and YouTube — are now heralded on CNN, BBC and Fox News as flag-bearers for a new era of citizen journalism and activism. (More and more these same news organizations have abandoned their own, more traditional means of newsgathering to troll social media for breaking information.)

But the open Internet’s power cuts both ways: The tools that connect, organize and empower protesters can also be used to hunt them down.

Telecom Egypt, the nation’s dominant phone and Internet service provider, is a state-run enterprise, which made it easy on Friday morning for authorities to pull the plug and plunge much of the nation into digital darkness.

Moreover, Egypt also has the ability to spy on Internet and cell phone users, by opening their communication packets and reading their contents. Iran used similar methods during the 2009 unrest to track, imprison and in some cases, “disappear” truckloads of cyber-dissidents.

The companies that profit from sales of this technology need to be held to a higher standard. One in particular is an American firm, Narus of Sunnyvale, California, which has sold Telecom Egypt “real-time traffic intelligence” equipment.

Narus, now owned by Boeing, was founded in 1997 by Israeli security experts (see below) to create and sell mass surveillance systems for governments and large corporate clients.

The company is best known for creating NarusInsight, a supercomputer system which is allegedly used by the National Security Agency and other entities to perform mass, real-time surveillance and monitoring of public and corporate Internet communications in real time.

Narus provides Egypt Telecom with Deep Packet Inspection equipment (DPI), a content-filtering technology that allows network managers to inspect, track and target content from users of the Internet and mobile phones, as it passes through routers on the information superhighway.

Other Narus global customers include the national telecommunications authorities in Pakistan and Saudi Arabia — two countries that regularly register alongside Egypt near the bottom of Human Rights Watch’s world report.

“Anything that comes through (an Internet protocol network), we can record,” Steve Bannerman, Narus’ marketing vice president, once boasted to Wired about the service. “We can reconstruct all of their e-mails along with attachments, see what web pages they clicked on; we can reconstruct their (Voice Over Internet Protocol) calls.”

Other North American and European companies are selling DPI to enable their business customers “to see, manage and monetize individual flows to individual subscribers.” But this “Internet-enhancing” technology has been sought out by regimes in Iran, China and Burma for more brutal purposes.

In addition to Narus, there are a number of companies, including many others in the United States, that produce and traffic in similar spying and control technology. This list of DPI providers includes Procera Networks (USA), Allot (Israel), Ixia (USA), AdvancedIO (Canada) and Sandvine (Canada), among others.

These companies typically partner with Internet Service Providers to insert DPI along the main arteries of the Web. All Net traffic in and out of Iran, for example, travels through one portal — the Telecommunications Company of Iran — which facilitates the use of DPI.

When commercial network operators use DPI, the privacy of Internet users is compromised. But in government hands, the use of DPI can crush dissent and lead to human rights violations.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/timothy-karr/one-us-corporations-role-_b_815281.html

While the Huffington Post refers to Narus as a “US corporation,” Israeli daily Haaretz notes in the following article from 2006 that the firm was founded by “Dr. Ori Cohen, Stas Khirman and four other guys in Israel.”

Ori Cohen, private eye
Haaretz (Israel); July 11, 2006

If you’ve been keeping track of American Internet and the battles over surfer privacy, then you have run into the name Narus, which specializes in tapping surfer traffic. It was founded in 1997 by Dr Ori Cohen, Stas Khirman and four other guys in Israel.

For years Narus sailed on untroubled. But today it’s become associated with the likes of Carnivore or Echelon, the notorious software programs that have become linked with spying on email and delivering data on surfers to government agencies.

The image change Narus has suffered and its frequent mentions in debates on privacy and the freedom of information, is mainly because of Mark Klein. That would be a technician retired from AT&T for 22 years, who reported to the American authorities a few months ago that he suspected AT&T of allowing the National Security Agency to bug its customers’ phone calls.

Customer Internet traffic via the WorldNet service provider was reportedly shunted to data-mining technology in a secret room at AT&T facilities. The data analysis technology was made by Narus.

The scandal doesn’t seem to have bothered Narus much: it takes pride in various forums in the quality of its offerings. Its products enable ISPs and phone companies to monitor and manage their networks, detect illegal intrusions — and tap calls. Nor is Narus shy of declaring AT&T to be one of its customers.

Even though the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is striving to protect surfer privacy, has decided to sue the NSA in order to find out the scope of Washington’s spying on the people, Narus still has nothing official to say about the affair.

If anything, Narus’ management happily notes reports on its products, which are involved in countless weird and wonderful projects, including monitoring and blocking of voice and data over Internet. It proudly notes that its products are well used in countries such as China and Saudi Arabia, not really bastions of human rights.

It appears the Narus technology is used there to monitor surfing by the people, and blocking the use of Internet telephone technology such as Skype, which make monitoring communications very hard.

Narus says that its software can monitor and block Skype’s communications protocol, other VoIP programs, P2P (peer to peer) networks (such as Kazaa), instant messaging software, email traffic and many other protocols too. When installed on the infrastructure of an Internet provider, it can do all that too, monitoring unbelievably huge amounts of data up to ten gigas per second.

Big in Tripoli

Another factoid in which Narus takes pride is its giant agreement with Giza Systems of Cairo. That Egyptian integration and communications company paid Narus several million dollars to install its bugging and blocking software on networks in Saudi Arabia, Libya, Egypt, and even in the Palestinian Authority.

But how is it that in the Middle East of 2006, Saudi Arabia, Libya and the like are buying technology developed by Israelis, funded by Israeli venture capital?

Walden Israel was one of the first backers behind Narus, but it says it’s severed all contact. General Partner Roni Hefetz says it hasn’t been involved in the company for years. However, the Walden international fund has picked up the slack, continuing to invest in Narus throughout. Narus even has a Walden man on its board.

Narus has morphed from an Israeli company into an American one. But it hasn’t been sold or floated, despite earlier ambitions. Where are the Israelis? Their involvement is hard to pin down, including that of legendary founder Dr. Ori Cohen, who’d been so happy to grant interviews; or the chief technology officer Stas Khirman. Did they abandon Internet bugging?

Cright on!

Apparently not. It is very possible that Cohen and Khirman are working at a startup that nobody is willing to talk about. A stealthy startup they helped found called Cright that has lots of employees in Israel and California, and which is reportedly about to avail itself of Ukrainian development talent too. Almost nobody has heard of Cright and nobody at all, including its distinguished investors, is willing to discuss what it does.

Sequoia Israel, the Rolls Royce of the technological venture capital world, is whispered to have invested $7 million in Cright together with Charles River. But the enigmatic startup is not mentioned on the Sequoia site, which otherwise describes the portfolio very thoroughly. Nor does the Charles River site mention it.

Nor could I glean any information about the company or about the Narus people manning it. Cright has a website (www.cright.com), a naked one that reveals nothing: and has taken a vow of utter silence.

Market sources surmise that Cright is tight-lipped because what it does would spark outrage among surfers jealous of their privacy, which could culminate in migraines for the startup and its backers. The last thing these financiers need is bad press, especially as other products in which they invested, such as Jajah, are striving to gain adulation among the online community.

In today’s online world, surfers can make the connection between investment in one company and in another. If Fund X invests in DevilIncarnate.com, and surfers find it out, they could hurt its investment in Angel.net.

The prying eye

But that is assuming that Ori Cohen and Stas Khirman are still working on products that analyze Internet traffic, and possibly, that this time their prying eye is looking at private surfers.

Industry sources in the know claim they’re harnessing Israeli developers to develop a DRM product designed for installation at Internet providers, which will among other things frustrate file sharing and peer-2-peer networks. These sources say Cright (could that be short for copyright?) is supposed to filter P2P networks, to monitor and analyze files being shared, and possibly to shut down errant P2P network, or at least to block certain content.

In other words, if may be a new twist on the old trick of monitoring the Internet’s main line, analyzing content, and interfering with it, just as Narus says it does in Saudi Arabia.

Cright’s ambitions may be disclosed by the appointment of Ed Kozel as its CEO. Kozel hails from Cisco and Yahoo. But isn’t Ori Cohen Cright’s CEO? I don’t know, or maybe they’re both co-CEOs, maybe the company has two CEOs because it’s going in two different directions at once.

If I had to guess, I’d guess that Cright means to launch some product related to online advertising. To guess on, I’d think it connects financed ads or links to personal content that Cright uncovers using its data mining capacities. Could that be? Selling ads based on breaking down data from traffic? I think it could.

But we can continue to merrily play detective for a few more weeks, until somebody tells us something.
http://www.haaretz.com/news/ori-cohen-private-eye-1.192771
Finally, it’s worth noting that an Egyptian national, arrested by Egyptian authorities last year on charges of spying for Israel, claimed that his Mossad handlers had told him that Israel was behind the days-long Internet outage that hit several countries of the Middle East (but not Israel) in 2008.
Israel sabotaged Egypt’s Internet, says alleged Mossad spy
Intelnews.com; December 29, 2010

Israeli sabotage was behind the nationwide crippling of Egypt’s Internet in 2008, according to an alleged Mossad agent. The accused agent, Abdel Razeq Hussein Hassan, is an Egyptian businessman who was arrested earlier this year by Egyptian counterintelligence and is accused of working for the Israeli spy agency. Two of his alleged Israeli handlers, Joseph Daymour and Idid Moushay, are reportedly on the run and are wanted by the Egyptian government.

Hassan is due to go on trial next month, but transcripts of his interrogation records have been leaked to Egyptian media. In one instance, Hassan appears to tell his police interrogators that a team of Mossad operatives deliberately cut two undersea cables about 5 miles off the north Egyptian port city of Alexandria, disrupting the country’s Internet service for several days.

An article in Britain’s The Daily Telegraph claims erroneously that the disruptions, occurred in December of 2008 and were “blamed at the time on damage [...] caused by a ship’s anchor”. In reality, the undersea cables were cut on January 30, 2008, and there was no connection to anchors or anything similar, which does raise suspicions.

Still, the possibility must be considered that Hassan’s revelation may have been extracted by his interrogators through torture, or that it may be part of a controlled leak — true, overstated, or downright false — by Egyptian counterintelligence.

Whatever the truth behind this is, what is missing is the strategic motive that would have caused the Mossad to sabotage Egypt’s nationwide Internet data delivery at a time when the governments of the two countries were entering a period of rapprochement.

http://intelligencenews.wordpress.com/2010/12/29/01-625/

For more information on the involvement of Israeli telecommunications firms in espionage activities in the US and Canada, see:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWpWc_suPWo

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2010/10/02/2741096/pa-homeland-security-boss-quits-over-israeli-firm

http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20090315095225343

The above article can be found here: Egyptian Intifada: Did Israel have a hand in Egypt’s Internet blackout?

EGYPTIAN INTIFADA: New VP Omar Suleiman would ‘welcome’ Israeli invasion of Sinai, leaks reveal

‘WikiLeaks: Israel’s secret hot-line to the man tipped to replace Mubarak’

The Telegraph (UK); February 7, 2011

[The WikiLeaks phenomenon is no doubt a psy-op. But the latest revelations concerning Egypt's new vice-president ring true, and could be instructive -- 800]

The new vice-president of Egypt, Omar Suleiman, is a longstanding favorite of Israel’s who spoke daily to the Tel Aviv government via a secret “hotline” to Cairo, leaked documents disclose.

Mr. Suleiman, who is widely tipped to take over from Hosni Mubarak as president, was named as Israel’s preferred candidate for the job after discussions with American officials in 2008.

As a key figure working for Middle East peace, he once suggested that Israeli troops would be “welcome” to invade Egypt to stop weapons being smuggled to Hamas terrorists in neighboring Gaza.

 

The details, which emerged in secret files obtained by WikiLeaks and passed to The Daily Telegraph, come after Mr. Suleiman began talks with opposition groups on the future for Egypt’s government.

On Saturday, Mr Suleiman won the backing of Hillary Clinton, the US Secretary of State, to lead the “transition” to democracy after two weeks of demonstrations calling for President Mubarak to resign.

David Cameron, the Prime Minister, spoke to Mr. Suleiman yesterday and urged him to take “bold and credible steps” to show the world that Egypt is embarking on an “irreversible, urgent and real” transition.

Leaked cables from American embassies in Cairo and Tel Aviv disclose the close cooperation between Mr. Suleiman and the US and Israeli governments as well as diplomats’ intense interest in likely successors to the ageing President Mubarak, 83.

The documents highlight the delicate position which the Egyptian government seeks to maintain in Middle East politics, as a leading Arab nation with a strong relationship with the US and Israel. By 2008, Mr. Suleiman, who was head of the foreign intelligence service, had become Israel‘s main point of contact in the Egyptian government.

David Hacham, a senior adviser from the Israeli Ministry of Defense, told the American embassy in Tel Aviv that a delegation led by Israel’s defense minister, Ehud Barak had been impressed by Mr. Suleiman, whose name is spelled “Soliman” in some cables.

But Mr. Hacham was “shocked” by President Mubarak’s “aged appearance and slurred speech”.

The cable, from August 2008, said: “Hacham was full of praise for Soliman, however, and noted that a ‘hot line’ set up between the MOD and Egyptian General Intelligence Service is now in daily use.

“Hacham noted that the Israelis believe Soliman is likely to serve as at least an interim President if Mubarak dies or is incapacitated.” The Tel Aviv diplomats added: “We defer to Embassy Cairo for analysis of Egyptian succession scenarios, but there is no question that Israel is most comfortable with the prospect of Omar Soliman.”

Elsewhere the documents disclose that Mr. Suleiman was stung by Israeli criticism of Egypt’s inability to stop arms smugglers transporting weapons to Palestinian militants in Gaza. At one point he suggested that Israel send troops into the Egyptian border region of Philadelphi to “stop the smuggling”.

“In their moments of greatest frustration, [Egyptian Defense Minister] Tantawi and Soliman each have claimed that the IDF [Israel Defense Forces] would be ‘welcome’ to re-invade Philadelphi, if the IDF thought that would stop the smuggling,” the cable said.

The files suggest that Mr. Suleiman wanted Hamas “isolated”, and thought Gaza should “go hungry but not starve”.

“We have a short time to reach peace,” he told US diplomats. “We need to wake up in the morning with no news of terrorism, no explosions, and no news of more deaths.”

Yesterday, Hosni Mubarak’s control of Egypt’s state media, a vital linchpin of his 30-year presidency, started to slip as the country’s largest-circulation newspaper declared its support for the uprising.

Hoping to sap the momentum from street protests demanding his overthrow, the president has instructed his deputy to launch potentially protracted negotiations with secular and Islamist opposition parties. The talks continued for a second day yesterday without yielding a significant breakthrough.

But Mr. Mubarak was dealt a significant setback as the state-controlled Al-Ahram, Egypt’s second oldest newspaper and one of the most famous publications in the Middle East, abandoned its long-standing slavish support for the regime.

In a front-page leading article, the newspaper hailed the “nobility” of the “revolution” and demanded the government embark on irreversible constitutional and legislative changes.

The above article can be found here: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/wikileaks/8309792/WikiLeaks-Israels-secret-hotline-to-the-man-tipped-to-replace-Mubarak.html

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Also see ‘Israel puts assets at Suleiman’s disposal to protect regime, approves deployment of Egypt troops in Sinai’ here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20110204085244747

Also see ‘Israeli planes carrying crowd dispersal weapons arrive in Egypt, says rights group’ here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20110204084827850

Also see ‘Leaked memos expose treachery of Palestinian Authority, futility of US-brokered peace process’ here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=201101251654412

Also see ‘Egypt uncovers Israeli spy network that eavesdropped on govt officials’ here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20101219211241699

Also see ‘Israel applauds Egyptian regime’s suppression of Muslim opposition in rigged parliamentary elections’ here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20101213015150152

Also see ‘Zionist state comes out of WikiLeaks debacle smelling like roses’ here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20101203223707519

EGYPTIAN INTIFADA: A Timeline (Week 1)

 

Veterans Today; February 8, 2011

Whoever comes out on top after the dust settles in Egypt, one thing’s for certain: the political equation in the Middle East — characterized for decades by Israeli regional hegemony — will never be the same again.

Along with being the Arab world’s most populous country, with a majority-Muslim population of more than 80 million, Egypt represents a strategic bridge between Asia and Africa. What’s more, Egypt — Washington’s best friend in the region after Israel — also controls the Suez Canal, a vital means of transit both for international commerce and US naval forces in the Middle East.

And, perhaps most importantly for neoconservative policymakers in Washington, Egypt shares a 260-kilometer border with Israel and a 14-kilometer border with the Hamas-governed Gaza Strip. While Cairo has had official relations with Tel Aviv since 1979 under the terms of the Camp David peace agreement, the peace is a cold one, and the agreement deeply unpopular with broad swathes of the Egyptian public.

Under the 30-year-old rule of President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt has gradually become a de facto ally of the self-proclaimed Jewish state, despite deep-rooted pubic opposition — opposition driven largely by Israel’s litany of crimes committed at the expense of the Palestinian people. This alliance has culminated in the almost four-year-old siege of the Gaza Strip, initiated by Tel Aviv and abetted by Cairo, which has effectively made prisoners of the strip’s 1.5 million inhabitants.

If Egypt were allowed to hold democratic elections and produce a truly representative leadership, Cairo’s foreign policy orientations would no doubt be subject to dramatic change. The looming battle for control of Egypt, therefore, will largely determine the shape of the region’s future geopolitical landscape.

Tuesday, Jan. 25: ‘The Day of Anger’ A “day of anger,” originally organized by online activists to protest police abuses and official corruption, quickly snowballed beyond anyone’s expectations. Thousands of protesters — tens of thousands in some areas — turned out across the country to demand relief from skyrocketing inflation and rampant unemployment, twin features of the Mubarak regime’s “neo-liberal” economic policies. In addition to these economic grievances, demonstrators also demanded free elections and the termination of Egypt’s draconian Emergency Law.

In Cairo, protesters gathered in the centrally-located Tahrir Square, where demands for economic and political reform soon gave way to calls for Mubarak’s ouster. “The people — want — the fall of the regime!” they shouted, in what would become the uprising’s rallying cry.

The demonstrations in Egypt came quick on the heels of a popular uprising in Tunisia in mid-January. Tunisia’s “Jasmine Revolution” ended with the fall of the regime of President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali, who had ruled the country with an iron fist for 23 years.

Wednesday, Thursday; Jan. 26, 27

By Wednesday morning, police had managed — with the use of teargas, water cannons and rubber bullets — to flush protestors from Tahrir Square. Unbeknownst to most observers, however, the wave of demonstrations — destined to become a nationwide popular rebellion — had only just begun.

Despite warnings from the Egypt’s interior ministry that police would adopt a zero-tolerance policy against further protests, demonstrations continued in most Egyptian cities for the next two days, with the biggest taking place in Cairo, Alexandria and the northern canal city of Suez.

Police, meanwhile, used increasingly heavy-handed tactics to disperse the rapidly swelling crowds. By Thursday evening, at least six protesters had been killed and hundreds more injured in mounting violence. Thousands more were said to have been arrested by police.

Wednesday and Thursday also saw the arrest of hundreds of leading members of the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt’s largest — if unlicensed — opposition movement. The government justified the move by claiming falsely that the group stood behind the growing wave of demonstrations.

Meanwhile, calls circulated online for countrywide protests, dubbed a “Friday of Rage,” to be staged the next day following Friday noon prayers.

Late Thursday night, in anticipation of the planned Friday protests, Internet access and mobile-phone communications in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez were abruptly cut. Land-line communications, however, remained intact.

Friday, January 28: ‘The Friday of Rage’

Demonstrations climaxed following noon prayers, when more than a million Egyptians poured out of the nation’s mosques to hold protests in city centers and public squares in cities throughout the country. In Cairo, more than one hundred thousand people, coming from all over the capital, gathered again in Tahrir Square, where they vowed to remain until Mubarak’s ouster.

Clashes of unprecedented violence soon erupted between protesters and police, who fought vainly to quell the escalating unrest. At 5:00 PM, Mubarak decreed that a curfew — from 6:00 PM to 7:00 AM the next morning — be applied in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. Demonstrators, however, their numbers swelling by the hour, ignored the curfew and continued to roam the three cities’ streets.

In the early afternoon, it was reported that Israel’s embassy staff in Cairo had hastily departed the country due to the mounting unrest.

At about 6:00 PM, dozens of unidentified gunmen attempted to break into Egypt’s national museum in Tahrir Square, home to one of the world’s most extensive collections of archaeological artifacts. Following a violent confrontation between gunmen and protesters, in which several of the latter were killed, the armed men were found to be carrying police identification cards.

At about 7:00 PM, the Egyptian Army, in an effort to secure important symbols of governance, deployed on the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. Protesters welcomed the appearance of the Egyptian armed forces, which — unlike the police — are widely respected by much of the public for the role they played in past wars with Israel.

To the cheers of demonstrators, who called on the army to save them from police aggression, tanks and armored personnel carriers rolled through the streets of the capital for the first time in decades. Meanwhile, the police — which, unlike the army, are broadly disliked due to their reputation for abuse and corruption — were completely withdrawn from the capital only hours earlier.

Offices of Mubarak’s ruling National Democratic Party (NDP), along with numerous local police stations, were burnt down in several provinces. Twenty-six police stations were torched in Cairo alone immediately following the withdrawal of police. Evidence would later emerge strongly suggesting that elements of the police themselves were behind much of the arson.

By the end of the day, hundreds of protesters had been killed in clashes with police, while thousands more were injured. Satellite news channels began airing images of dead protesters sprawled in hospital morgues.

Saturday, January 29: ‘The Day of Terror’

In a televised address shortly after midnight, Mubarak — in his first appearance since the uprising began — announced the dismissal of his government, which had been dominated largely by wealthy busy tycoons.

At about 10:00 AM, mobile-phone services were restored in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez.

In the early afternoon, state television reported that Mubarak had, for the first time since becoming president in 1981, appointed a vice-president — General intelligence chief Omar Suleiman — meeting a longstanding demand of the Egyptian opposition. About two hours later, Mubarak appointed a new prime minister, Ahmed Shafik, a former air-force commander and civil aviation minister.

The concessions, however, failed to satisfy protesters, who vowed to maintain nationwide demonstrations until Mubarak’s unconditional ouster. Tens of thousands of demonstrators in Tahrir Square also demanded the release of arrested protesters, the formulation of a new constitution, and democratically-held parliamentary and presidential elections.

Since the early morning, reports had circulated about rooftop snipers picking off protesters near the Interior Ministry building, not far from Tahrir Square. By the end of the day, 13 demonstrators were said to have been killed by the as-yet unidentified shooters.

In the late afternoon, Mubarak again imposed a curfew on the three most volatile cities, from 4:00 PM to 8:00 AM the next morning. For the second night in a row, however, the curfew was largely ignored, as protesters continued to spill out on the streets in force.

In the early evening, it was reported on several news channels that prominent regime figures, along with their families, had fled the country. These included Mubarak’s son, Gamal, an influential member of the ruling party who many had believed was being groomed to succeed his 82-year-old father.

Shortly after sunset, rumors spread that major commercial streets in Cairo, Alexandria and Suez were being looted and torched by roving gangs of armed criminals. Word had it that the looters were going house to house, robbing and killing local residents. There were even scattered reports of rape. Most if not all of these rumors later proved unfounded.

Unconfirmed reports also spread quickly that large numbers of convicted convicts had escaped from prisons in and around Cairo. While most of these reports originated from state television, the rumors spread like wildfire, fueling panic among the already-terrified population.

The chaos and confusion — which were largely orchestrated by elements of the police and government — had its desired effect, as large numbers of terrorized demonstrators ran back to their homes to protect their families and property.

Throughout the night, gunfire could be heard in most neighborhoods throughout the three cities. As fear mounted, local residents organized neighborhood patrols to deter would-be looters. Throughout the night, local residents could be seen on almost every street corner brandishing cleavers, crowbars and tire irons.

Sunday, January 30

“We are anxiously monitoring what is happening in Egypt and in our region,” Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu was quoted as saying at a morning meeting with his cabinet. “Peace between Israel and Egypt has endured for over three decades and our goal is to ensure these relations continue.”

It was also reported that Tel Aviv had allowed the Egyptian army to deploy two army battalions in the Sinai Peninsula. Under the terms of the Camp David peace agreement, Egypt is prohibited from making military deployments in Sinai without Tel Aviv’s consent.

At noon, Egyptian authorities abruptly closed the Cairo offices of Qatar-based satellite news channel Al Jazeera. Up until that point, Al Jazeera — both its Arabic- and Engish-language channels — had provided the closest coverage of the ongoing uprising.

Countrywide demonstrations, meanwhile, continued to gather momentum. At about 2:00 PM, hundreds of university professors and reformist judges — the latter of whom had long demanded an independent judiciary — joined the hundreds of thousands of protesters already arrayed in Tahrir Square.

Shortly afterward, thousands of demonstrators attempted to storm the now-evacuated Israeli embassy in central Cairo. But the army, whose presence on the streets was now pervasive, quickly intervened to stop them.

At about 3:00 PM, a neighborhood patrol in the Nile Delta city of Mansoura announced that it had detained 78 men caught looting shops in the area. According to reports, the men were later found to be members of the government’s secret police.

At about 4:00 PM, F-16 warplanes began making sorties over the skies over Cairo.

At about 4:30, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton declared that Washington wanted “to see an orderly transition [of power in Egypt], so that no one fills a void.” She called for “a well thought out plan that will bring about a democratic participatory government.”

Clinton’s statements were met with derision by Egyptian political figures and commentators, who opined that Clinton was “the last person who should be talking about democracy in Egypt.”

At about 5:30 PM, Internet services were fully restored countrywide.

At this point, reports began to emerge that elements of the police had in fact been behind much of the reported looting and vandalism — an apparent attempt to promote the false impression that the withdrawal of police would inevitably lead to security breakdowns. It was also to emerge later that elements of the police had intentionally released thousands of convicted criminals from police stations in and around Cairo.

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/leave-and-dont-look-back-masked-gunmen-tell-freed-prison-inmates

Meanwhile, anti-regime demonstrations continued to rage across the country, despite the extension of the curfew from 3:00 PM to 8:00 AM. Along with Cairo, Alexandria and Suez, massive protests were also staged in Mansoura, Mahalla, Ismailia, Fayoum, Port Said and Aswan, along with numerous other Egyptian cities and towns. In the city of Menoufiya, Mubarak’s home town, thousands turned out to demand Mubarak’s ouster.

As the death toll continued to climb, calls at Tahrir Square for Mubarak’s resignation turned into calls for putting regime leaders on trial for murder.

At about 10:00 PM, a White House spokesman announced that US President Barack Obama had told the leaders of Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the UK that the US supported “an orderly transition to a government that is responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people.”

Monday, January 31

At about 10:30 AM, as demonstrations continued nationwide, Mubarak announced on state television that he had instructed the new government to begin talks with protest leaders.

At noon, Al Jazeera reported that Suez Canal traffic was functioning normally, if behind schedule. One hour later, Arabic-language news channel Al-Arabiya reported that the Alexandria seaport had been indefinitely closed.

Shortly after 1:00 PM, it was reported that Mubarak had appointed a new interior minister, Mahmoud Wagdi, to replace the highly unpopular Habib al-Adli. State television broadcast images of other new government ministers being sworn in by the president.

At about the same time, Israeli President Shimon Peres was quoted by the press as saying: “We always have had and still have a great respect for Mubarak. I don’t say everything that he did was right, but he did one thing for which all of us are thankful to him: he kept the peace in the Middle East.”

Roughly one hour later, Mubarak appointed former North Sinai governor Murad Muwafi to replace Omar Suleiman, now the vice-president, as Egypt’s chief of general intelligence.

The hundreds of thousands of protesters still in Tahrir Square, along with hundreds of thousands more in Alexandria, rejected the new appointments, reiterating their demand for Mubarak’s ouster. Activists began issuing calls for a million-man protest in the square the following day.

Netanyahu, meanwhile, warned that the ongoing uprising could lead to an Iran-style Islamic revolution in Egypt. “Our real fear is of a situation that could develop… and which has already developed in several countries including Iran itself — repressive regimes of radical Islam,” he was quoted as saying.

At about 8:30 PM, Reuters reported that international oil prices had jumped to $101 on the back of ongoing political turmoil in Egypt.

Shortly afterward, an army spokesman announced on state television that the Egyptian Armed Forces “recognized the legitimate demands of the people.” He went on to vow that that the army “had not and would not use force against the people.”

At about 10:30, as roads into Cairo were closed in an effort to stop the would-be protesters now pouring into the capital, newly-appointed VP Suleiman announced his readiness to hold talks with the opposition and carry out “political and economic reforms.” Protesters, however, simply reiterated their demand for Mubarak’s removal.

Shortly before midnight, it was reported that Washington had dispatched former US ambassador to Egypt Frank Wisner to Cairo to consult with the embattled Egyptian president. “As someone with deep experience in the region, [Wisner] is meeting with Egyptian officials and providing his assessment,” said a White House spokesman.

EGYPTIAN INTIFADA: Tahrir Square protesters dig in for trench warfare

Inter Press Service (IPS); February 7, 2011

CAIRO — Tens of thousands of protesters continue to occupy Cairo’s Tahrir Square to demand the ouster of longstanding President Hosni Mubarak. The regime is waging a war of attrition aimed at exhausting demonstrators – and the population at large. But the protest is holding firm.

Since early Sunday morning, army tanks deployed along the fringes of the ongoing demonstration have attempted to make gradual inroads into the square. Protesters – whose numbers continue to swell as more people stream in from all over Egypt – are adamantly refusing to give ground.

“They are literally sleeping under the tanks,” Ahmed al-Assy, a 32-year-old demonstrator who spent Sunday night in the square told IPS. “If the army tries to take any more ground, they’ll have to run over us.”

“The government is using economic siege to tire out protesters and turn the public against the revolution,” Ahmed Maher, general coordinator of the 6 April protest movement, which has played a leading role in the uprising, told IPS. “They are depriving the Tahrir protesters of badly needed provisions while blaming the ongoing demonstrations for price hikes and supply shortages.”

Since Jan. 25, Egyptians have hit the streets countrywide in unprecedented numbers to demand the departure of Mubarak – who has ruled the country for three decades – and his unpopular regime. Demonstrations have been marked by almost daily clashes between police and protesters, in which hundreds have been killed and thousands injured.

Since the beginning of the uprising, demonstrators have converged on Cairo’s centrally located Tahrir Square, which they continue to occupy in vast numbers. On Friday, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators gathered at the square on a “Day of Departure” – for Mubarak.

They are now calling for a “Week of Steadfastness” during which they plan to remain in the square until Mubarak’s unconditional resignation. Police violence and intimidation have so far failed to dislodge them.

“They’re terrorizing the demonstrators,” said a 26-year-old activist who took part in Friday’s “Departure” protest. “Pro-government thugs on the square’s outskirts throw stones at the protesters, while freedom of movement is completely curtailed.”

Over the course of the last two weeks, the regime has employed a variety of techniques aimed at wearing down protesters’ resolve and dampening public support for the uprising.

On the fourth day of protests on Jan. 29, following the withdrawal of police from the streets of Cairo, state media disseminated rumours about roving gangs of looters and criminals going house to house terrorizing residents – there were even scattered reports of rape. Although the rumours later proved unfounded, they succeeded in driving a significant portion of the Tahrir protesters – fearing for their families and property – back to their homes.

Authorities appeared unable to prevent Friday’s “Departure” protest due to the sheer numbers involved. But they did what they could to make life as difficult as possible for participants by depriving them of access to food, water and basic facilities.

One day earlier, security forces raided the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre, a Cairo-based human rights organization with offices located not far from Tahrir Square. Along with mobilizing activists via Internet and mobile phone, the centre had planned to help re-supply protesters with needed medical supplies.

“Security forces seized most of our equipment and arrested the activists working there,” Mohamed Adel, 6 April press director told IPS. “And in the two days before the protest, the army, along with government thugs, prevented the entry of any food or medicine into the square. We watched as the army seized and destroyed all the medicine that people tried to bring in to the protesters.”

Demonstrators who ventured out from Tahrir into adjacent neighbourhoods seeking food and supplies were no more fortunate.

“We tried to buy some food from a nearby shop, but we were threatened by a pro-Mubarak thug who pulled a knife on us,” said one 34-year-old demonstrator who camped out at Tahrir Square on Friday night. “He accused us of trying to steal food before ordering us to go home.”

Life for Cairo’s general populace, meanwhile, has been made much more difficult by evening curfews (imposed every day since Jan. 28), general supply shortages and bank closures. Many have complained about abrupt price hikes and the inability to find basic commodities.

“For at least one week now, lines for subsidized bread have stretched around the block,” Rasha Mahmoud, a 31-year-old housewife from Cairo’s low- income Sayyeda Zeinab district told IPS. “To get a canister of gas for my oven, I practically have to sleep outside the outlet where they’re sold.”

State media has deftly used the situation as a propaganda weapon, placing all blame for the turbulent state of affairs on the ongoing demonstrations.

“When will these demonstrators return to their homes and stop causing these problems?” asked one agitated caller on state television’s Channel 1. “With all the banks closed, I can’t get the money I need to buy food.”

The strategy has not been without effect.

“I stopped participating in the Tahrir Square demonstrations on Jan. 1,” Moatez Mohamed Gamil, 29-year-old sales director at a private Cairo-based company told IPS. “Prices are going up and now it’s difficult to find gasoline and certain other products. It’s paralyzing the country; it’s affecting everyone.

“Mubarak has said that he wouldn’t run for a sixth term as president. The uprising has accomplished one of its main objectives,” Gamil added.”It’s time to go home.”

Amr Mohamed, a 31-year-old coffee shop employee who likewise participated in the first few days of protests, voiced similar concerns.

“I only found a job three months ago after being unemployed for almost one year,” he said. “Now I’m afraid that, if the demonstrations continue, I won’t find work again for a long, long time.”

Yet despite these fears of economic uncertainty, protesters at Tahrir remain steadfast, calling for million-strong protests every Sunday, Tuesday and Friday until their demands for the president’s ouster are met.

“We will remain in possession of Tahrir Square until Mubarak goes,” Maher asserted.

“For these people it’s do or die,” said the 26-year-old activist, preferring anonymity. “They believe that if they abandon Tahrir now, they’ll be arrested or tortured. The fear in the square is palpable – but their spirits are high.” (END)

The above article can be found here: Political Energy Powers Exhausted Protesters

Egypt’s blood is on Obama’s hands

Information Clearing House; February 3, 2011

The United States and Israel were caught off-guard by the size and ferocity of the demonstrations in Egypt, but they have since regained their balance and caught up to events. The two allies have settled on a strategy to preserve the Mubarak dictatorship (in some form) and assure that US-Israel regional hegemony will not be challenged.

Thus, the Obama administration will continue to offer lip-service to democracy and human rights, while coordinating efforts with Mubarak to maintain Washington’s stranglehold on power in Cairo.

The first step in this process, is to quash the rebellion with force.

Yesterday, after promising he would not use violence against the protesters, Mubarak deployed his goons to Tahrir Square where they attacked the assembly with batons, rocks, and clubs. Men on horseback and camels charged into the crowd sending droves of protesters fleeing in panic.

Al Jazeera reported that hundreds of people were injured in the melee. It’s clear that the so-called “Mubarak supporters” were not civilians at all, but members of the feared Egyptian security forces in disguise. The Obama administration is aware of the clashes but has refused to condemn the perpetrators. Obama is now sticking to a script that was written by powerbrokers in Washington and Tel Aviv.

Obama’s speech on Tuesday was aptly summarized by As’ad Abukhalil, blogging on The Angry Arab website. Here’s what he said:

“I just read the speech by Obama: it confirmed my suspicion, that basically Mubarak was permitted by the US to do with the Egyptian people as he would like…Every drop of blood that is spilled in Egypt from this day onwards should be blamed on Obama because he has embraced this new strategy of letting Mubarak defy the popular will of the Egyptian people.

I don’t trust the Egyptian army: the top brass is handpicked by the US/Israel and can be easily bought off by a combination of bribes, gadgets and perks. They could care less about the Egyptian people.  This is part of the ruling group of this tyrant. 

The speech by Obama was a not-so-coded language that let Mubarak do what he wished: the talk about transition means that he was basically told to stay in power, because Israel really freaked out at the prospect of Egypt without Mubarak… Make no mistake about it: this could be like the 1953 Operation Ajax in Iran.  The US is now arranging for a coup against the will of the Egyptian people… It requires utmost vigilance and steadfastness and thus far those qualities have been abundant among the Egyptian people. This move by Obama towards Egypt can be described as criminal because it will lead to blood on the streets…..

I say this without any hyperbole: the US is willing to have millions of Arab oppressed, killed, and tortured to preserve the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty. I strongly believe that.” (Angry Arab website)

Israel’s leaders and surrogates in the media are “freaking out” as Abukhalil notes. Commentators across the ideological spectrum — from Thomas Friedman to Alan Dershowitz – have weighed in on how the world will come to an end if democracy breaks out in Egypt. Case in point, here’s a clip from Friedman’s latest essay:

“I’m meeting a retired Israeli general at a Tel Aviv hotel. As I take my seat, he begins the conversation with: “Well, everything we thought for the last 30 years is no longer relevant.”

That pretty much sums up the disorienting sense of shock and awe that the popular uprising in Egypt has inflicted on the psyche of Israel’s establishment. The peace treaty with a stable Egypt was the unspoken foundation for every geopolitical and economic policy in Israel for the last 35 years, and now it’s gone.” (“B.E., Before Egypt. A.E.., After Egypt”, Thomas Friedman, New York Times)

Friedman’s article is a shocking admission that “only Israel counts”. But what about other people’s struggles for freedom and human rights; don’t they matter or are the aspirations of millions of people living under tyranny supposed to be dismissed because  they could pose a challenge to Israel’s prized national security? This is cultural narcissism at its worst. The Egyptian people should not have to sacrifice their rights to satisfy the Zionist dream.

Here’s an excerpt from an article by Judith Miller of FOX News, who played a critical roll in propagating the lies which led to the Iraq War. Miller dispels any illusion that one might have about Israel’s commitment to liberty and democracy.

Judith Miller: “As long-standing allies and admirers distance themselves from Egypt’s autocratic regime, President Hosni Mubarak has found himself with only one serious ally left in the Middle East — Israel.

While Washington has publicly chided its stalwart ally of 30 years, urging him to stop repressing his people and speed the transition to democracy, only Israel and two conservative Arab monarchies — the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan and Saudi Arabia — have publicly embraced Mubarak…Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke to Mubarak by phone early in the crisis, the Israeli press reported, assuring him of Israel’s continuing support…..

It is Egypt, for instance, that has helped Israel and the United States maintain the embargo around the Gaza Strip… Cairo, like Israel, has also been critical of Iran’s efforts to flex political muscle in the region and its nuclear policies.” (“Mubarak Finds a Strong Ally in Israel”, Judith Miller, Fox News)

Is there any doubt where Miller stands on the issue of human rights vs. Israeli security?

Predictably, Obama has cast his lot with Miller, Netanyahu, and old friend, Hosni Mubarak. In fact, Imad Ad-Din Ad-Dib, the chief spokesman for the Mubarak regime, said today on Al-Arabiyah TV that the Egyptian Army was preparing a statement that would ban all future demonstrations. That means that Obama has given Mubarak the green light to crush the revolt while he works on his public relations strategy. We should expect that every act of brutality against unarmed Egyptian civilians will now be accompanied by a stern rebuke from Obama invoking his unwavering commitment to “universal values and human rights.”

Was there ever a bigger champion of the Bush Doctrine than Barack Obama?

The above article can be found here: http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article27408.htm

EGYPTIAN INTIFADA: Israel puts assets at Suleiman’s disposal ‘to protect regime,’ approves deployment of Egypt troops in Sinai

Middle East Monitor; February 1, 2011

Well-placed Israeli sources have disclosed that the Zionist state has offered to place “all its capabilities” at the disposal of General Omar Suleiman, the recently appointed Vice President of Egypt, for the “protection of the regime in Egypt”. This offer includes the implementation of “various operations to end the popular revolution”. Israel has also asked Suleiman to work on preventing arms being smuggled into the Gaza Strip.

An official in Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said that the Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu called Suleiman, who is also the director of Egypt’s General Intelligence Service, and expressed his concern about the situation in Egypt. Netanyahu apparently suggested the possibility of Israeli intelligence personnel undertaking various specialist operations to bring an end to the demonstrations. The source added that Netanyahu and Suleiman also discussed ways of securing the border between Israel and Egypt.

The Hebrew newspaper Ma’ariv revealed that in recent days highly placed individuals in Netanyahu’s office have conducted a series of telephone conversations with Suleiman to impress on the Vice President the necessity of coordinating on security with Israel. The telephone conversations were described as “urgent” and were designed to alert the Egyptians about the consequences of losing control of the tunnels described by many as Gaza’s “lifeline” during the Israeli blockade. Israel is, claims Ma’ariv, concerned about increased activity in the tunnels “given the developments in progress inside Egypt” which have seen the Egyptian army “softening its anti-smuggling activities”. In addition, it is claimed that there has been an increase in the number of illegal immigrants entering Israel from Egyptian territory.

Sources inside the Israeli Foreign Ministry said that Israel does not rule out General Suleiman “sacrificing his ties to Israel in order to satisfy the Egyptian street and bestow a measure of legitimacy on his appointment in the general opinion of the public”. Suleiman maintains strong ties with Israeli officials and was responsible for several files linked to the Zionist state, including those relating to the ceasefire and a possible prisoner exchange deal with Hamas.

The above article can be found here: http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2009-israel-places-resources-at-suleimans-disposal-qto-protect-the-egyptian-regimeq

 

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‘Israel consents to deployment of Egyptian troops in Sinai’ Middle East Monitor; February 1, 2011

Egypt has sent around 800 soldiers to the Sinai Peninsula in response to the popular demonstrations demanding the resignation of President Hosni Mubarak. Israel gave its consent for the deployment following an official request from the Egyptian government. The troops are concentrated around the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in southern Sinai. The whole peninsula has been an almost totally demilitarized zone since the 1979 peace treaty was signed between Egypt and Israel.

The above article can be found here: http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2008-israel-consents-to-deployment-of-egyptian-troops-in-sinai

EGYPTIAN INTIFADA: Israeli planes carrying crowd dispersal weapons arrive in Egypt, says rights group

Middle East Monitor; January 31, 2011

The International Network for Rights and Development has claimed that Israeli logistical support has been sent to Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak to help his regime confront demonstrations demanding that he steps down as head of state. According to reports by the non-governmental organization, three Israeli planes landed at Cairo’s Mina International Airport on Saturday carrying hazardous equipment for use in dispersing and suppressing large crowds.

In the statement circulated by the International Network, it was disclosed that Egyptian security forces received the complete cargoes on three Israeli planes which were, it is claimed, carrying an abundant supply of internationally proscribed gas to disperse unwanted crowds. If the reports are accurate, this suggests that the Egyptian regime is preparing for the worst in defense of its position, despite the country sinking into chaos.

On Sunday 30 January, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu addressed Israeli government ministers in a public statement saying: “Our efforts aim at the continued maintenance of stability and security in the region… and I remind you that peace between the Israeli establishment and Egypt has endured for over three decades… we currently strive to guarantee the continuity of these relations.” Netanyahu added, “We are following the events unfolding in Egypt and the region with vigilance… and it is incumbent at this time that we show responsibility, self-restraint and maximum consideration for the situation… in the hope that the peaceful relations between the Israeli establishment and Egypt continue…”

The Israeli prime minister urged Israeli government ministers to refrain from making any additional statements to the media.

The above article can be found here: http://www.middleeastmonitor.org.uk/news/middle-east/2001-rights-ngo-claims-that-israeli-planes-carrying-crowd-dispersal-weapons-have-arrived-in-egypt

Egyptian Intifada reveals Washington’s true Zionist colors

Veterans Today

February 3, 2011

Fed up with the political repression and economic malaise that have been central features of President Hosni Mubarak’s 30-year-rule, the Egyptian people have hit the streets in the hundreds of thousands for the last ten days to demand Mubarak’s removal from power.

After a week of hemming and hawing, the Obama administration on Wednesday declared that Egypt’s transition to a new government “must begin now.” But many of the Egyptians at the forefront of the ongoing protests reject Washington’s stated support for political change, saying that the US — despite its democratic pretensions — has no real desire to see an end of the Israel-friendly regime in Cairo.

“Washington’s stated support for ‘political reform’ in Egypt is intended for media consumption,” Abdelhalim Kandil, prominent Egyptian opposition figure and active demonstrator, told Veterans Today. “Regardless of what it says publicly, the US — along with its best friend in the region, Israel — is keen to see the Mubarak regime remain firmly in power.”

On January 25, popular demonstrations originally organized to protest police abuses and official corruption quickly snowballed beyond anyone’s expectations. Thousands of protesters — tens of thousands in some areas — turned out across the country to demand free elections and the termination of Egypt’s draconian Emergency Law. In addition to these political grievances, demonstrators also demanded relief from crushing inflation and rampant unemployment.

“The vast majority of those participating in the demonstrations are ordinary Egyptians fed up with the political and economic status quo,” Sarah Ramadan, 20-year-old political activist from Cairo, told Veterans Today.

For the next nine days, demonstrations staged countrywide grew in size and intensity, with the biggest being held in Cairo’s centrally-located Tahrir Square. As security forces used increasingly violent methods to quell the protests, offices of Mubarak’s ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) — along with many local police stations — were burnt to the ground in provinces across Egypt.

On Friday evening, the Egyptian army was deployed on the streets of Cairo, Alexandria and Suez. But despite the imposition of government curfews, demonstrators remained on the streets, vowing to step up their protests until their demands for Mubarak’s ouster were met. Hundreds of protesters have been killed so far and thousand injured in violent clashes with police. Exact casualty figures, however, remain unavailable.

On Saturday, Mubarak dismissed his government — which had been dominated by a clique of unpopular business tycoons — and appointed a new prime minister. In a first since becoming president in 1981, Mubarak also appointed a vice-president, fulfilling a longstanding demand of the Egyptian opposition. The new VP, General intelligence chief Omar Suleiman, would be tasked with “holding dialog” with various opposition forces, the president said.

In a televised address on Wednesday night, Mubarak stressed his commitment to the nation’s “security and independence” so as to “ensure a peaceful transfer of power in circumstances that protect Egypt and the Egyptians.” He went on to say he would not seek a sixth term as president in upcoming elections slated for later this year, and promised to amend articles of the constitution that regulate the electoral process.

“I will entrust the new government to perform in ways that will achieve the legitimate rights of the people and that its performance should express the people and their aspirations of political, social and economic reform and to allow job opportunities and combating poverty, realizing social justice,” Mubarak stated. “In this context, I charge the police apparatus to carry out its duty in serving the people, protecting the citizens with integrity and honor with complete respect for their rights, freedom and dignity.”

The promises, however, failed to satisfy demonstrators, leaders of whom say they want nothing less than the removal of Mubarak and anyone associated with his longstanding regime.

“We will not stop demonstrating until our demands are met,” Mahmoud Adel al-Heta, a 23-year-old political activist and protester, told Veterans Today. “These demands include the immediate departure of the Mubarak regime; the formation of a popular committee mandated with drawing up a new national constitution; the holding of free and fair presidential and parliamentary elections; and the immediate formation of a transitional government.”

Shortly after Mubarak’s address, US President Barack Obama — under intense pressure to make a show of support for Egyptian democratic aspirations — issued a statement in which he said that Mubarak “recognizes that the status quo is not sustainable and a change must take place.” He added that political transition “must be meaningful, it must be peaceful and it must begin now.”

“Furthermore, the process must include a broad spectrum of Egyptian voices and opposition parties,” Obama added. “It should lead to elections that are free and fair. And it should result in a government that’s not only grounded in democratic principles but is also responsive to the aspirations of the Egyptian people.”

But many of the Egyptian activists at the center of the storm showed contempt for Washington’s tepid show of support, saying that the US commitment to Egypt’s “stability” — and, by extension, Israeli security — far outweighs its commitment to Egyptian democracy.

“The Obama administration’s stated commitment to democracy pales in comparison to its commitment to Israel’s wellbeing,” said Kandil. “Washington has always pretended to support democratic reform in Egypt, but it will never bring serious pressure to bear on the ruling regime, which represents a vital aspect of Israeli security.”

“US administrations come and go, but US Middle East policy remains the same, and the chief aspect of that policy is ensuring Israel’s perpetual domination over the region — not fostering democracy in the Arab world,” he added. “The Zionist lobby’s extensive control over US policymaking, coupled with the Zionist ownership of most US media, has led to a situation in which successive US administrations end up putting Israel’s interests before those of the US itself.”

A number of other Egyptian demonstrators who spoke to Veterans Today echoed this view.

“Despite statements by the White House that appear to support our uprising, we’re fully aware that the US has an interest in keeping the Mubarak regime — or something else very much like it — in control of Egypt,” said Khaled al-Sayyed, a 22-year-old protester who has participated in the Tahrir Square demonstrations for the last ten days, told Veterans Today. “We are also aware that Washington’s primary concern is the security of Israel, which the Mubarak regime has faithfully served for the last 30 years. We therefore completely reject any US interference in Egypt’s domestic affairs.”

“At the end of the day, the US supports the Mubarak regime because the ‘stability’ of Egypt — the biggest country in the Arab world — is in Israel’s interest,” concurred Adel al-Heta. “Everyone knows that Washington’s declared support for democracy in the Middle East is only for show.”

Egypt has had diplomatic relations with the Zionist state since the signing of the Camp David peace accords in 1979. Since then, the US has provided Egypt with some $28 billion in development aid and a further $1.3 billion in annual military assistance, making Egypt the second largest recipient of US largesse after Israel. The only other Arab country to have official relations with the Zionist state is the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, which signed its own peace deal with Tel Aviv in 1994.

In return for the kindness, the Mubarak regime has continued to implement a number of policies advantageous to Israel, despite widespread public opposition. These include assisting Israel in its four-year-old siege of the Gaza Strip — which has subjected the strip’s 1.5 million people to humanitarian catastrophe — and selling Egyptian natural gas to Tel Aviv at prices lower than those at which it is sold to the poverty-stricken Egyptian public.

Many observers believe that free elections in Egypt would likely yield a dramatic reorientation of Egyptian policy vis-à-vis the self-proclaimed Jewish state — one much more in line with public opinion.

“Despite the peace treaty, most Egyptians continue to see Israel as an enemy due to its continued occupation and theft of Palestinian land and its homicidal policies against the Palestinians,” said Kandil. “A democratically-elected Egyptian government would, in accordance with the will of the Egyptian people, oppose Israel and support the Palestinian resistance — and Washington knows that.”

Even before the uprising in Egypt, public statements emanating from Israeli officialdom indicated Tel Aviv’s approval of — and support for — the Mubarak regime.

To cite one recent example, certain Israeli officials expressed satisfaction with the results of Egypt’s parliamentary polls late last year, in which Mubarak’s ruling NDP won 97 percent of the national assembly in elections widely recognized as having been rigged. At the time, former Israeli ambassador to Egypt Eli Shaked described the NDP’s electoral victories as “positive from an Israeli point of view.”

Shaked explained: “I prefer this kind of non-democratic Egypt ruled by moderate, sensible people rather than an Egypt ruled by radical fundamentalists like the Muslim Brotherhood. It is not to the benefit of Israel to have this kind of regime in Egypt. We should pray for Mubarak to live until he is 120 years old.”

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/ex-israeli-envoy-hails-ndp-suppression-islamists-analysts-fear-popular-backlash

Notably, on January 28 — as demonstrations in Egypt entered their fourth day — Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, a member of Israel’s Knesset and former defense minister, likewise expressed support for the beleaguered Egyptian president, playing down the threat posed to the Mubarak regime by the rapidly burgeoning uprising.

“I have no doubt that the situation in Egypt is under control. The [Egyptian] intelligence services, which are sophisticated, expected this after what happened in a different situation in Tunisia,” he was quoted as saying by Israeli daily The Jerusalem Post. “[Mubarak] is allowing people to let off steam. He hasn’t used police. It’s all under control. I believe in complete faith that it won’t be a problem.”

“Our relations with Egypt are strategic and intimate. Both of our leaderships have an interest in quiet and peace even if it is a quiet peace,” Ben-Eliezer, considered the Israeli politician closest to Mubarak, added. “The peace of Egypt has passed many tests of survival and many crises, and today it is just as much an Egyptian interest as it is ours.”

http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=205576

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, meanwhile, has instructed his ministers to refrain from commenting publicly on events in Egypt. But on Monday, reports emerged that the Israeli Foreign Ministry had directed its diplomats in the US, Canada, China, Russia and Europe to impress upon their host nations the importance of Egypt’s stability.

“We are closely monitoring events in Egypt and the region and are making efforts to preserve its security and stability,” Netanyahu had been quoted as saying one day earlier.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/africaandindianocean/egypt/8293536/Egypt-crisis-Israel-rallies-to-support-of-Egyptian-regime.html

According to Kandil, such gestures of support for Mubarak on the part of Israeli officialdom “reveal the Mubarak regime’s extreme importance to Israeli strategic interests.” He went on to recall statements by Ben-Eliezer last year in which the latter referred to the Egyptian president as “a strategic treasure” for Israel.

The regime’s apparent intimacy with Israel, meanwhile, has not been lost on protesters. “Oh Mubrak, Oh Mubarak, they’re waiting for you in Tel Aviv,” they could be heard chanting in Cairo’s Tahrir Square. “I had to speak to him in Hebrew because he didn’t understand Arabic.”

Most recently, on Thursday afternoon, Iranian satellite news network Press TV reported that a group of demonstrators in Cairo had “captured a member of the Israeli General Staff Reconnaissance Unit” who was attempting to infiltrate the demonstrations. While the network showed amateur video purportedly taken of the event, this remains unconfirmed.

As of press time on Thursday evening local time, the anti-Mubarak demonstrations were still going strong, despite fresh violence that saw at least five protesters killed in Tahrir Square — and thousands injured — within the last two days. Nevertheless, demonstrators plan to redouble their efforts, and even larger protests are expected after Friday prayers tomorrow at noon.

“Egypt’s Intifada we will continue until our demands are met,” said al-Sayyed, “first and foremost of which is the removal of Mubarak and virtually everyone close to his dictatorial regime.”

ENDS

The above article can be found here: Egyptian Intifada reveals Washington’s true Zionist colors

THE PALESTINE PAPERS: Leaked memos expose treachery of Palestinian Authority, futility of US-brokered ‘peace process’

‘Secret papers reveal slow death of Middle East peace process’The Guardian (UK); January 23, 2011

The biggest leak of confidential documents in the history of the Middle East conflict has revealed that Palestinian negotiators secretly agreed to accept Israel’s annexation of all but one of the settlements built illegally in occupied East Jerusalem. This unprecedented proposal was one of a string of concessions that will cause shockwaves among Palestinians and in the wider Arab world.

A cache of thousands of pages of confidential Palestinian records covering more than a decade of negotiations with Israel and the US has been obtained by al-Jazeera TV and shared exclusively with the Guardian. The papers provide an extraordinary and vivid insight into the disintegration of the 20-year peace process, which is now regarded as all but dead.

The documents — many of which will be published by the Guardian over the coming days — also reveal:

• The scale of confidential concessions offered by Palestinian negotiators, including on the highly sensitive issue of the right of return of Palestinian refugees.

• How Israeli leaders privately asked for some Arab citizens to be transferred to a new Palestinian state.

• The intimate level of covert co-operation between Israeli security forces and the Palestinian Authority.

• The central role of British intelligence in drawing up a secret plan to crush Hamas in the Palestinian territories.

• How Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders were privately tipped off about Israel’s 2008-9 war in Gaza.

As well as the annexation of all East Jerusalem settlements except Har Homa, the Palestine papers show PLO leaders privately suggested swapping part of the flashpoint East Jerusalem Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah for land elsewhere.

Most controversially, they also proposed a joint committee to take over the Haram al-Sharif/Temple Mount holy sites in Jerusalem’s Old City — the neuralgic issue that helped sink the Camp David talks in 2000 after Yasser Arafat refused to concede sovereignty around the Dome of the Rock and al-Aqsa mosques.

The offers were made in 2008-9, in the wake of George Bush’s Annapolis conference, and were privately hailed by the chief Palestinian negotiator, Saeb Erekat, as giving Israel “the biggest Yerushalayim [the Hebrew name for Jerusalem] in history” in order to resolve the world’s most intractable conflict. Israeli leaders, backed by the US government, said the offers were inadequate.

Intensive efforts to revive talks by the Obama administration foundered last year over Israel‘s refusal to extend a 10-month partial freeze on settlement construction. Prospects are now uncertain amid increasing speculation that a negotiated two-state solution to the conflict is no longer attainable — and fears of a new war.

Many of the 1,600 leaked documents — drawn up by PA officials and lawyers working for the British-funded PLO negotiations support unit and include extensive verbatim transcripts of private meetings — have been independently authenticated by the Guardian and corroborated by former participants in the talks and intelligence and diplomatic sources. The Guardian’s coverage is supplemented by WikiLeaks cables, emanating from the US consulate in Jerusalem and embassy in Tel Aviv. Israeli officials also kept their own records of the talks, which may differ from the confidential Palestinian accounts.

The concession in May 2008 by Palestinian leaders to allow Israel to annex the settlements in East Jerusalem — including Gilo, a focus of controversy after Israel gave the go-ahead for 1,400 new homes — has never been made public.

All settlements built on territory occupied by Israel in the 1967 war are illegal under international law, but the Jerusalem homes are routinely described, and perceived, by Israel as municipal “neighborhoods”. Israeli governments have consistently sought to annex the largest settlements as part of a peace deal — and came close to doing so at Camp David.

Erekat told Israeli leaders in 2008: “This is the first time in Palestinian-Israeli history in which such a suggestion is officially made.” No such concession had been made at Camp David.

But the offer was rejected out of hand by Israel because it did not include a big settlement near the city Ma’ale Adumim as well as Har Homa and several others deeper in the West Bank, including Ariel. “We do not like this suggestion because it does not meet our demands,” Israel’s then foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, told the Palestinians, “and probably it was not easy for you to think about it, but I really appreciate it”.

The overall impression that emerges from the documents, which stretch from 1999 to 2010, is of the weakness and growing desperation of PA leaders as failure to reach agreement or even halt all settlement temporarily undermines their credibility in relation to their Hamas rivals; the papers also reveal the unyielding confidence of Israeli negotiators and the often dismissive attitude of US politicians towards Palestinian representatives.

Last night Erekat said the minutes of the meetings were “a bunch of lies and half truths”. Qureia told AP that “many parts of the documents were fabricated, as part of the incitement against the … Palestinian leadership”.

However Palestinian former negotiator, Diana Buttu, called on Erekat to resign following the revelations. “Saeb must step down and if he doesn’t it will only serve to show just how out of touch and unrepresentative the negotiators are,” she said.

Palestinian and Israeli officials both point out that any position in negotiations is subject to the principle that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed” and therefore is invalid without an overarching deal.

The above article can be found here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/23/palestine-papers-expose-peace-concession

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‘Papers reveal how Palestinian leaders gave up fight over refugees’The Guardian (UK); January 24, 2011

Palestinian negotiators privately agreed that only 10,000 refugees and their families, out of a total refugee population exceeding 5 million, could return to Israel as part of a peace settlement, leaked confidential documents reveal. PLO leaders also accepted Israel’s demand to define itself as an explicitly Jewish state, in sharp contrast to their public position.

The latest disclosures from thousands of pages of secret Palestinian records of more than a decade of failed peace talks, obtained by al-Jazeera TV and shared exclusively with the Guardian, follow a day of shock and protests in the West Bank, where Palestinian Authority (PA) leaders angrily denounced the leaks as a “propaganda game”. The documents have already become the focus of controversy among Israelis and Palestinians, revealing the scale of official Palestinian concessions rejected by Israel, but also throwing light on the huge imbalance of power in a peace process widely seen to have run into the sand.

The latest documents to be released reveal:

• The then Israeli foreign minister, Tzipi Livni, repeatedly pressed in 2007-08 for the “transfer” of some of Israel’s own Arab citizens into a future Palestinian state as part of a land-swap deal that would exchange Palestinian villages now in Israel for Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

• The US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton, and other American officials refused to accept any Palestinian leadership other than that of Mahmoud Abbas and the prime minister, Salam Fayyad. The US “expects to see the same Palestinian faces”, one senior official explained, if it was to continue funding the PA.

• Condoleezza Rice, secretary of state under George Bush, suggested in 2008 Palestinian refugees could be resettled in South America. “Maybe we will be able to find countries that can contribute in kind,” she said. “Chile, Argentina, etc.”

• Livni told Palestinian negotiators in 2007 that she was against international law and insisted that it could not be included in terms of reference for the talks: “I was the minister of justice”, she said. “But I am against law — international law in particular.”

The scale of the compromise secretly agreed on refugees will be controversial among Palestinians who see the flight or expulsion of refugees when Israel was created in 1948 as their catastrophe (nakba) — while most Israelis regard the Palestinian right of return as incompatible with a democratic Jewish state.

The PLO’s chief negotiator, Saeb Erekat, is recorded telling the US Middle East envoy, George Mitchell, in February 2009: “On refugees, the deal is there.” In June 2009, he confirmed what the deal was to his own staff: “Olmert accepted 1,000 refugees annually for the next 10 years.”

Abbas, who is himself a refugee, is also recorded arguing privately: “On numbers of refugees, it is illogical to ask Israel to take 5 million, or indeed 1 million. That would mean the end of Israel.”

On the issue of accepting Israel as an explicitly Jewish state, Erekat privately told Israeli negotiators: “If you want to call your state the Jewish state of Israel you can call it what you want.” He told his staff privately that it was a “non-issue”.

But publicly PA leaders reject any ethnic or religious definition of Israel, and it is fiercely opposed by many of Israel’s 1.3 million Palestinian citizens, who see it as a threat to their own civil and national rights, particularly since there have been moves in Israel to introduce a loyalty oath along the same lines.

In several areas, Livni pressed for Arab citizens of Israel to be included in a future Palestinian state as part of a land-swap deal, raising the controversial specter of “transfer”. In other words, shifting Palestinians to another state without their consent, a demand backed in its wholesale form by rightwing nationalists.

Livni explained privately that there are “some Palestinian villages located on both sides of the 1967 line about which we need to have an answer, such as Beit Safafa, Barta’a, Baqa al-Sharqiya and Baqa al-Gharbiya”. Earlier, she had made clear that such swaps also meant “the swap of the inhabitants”. But Palestinian negotiators rejected the proposal.

Tonight Livni’s spokesman said she had not discussed population transfers and insisted she had not criticized international law. In Ramallah on the West Bank today, al-Jazeera’s offices were taken over by a crowd of 250 security forces and protesters in response to the disclosures. Abbas said they were an intentional “mix-up”, while Erekat claimed they had been “taken out of context and contain lies”.

But senior PLO sources accepted privately that the documents were genuine.

The above article can be found here: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jan/24/papers-palestinian-leaders-refugees-fight?intcmp=239

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Also see ‘Bearing out the betrayal’ here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20081124124524681

Also see ‘Sacking proves Fatah-Israel collusion’ here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20081028050245759

Also see ‘Israeli stooge Abbas gives away the farm’ here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20081013083137646

Also see ‘Zionist-run PA (along with Arab League and OIC) keeps UN Goldstone Report, flotilla probe in bureaucratic limbo’ here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20101102133320707

Also see ‘Why Hamas took Gaza (Dayton, Dahlan and the plot against the resistance), Pt. 1′ here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=2010111219565328

Also see ‘World’s only superpower admits failure to stop Israel’s illegal settlement drive’ here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20101218200719822Also see ‘Obama offers Israel free stealth fighters, UNSC vetoes, Jordan Valley for 90-day settlement freeze” here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20101127013253495

Also see ‘Zionist state comes out of Wikileaks debacle smelling like roses’ here: http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=20101203223707519

EGYPT: IN SHADOW OF FITNA

Veterans Today

January 16, 2011

Analysts Revisit Israeli Spy Chief’s Boasts By Adam Morrow and Khaled Moussa al-Omrani

CAIRO, Jan. 14, 2011 (Veterans Today) — The New Year’s Eve church bombing in Alexandria, in which 23 Coptic Christians were killed, has reignited fears of sectarian conflict in majority-Muslim Egypt. But while mainstream news media has been quick to pin the crime on “Al-Qaeda,” some Egyptian observers point the finger at Israel, citing recent statements by an outgoing Israeli military-intelligence chief in which he explicitly boasts of Israeli prowess in sowing sectarian discord in Egypt.

“Recent statements by high-ranking Israeli intelligence officials confirm that Israel has a role in promoting sectarian unrest in Egypt,” Tarek Fahmi, political science professor at Cairo University and head of the Israel desk at the Cairo-based National Center for Middle East Studies, told Veterans Today.

Half past midnight on New Year’s Day, a powerful explosion ripped through Two Saints’ Church in Alexandria’s Sidi Bishr district. More than 20 people were killed instantly and several more have since succumbed to their injuries. Scores more were wounded, many critically.

Initial accounts attributed the blast to a car bomb. On January 1, an eyewitness told Egyptian satellite channel ON TV that he saw a car park outside the church shortly after midnight and two men get out. The explosion, he added, occurred almost immediately afterwards.

http://www.france24.com/en/20110101-suicide-bomber-kills-21-egypt-church

Authorities, however, quickly ruled out this theory. “The bomb was most likely carried by a suicide bomber who died among the crowd,” the Egyptian Interior Ministry declared in an initial statement.

No individual or group has claimed responsibility. But both the English- and Arabic-language news media have hastened to cast blame on the ever-elusive “Al-Qaeda” — alleged 9/11 perpetrator and convenient bête noir of the western world. Without further elaboration, Egyptian government officials have cryptically described the attack as the “work of foreign hands.”

The bombing comes only two months after the “Islamic State of Iraq” — a purported “Al-Qaeda affiliate” — was said to have claimed responsibility for a deadly attack on a Baghdad church that killed dozens of worshipers. The shadowy group also reportedly vowed to target Christians in Egypt, in ostensible retaliation for the alleged detention by Coptic Church authorities of two Coptic women said to have converted to Islam.

But many local observers have come to question Al-Qaeda’s very existence, with some even suggesting that the 9/11 attacks in 2001 were the work not of Al-Qaeda but of US and Israeli intelligence agencies.

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/nine-years-911-questions-linger-0

“Since the US invasion of Afghanistan in late 2001, Al-Qaeda has had no organizational existence whatsoever, with the exception perhaps of a few small self-directed groups that might sympathize with Al-Qaeda’s purported ideology,” Gamal Mazloum, retired Egyptian Army brigadier-general and expert on geo-strategy and defense issues, told Veterans Today.

.”[Israeli spy agency] Mossad, by contrast — widely known to have carried out major operations in Syria, Dubai and Iran — has vast operational capabilities and resources at its disposal and is heavily supported by western intelligence agencies,” he added.

The Alexandria attack was immediately followed by contradictory statements from the relevant authorities, suggesting that initial investigations of the crime scene had yielded few solid leads. “Nobody had a clue about how the explosion had happened or the person behind it,” read a January 6 statement from the Alexandria prosecutor’s office.

http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/news/alex-bombing-investigations-questions-remain-unanswered

“Up until this point, there has been nothing but speculation; details of the bombing remain unclear,” said Mazloum. “What we can be sure of is that the operation was extremely well planned and carried out without leaving a trace of the perpetrators.”

Mounting Tension

The church bombing was followed by five days of Coptic demonstrations, in which angry protestors — blaming the government for failing to protect the nation’s Christians — frequently clashed with security forces. Security measures in and around churches, meanwhile, have been stepped up countrywide.

While there have been moving displays of national unity, with Egyptian Muslims turning out en masse to show solidarity with their Christian compatriots, there have also been less pleasant scenes. On January 2, a crowd of Copts vented their anger by surrounding and pounding on a car carrying Grand Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed al-Tayeb, a prominent Muslim official, as he left a Cairo Cathedral.

Only days later in Alexandria, a Salafi Muslim man who had been arrested in the wake of the church attack died abruptly while in police custody, leading to charges by his family — and several human rights groups — that he had been tortured to death while under interrogation. The incident served to anger large swathes of the Muslim population, further enflaming the already charged sectarian atmosphere.

“The situation’s getting really serious now,” said Fahmi. “Mounting sectarian animosity has reached the point where it now threatens the country’s very stability.”

The largest concentration of Christians in the Middle East, Egypt’s Coptic community is thought to account for some ten percent of the country’s 80-million-strong population. While Egypt’s Christian minority has traditionally coexisted peacefully amid the Muslim majority, the frequency — and intensity — of sectarian confrontation has picked up markedly in recent years.

“Over the last decade, Egypt’s sectarian situation has worsened,” Khaled Fouad, vice-president of the opposition Democratic People’s Party and organizer of a January 6 conference at the Egyptian Lawyers Syndicate devoted to the Alexandria bombing, told Veterans Today. “Before 2000, there might have been one or two serious sectarian incidents every decade; since 2000, hardly a year goes by without a major — and often bloody — sectarian incident.”

On January 6 of last year, the eve of Coptic Christmas, six Coptic Christians and a Muslim security guard were killed in a drive-by shooting outside a church in the Upper Egyptian city of Naga Hammadi, prompting a wave of Coptic outrage nationwide. Three Muslim men, all of whom deny the charges, are currently on trial for the crime.

And in late November, authorities halted renovation work on a church in Cairo’s Omraniya district, triggering violent clashes between Coptic demonstrators and security forces that left one Coptic protestor dead. Along with under-representation in the top echelons of government, Egypt’s Copts have long complained of stringent government restrictions on church building.

Most recently, on January 11, one Coptic Christian was killed and five others injured when an off-duty Muslim policeman opened fire on passengers on board a train in Upper Egypt. While initial news reports portrayed the incident as one more example of sectarian bloodletting, subsequent reports suggest that the shooting may not have been religiously motivated.

A Spymaster Boasts

Those who suspect an Israeli hand in the deteriorating sectarian atmosphere — and in the Alexandria church attack in particular — point to recent statements by Major-General Amos Yadlin, former head of Israel’s military-intelligence directorate, or AMAN. In Arabic-language press reports in early November, Yadlin openly bragged about Israel’s successes in “infiltrating” and “promoting sectarian tension” in Egypt.

http://800pg.co.cc/geeklog//article.php?story=2010110414300857

“We have infiltrated Egypt in many areas, including the political, security, economic and military spheres,” Yadlin was quoted as saying in independent Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm on November 2. He went on to note that this activity had progressed “according to plan since 1979,” the year in which Egypt and Israel signed the Camp David peace accord.

Yadlin, whose statements were attributed to a report in Israeli-Palestinian Arabic-language weekly Kul al-Arab, was reportedly speaking on the occasion of his official handover to his appointed successor, General Aviv Kochavi.

http://kul.alarab.net/

Notably, Yadlin goes on to brag about Israeli success in sowing sectarian strife — fitna in Arabic — in Egypt. “We have succeeded in promoting sectarian and social tension there so as to create a permanent atmosphere of turmoil,” he is quoted as saying.

According to Fahmi, Yadlin’s was not the first such admission by a high-ranking Israeli intelligence officer. “One year ago, Avi Dichter [former head of Israeli domestic spy service Shin Bet] stated explicitly that Israel stood behind sectarian unrest in Egypt,” he said.

Yadlin’s frank assertions have inevitably led some local observers to raise the possibility of an Israeli role in the New Year’s Eve church bombing.

Speaking on state television in the immediate wake of the attack, Nabil Luqa Babawi, a prominent member of the ruling National Democratic Party, referred explicitly to recent statements by Yadlin. “Israel devotes millions of dollars to instigating Christian-Muslim conflict,” said Babawi, himself a Coptic Christian.

Shortly afterward, also on state television, Gamal Asaad, a Coptic member of parliament, warned of a “Zionist plot aimed at destabilizing the country and wrecking national cohesion.” He went on to refer to “Israeli attempts to exploit the tense sectarian atmosphere in certain parts of the Middle East.”

“Whoever committed the Alexandria crime wants to instigate fitna between Egypt’s Christians and Muslims in hopes of destabilizing the country and, perhaps, damaging its vital tourism industry,” said Mazloum. “And Israel stands at the top of the list of those who would benefit from such a scenario.”

Fahmi agreed, asserting that Israel “has more to gain from the Alexandria attack than anyone.”

Additional Infiltrations

According to Yadlin, Egypt isn’t the only country to be subject to Israeli intrigue. In his statements in early November, he spoke of additional “infiltrations” in a handful of other states in the region — including Lebanon, Sudan and Iran — during his five-year term as military-intelligence chief.

“We have reformulated a number of espionage networks in Lebanon and formed dozens of new ones,” he is quoted as saying. “The result is that we now have complete control over the country’s telecommunications sector.”

Within the last two years, Lebanese resistance movement Hezbollah has uncovered more than 100 suspected Israeli spies operating in Lebanon (one of whom, remarkably, is a first cousin of alleged 9/11 hijacker Ziad al-Jarrah). Hezbollah also claims Israel was behind the 2005 assassination of Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri — which brought the country perilously close to civil war between Sunni and Shiite — and, last August, presented credible evidence in support of its assertions.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/19/world/middleeast/19lebanon.html?_r=1

http://www.yalibnan.com/2010/08/09/nasrallah-accuses-israel-of-killing-hariri/

Notably, in late October, Yadlin was quoted as saying by Iranian Press TV that Israel had benefited from Hariri’s death, after which it had managed to launch “more than one operation” inside Lebanon.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/148593.html

On Israeli intelligence activity in Sudan, Yadlin, in his November statements, also confessed to having played a major role in assisting south Sudanese “separatist movements” in an effort to foment civil strife in that country.

“We provided the southern separatists with weapons, trained many of them, and assisted them with logistics,” he is quoted as saying. “We have built networks in southern Sudan and in Darfur capable of continuing this work indefinitely.”

Early this month, Sudanese Ambassador to Iran Suleiman Abdel Towab accused both the US and Israel of fueling unrest in southern Sudan, where a weeklong referendum on secession from the northern Khartoum government is now wrapping up. “The Israeli intelligence agency, Mossad, is likely to be escalating the conflict,” Abdel Towab was quoted as saying on January 2.

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/158359.html

Southern Sudan’s referendum, which ends on Saturday (January 15), has been accompanied by considerable violence, with scores killed in clashes between rival tribes in the country’s disputed Abyei region.

“Israel is known to have provided southern Sudan with weapons and military training to help in its conflict with the north,” said Mazloum. “The unfolding breakup of Sudan, which will pose an immediate challenge to Egypt’s national security, is being planned and directed by the US and Israel.”

South Sudanese leaders, for their part, have already hinted at a willingness to establish diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv — still a taboo in much of the Arab world — in the event of secession.

“There is a longstanding Zionist strategy, referred to in the writings of many Zionist pioneers, aimed at ensuring Israel’s regional hegemony by breaking major Arab countries into small and ineffective, ethnically-distinct statelets,” said Fahmi. “Just as Sudan will be divided between the Muslim north and Christian south, so Iraq will likely be broken up into three distinct Sunni, Shiite and Kurdish regions.”

Interestingly, deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, while on trial for war crimes in 2006, stated, “The Zionists are the only ones who will benefit from the differences among Iraqis,” in reference to the rapidly deteriorating sectarian situation at the time between the country’s Sunnis and Shiites.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/1,7340,L-3316173,00.html

Yadlin also reportedly admitted that Israeli intelligence activity extended into Iran. “We have assassinated several Iranian nuclear scientists and political leaders,” he is quoted as having said in November.

On January 10, Iran announced the arrest of several suspected Israeli spies who they said were responsible for the assassination last year of a top Iranian nuclear scientist. “The main elements behind this terrorist crime were arrested and a network of spies and terrorists linked to the Zionist regime was dismantled,” according to an Iranian Intelligence Ministry statement cited by Agence France-Presse.

http://www.france24.com/en/20110110-iran-holds-israel-linked-spies-over-nuclear-death

Payback for Spy Bust?

Notably, on December 19, less than two weeks before the church bombing, Egyptian authorities announced the discovery and arrest of an alleged Israeli spy network said to have included an Egyptian and two Israeli nationals. The Egyptian, 37-year-old Tarek Abdel Razzek, is expected to stand trial on espionage charges, while the two Israelis have been charged in absentia.

Confessions by Abdel Razzek have reportedly led to the discovery of additional Israeli spy networks in both Syria and Lebanon.

In light of the close timing, some observers posit that the Alexandria church attack may have come as payback for Egypt’s successful discovery/disruption of Israeli intelligence activity.

“Revelations gleaned from the spy’s confession allowed Egyptian counter-intelligence to expose additional Israeli spy networks in Syria and Lebanon, as well as further intelligence activity in a handful of Asian countries,” said Fahmi. “It was an enormous intelligence blow to Israel. It’s not out of the question that the Alexandria bombing constituted some kind of retaliation for this.”

“The church attack could have been an Israeli reply to Egypt’s detection of Israeli spy rings operating in Egypt, Syria and Lebanon,” agreed Mazloum.

Regardless of the possible motivations, said Fouad, many Egyptians remain convinced that Israel had a hand in the bombing. “Mainly because no Muslim, or Muslim organization, in Egypt could possibly benefit — in any way — from what happened,” he said.

Fouad bolstered the assertion by citing the following factors: “Yadlin’s frank admissions about fomenting sectarian strife in Egypt; that Israel has a major interest in keeping Egypt’s attention focused on internal problems while major Arab states of the region are broken up; and that the church attack immediately followed Egypt’s exposure of Mossad activity in several countries.”

Theories to this effect are hardly confined to political analysts.

“We all know Israel committed the massacre at the church,” said 27-year-old Cairo taxi driver Ezzedine Ahmed. “No believing Muslim would ever slaughter innocent Christians because, according to Islam, the murder of innocent people — of whatever faith — is absolutely haram (forbidden).’”

 

The above article can be found here: EGYPT: IN SHADOW OF FITNA