Egypten

Militärregimen i Egypten återinför undantagslagarna från Mubaraks tid. Landets invånare lider av det utbredda våldet, kriminaliteten och strejkerna. Många verkar stöda åtgärden i brist på något bättre alternativ.

Egyptens ambssadör i Israel har kallats att förklara ett uttalande från Egyptens premiärminister där han igår sade att fredavtalet med Israel inte är heligt och att den alltid är öppen för diskussion.
Egyptian ambassador asked to clarify statements

Controversial comeback for Egypt’s emergency laws
"Egypt’s Emergency Laws, whose suspension was one of the January 25th revolution’s signal victories, made an unexpected comeback this week – provoking outrage among political activists and human rights groups. But among ordinary Egyptians, who have coped with months of strikes, crime and violence, many are welcoming the move by Egypt’s transitional military government.
“I‘ve spoken with my family and the sense from them is that they don’t feel safe anymore,” Reem Ahmed, a 23-year-old journalism student at Cairo University, told The Media Line. “They are worried that protests and clashes could happen at any moment anywhere they go. At the same time they think the military is the right leadership for this future.”As an activist who participated in the uprising that ousted former President Hosni Mubarak earlier this year, she herself is conflicted. “It’s a tough call, because I know that freedom is not part of the emergency laws, but when a majority of Egyptians support the military, it‘s hard to tell them otherwise,” she said."

Nästan normal - eller så inte, Kimat Normali

En fransk-egyptisk filmfestival startade idag i Kairo.
De egyptiska domarna bojkottar festivalen efter att de fått reda på att en av filmerna, Kimat Normali (“Almost Normal”), är gjord av en israel, Keren Ben-Rafael.
Festivalarrangörerna beslöt efter bojkotten att dra bort Kimat Normali från programmet men då hotade franska utrikesministeriet att inställa hela festivalen.
Nu hålls festivalen men utan domare.
Egypten och Israel slöt fred 1979 men det finns fortfarande starka krafter i Egypten som motsätter sig normala relationer.
Cairo film festival judges walk out over Israeli-made movie

De palestinska ledarna verkar inte heller så intresserade av normala relationer med Israel.
Förutom att de vägrar förhandla med Israel fortsätter de med att hedra terrorister. Det senaste exemplet är när en avliden terrorist, Abdallah Daud, hedrades med statsbegravning och både Abbas och premiärminister Fayyad lovordade honom.
The duplicity of Fayyad and Abbas:Preaching non-violence while honoring terrorists
Contrary to statements by both Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad and Chairman Mahmoud Abbas supporting a "non-violent resistance," their actions continue to implicitly support violence and terror. As Palestinian Media Watch has reported, the PA leaders have repeatedly honored terrorists in well-publicized acts of support in recent months.The PA leadership's most recent show of terror support was last week, when both Abbas and Fayyad honored one of the notorious terrorists of the first years of the Palestinian terror war (the "Intifada"). The terrorist Abdallah Daud headed the Palestinian intelligence service in Bethlehem, and was actively involved in the Palestinian terror against Israeli civilians. When Israel entered Bethlehem in 2002 in an attempt to eradicate the Palestinian terror, Abdallah Daud was one of the most wanted Palestinian terrorists who stormed into the Church of the Nativity. For several weeks, Daud and his fellow terrorists continued fighting against Israel from inside the church, essentially using the monks and the religious site as their shields.

Abbas sent his personal emissary to the funeral. He spoke in Abbas's name: "We must maintain the way of the Shahid (Martyr) Daud, who always believed in the struggle, in love of the homeland, and in the realization of national unity." [Al-Quds, March 28, 2010]

Palestinian PM Fayyad chose to honor the terrorist publicly and in person by paying a condolence visit to the home of his family. Fayyad "enumerated the Shahid's (Martyr's) virtues" and noted his "suffering from the injustice of his expulsion." The story of his honoring the terrorist was also reported on the front page of the official PA daily.

Hamas börjar verkställa dödstraff i Gaza
Human Right Watch och andra mänskorättsgrupper försöker förmå Hamas att återta sitt beslut att börja verkställa dödsstraff.
HRW to Hamas: Don’t resume executions in Gaza
“We are dealing here with convictions in trials that don’t come close to meeting fair trial standards,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Hamas authorities should not take the backward step of starting to impose the death penalty, especially when people facing execution have suffered unfair trials.”

Egyptisk journalist i svårigheter efter samtal med israelisk ambassadör

Den egyptiske journalisten Hala Mustafa har råkat i svårigheter efter att hon träffat Israels ambassadör i Egypten.
Trots att Egypten haft fred med Israel i 30 år har journalistförbundet förbjudit sina medlemmar att ha någon kontakt med Israel.
Media i Egypten framför ofta mycket anti-israeliska åsikter.
Läs mera: Egypt probes journalist's ties to Israel