Excerpts: Egyptian air capability modernized (getting ready?).Egyptian
reform model.New citizenship rights.Egyptian media reform.Disengagement
flounders 2 July 2004

+++AL-AHRAM WEEKLY 1-7 July '04:"Marking Air Defence Day"
QUOTE FROM TEXT:
" 'We have completed the upgrading of existing radar systems and brought
in more advanced systems with tremendous capabilities for working in
differing circumstances.' "
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FULL TEXT:
ANNUAL anniversary celebrations are usually the only time the media gets to
take a peek at what's going on within the Egyptian Armed Forces, reports
Amira Ibrahim. This week's 34th Air Defence Day afforded an opportunity for
Air Defence Lt Gen Sami Anan to speak to the press about the latest
developments under his command.
"We have successfully developed our weapons via a precise and realistic plan
that meets the necessary requirements of the modernisation ... [which] has
been carried out over several phases to ensure the continuity and balance of
our air defence system," Anan said during a press conference accompanying
the event . "We have completed the upgrading of existing radar systems and
brought in more advanced systems with tremendous capabilities for working in
differing circumstances."
Anan said his troops were now equipped with modern missile batteries, and
that more command and control units had been mechanised. "This aims to allow
efficient automatic control and command of all air defence activities," he
said.
Egypt's Air Defence Forces were established in 1968. In the wake of the
previous year's defeat, they were mainly entrusted with constructing a
missile wall capable of stopping Israeli jet fighters from freely flying
over the western bank of the Suez Canal. The mission was carried out without
air shelter, and amidst heavy Israeli air bombardment. When the wall was
completed on 30 June 1970, using a Russian SAM missile battery system,
Israeli warplanes were forced to stay 15 kilometres off the eastern bank.
Anan said that since the 1973 war, the Air Defence Forces had adapted its
modernisation process to the procurement of weaponry from different sources.
His troops, he said, had dealt with and developed the weapons -- regardless
of their source -- in ways that "suited Egyptian fighting strategies. We
make the device serve our needs."
Over the past three years, Anan also said, the troops had participated in
more exercises using live weapons and missiles in order to improve their
performance and readiness.
[IMRA: What is Egypt getting ready for?]

+++AL-AHRAM WEEKLY 1-7 July:"Our own reform"By Awatef Abdel-Rahman,
professor
of Journalism at Cairo University.

QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"The Alexandria Document takes too many things for granted. One of the
things it takes for granted is globalization."

"We don't need to follow the American model; we have our own."
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FULL TEXT:
Much is being said about reform these days, but what kind of reform do we
need? We all know what the Americans mean when they promote themselves as
pioneers of global reform. We know what the Greater Middle East is all
about. But have we, the Arabs, come up with a credible alternative formula?
Most Arab countries have failed to come up with indigenous means of reform,
ones that assert identity, preserve culture and serve Arab interests. The
only exception is the Alexandria Document, but even this is flawed.
The Alexandria Document takes too many things for granted. One of the things
it takes for granted is globalisation. It fails to see how this phenomenon
has failed to alleviate poverty in the Third World. Globalisation has so far
been synonymous with privatisation and minimal government intervention. As a
result, life has become harder for the most vulnerable classes -- those who
need state assistance in social and economic matters.
Alternatives to globalisation exist. They were spelled out in Porto Allegro,
Brazil, in January 2001. They were discussed in Mumbai, India, in January
2004. The World Social Forum has put forward a vision of solidarity, of a
world that does not bow to the exigencies of multinationals.
Our own Arab Social Forum has been set up from non-governmental
organisations such as the Afro-Asian Solidarity Organisation, the Arab
Lawyers Association, the Egyptian Anti-Globalisation Group and the Arab
Human Rights Organisation. Participants of the Arab Social Forum went to
Mumbai and presented an alternative development agenda, one based on social
justice and popular participation. We don't need to follow the American
model; we have our own.
[IMRA: So why wait?]

+++AL-AHRAM WEEKLKY 1-7 July '04:"Citizens at last"

The long-awaited, revised Egyptian Nationality Law has become a reality.
Reem Leila reports

QUOTE FROM TEXT:
"The largest group of Egyptian women married to non-Egyptian men -- 33
per cent -- is married to Palestinians. While earlier drafts ... leaned
towards excluding this group from citizenship (using as a basis for that
exclusion a 1957 Arab League resolution urging Arab states not to grant
Palestinians citizenship in orded to preseerve the Palestinian identity),
the law in its final form includes this group as well."
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EXCERPTS:
...the new Egyptian Nationality Law was finally approved. The law allows
Egyptian women married to foreigners ...to pass on their citizenship to
their children. Up to one million individuals, representing 468,000 families
will now be able to become Egyptian citizens.
The largest group of Egyptian women married to non-Egyptian men -- 33 per
cent -- is married to Palestinians. While earlier drafts of the new law had
leaned towards excluding this group from citizenship (using as a basis for
that exclusion a 1957 Arab League resolution urging Arab states not to grant
Palestinians citizenship in order to preserve the Palestinian identity), the
law in its final form includes this group as well.
The drive to amend the nationality law began in September 2003, when
President Hosni Mubarak announced the government's intentions in that regard
... . According to the old law, the wives and children of Egyptian men are
automatically granted Egyptian citizenship, while Egyptian women married to
foreigners were not able to pass their nationality on to their children. ...
... the new law states that those born prior to the law's passing will have
to submit an official request to the interior minister to be considered for
Egyptian nationality. Within a one year period, they will automatically be
granted citizenship, she said.
... people who do not apply within this year will forever lose their right
to be Egyptians.
. . .
The process involves submitting birth certificates belonging to the
applicant's mother and father, in addition to the mother's identity card and
marriage contract. ... The required paperwork also includes the applicant's
birth certificate, his/her foreign passport, proof of their educational
qualifications, four recent photos, and proof of a "clean" criminal record
for those over 16 years of age. All applicants over 16 must also present
documents proving they have been residing in Egypt for at least the past ten
years.
The new law prohibits children of foreign fathers from joining either the
Egyptian army or police, or obtaining certain governmental posts....
Granting Egyptian women the right to pass their nationality on to their
children, said Cairo University law professor Fawziya Abdel-Sattar, a former
chairwoman of parliament's legislative committee, is in accordance with
Article 11 of the Egyptian Constitution, which grants equal rights and
duties to all citizens.
[IMRA: So the old citizenship law was unconstitutional! Doesn't the
excluding of new citizens of foreign fathers from the army, police and some
governmental posts deny them equal rights and duties provided by the
Egyptian constitution?]

+++AL-AHRAM WEEKLY 1-7 July '04:""Media Reform!"By Salama A Salama

QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"We need a media that mirrors public concerns, encourages freedom of
expression, combats ignorance and fanaticism and
promotes democracy and human rights"

"It would not be easy to dispose of the dull multitudes of semi-employed
staff who have swollen the ranks of state-guided media
for so long; who have driven it down the hackneyed path of ineptitude"

"Without changing the current media situation, it is hard to speak of
any real political reform."
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EXCERPTS:
There is something about alleged upcoming changes that suggests that the
entire issue of information is up for discussion. Following the election of
Safwat El-Sherif as Shura Council speaker after 22 years in the post of
information minister the word was out that the Information Ministry might be
dissolved. ...We need a media that mirrors public concerns, encourages
freedom of expression, combats ignorance and fanaticism and promotes
democracy and human rights.....
Since the end of WWII, ministries of information disappeared in democratic
countries. They were replaced with semi-independent corporations that
supervise limited sectors of information and left the state room only to
propagate its programmes and policies through one or two radio and
television stations. ...
The rest of the media should be left for competition, private initiative and
investors capable of handling artistic, media and marketing activities of
all forms. Of course, we will need a law that regulates the activities of
television and radio networks -- without interference from the state and
without a certain political line imposed upon them. This, of course, assumes
the existence of a democratic system that guarantees transparency and
freedom, that allows for the rotation of power, that recognises the media as
an independent activity and a constitutional right -- the right of the
public to know.
This may all seem theoretical or even impractical, because we have a
situation in which vested interests and centres of power have taken control
of radio and television agencies -- the backbone of the Ministry of
Information. It would not be easy to dispose of the dull multitudes of
semi-employed staff who have swollen the ranks of state-guided media for so
long; who have driven it down the hackneyed path of ineptitude, who have
failed to compete even remotely with modern Arab satellite networks.
...Egyptian Radio and Television Broadcasting Corporation should be an
independent agency .... It should have a board of trustees made up of
people with excellent and upstanding credentials as legal, religious,
educational and media experts. Such a board should set down professional
regulations and criteria. Similar arrangements are already in place in
France, the UK and Germany.
None of this can be achieved without changing press, publication and media
laws. Prison sentences should be scrapped, with the rights and
responsibilities of journalists, in written and broadcast media, defined in
an unambiguous manner. Journalists should do their best to verify the news,
remain committed to professional codes of honour and show respect for
national security and societal norms. Meanwhile, papers should be issued
freely and multimedia companies should come onto the scene. We need a true
revolution in the media and the abolition of the Information Ministry is
just the first step -- for the ministry in question has hindered advancement
in this crucial sector for decades.
We need to set up a higher council for audio, video and multimedia. Such a
council should sponsor media studies and get involved in determining the
ethical and legal standards of the profession. It may also be empowered to
give licences and arbitrate disputes. Without changing the current media
situation, it is hard to speak of any real political reform.

+++AL-AHRAM WEEKLY 1-7 July '04:"Going nowhere"

HEADING:"Violence in Gaza this week presents new challenges to Egypt
vis-a-vis its role in Ariel Sharon's disengagement plan. It is unlikely to
surmount them, writes Graham Usher in Jerusalem"

QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"steps would be takin to disarm the various Palestinian militias,
preferably by absorbing them into new 'reformed' PA security
forces."

"The only way such a truce might endure is if it were met with Israeli
reciprocity. According to the PA's national security
adviser, Jibril Rajoub, this means not only 'a comprehensive and
complete Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip' but also 'a
parallel one in the West Bank' "
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EXCERPTS:
For most of last week Israeli ministers and generals were lauding themselves
after the publication of figures that showed a marked decline in Israeli
casualties from Palestinian armed attacks. This, they said, was due to three
policies, all central planks in Ariel Sharon and Defence Minister Shaul
Mofaz's military "conception" for crushing the Palestinian Intifada.
[IMRA: A prime reason for Israel's success is the increased cooperation
of Palestinians with Israel's anti-terrorism activity.]
The first is ... the separation wall, which, in the northern West Bank, has
succeeded in reducing Palestinian penetration into Israel and its
settlements to a trickle. The second is the ... raids of West Bank cities,
such as the one that on 26 June killed seven Palestinians in Nablus,
including the local militia leaders of Hamas, Fatah and Islamic Jihad. The
third is the assassinations and incursions policy in Gaza that killed
Palestinian leaders like Sheikh Ahmed Yassin and Abdul-Aziz Al- Rantisi ...
.
These successful policies, said Mofaz, would continue for the foreseeable
future, regardless of Israel's decision to disengage from Gaza. Sharon has
intimated they would also continue after it or until "Palestinian terrorism"
is defeated. Wiser Israeli analysts warned that leaders were living a dream.
This week they were proven right.
[IMRA: Who? The week further demonstrated continuing Palestinian failure
despite some wins, just as Germany continued to pick off allied troops after
thye war had clearly been lost.]
On 27 June, Hamas guerrillas killed an Israeli soldier and destroyed an army
outpost in the Gaza Strip. They did so by burrowing a 350-metre long tunnel
literally under the noses of the salient. This excavation did not originate
in Egypt but rather from the sprawling town and refugee camp of Khan Younis.
Nor was the attack Hamas's long awaited reprisal for the assassinations of
Yassin and Al-Rantisi. On the contrary, it was "a consistent continuation of
the armed struggle everywhere possible", said Hamas spokesman in Gaza, Sami
Abu Zuheri.
The next day a barrage of mortars hit the town of Siderot
[IMRA: Aimed at a playground.]
on Israel's border with Gaza, the latest of 300 missiles launched out of
the Strip during the Intifada. For the first time they claimed victims, a
49-year old man and three year old boy. Hamas claimed that hit too, urging
that the Palestinian Authority (PA) forget about disengagement and/or any
return to political avenues like the roadmap and concentrate rather on
"armed struggle".
Israel responded as usual. It invaded and then sealed Beit Hanoun, the
Palestinian village facing Siderot and home to 20,000 Palestinians. It
rocketed "terrorist infrastructure" in Gaza, including a ten-storey building
in Gaza City housing many local and international media networks. It also
killed six Palestinians, including a 12-year old boy. ... Mofaz said the
incursion would create a "new reality" in Beit Hanoun and could take
"months".
The consequences of all this for Egypt's "role" in Sharon's disengagement
plan are stark. Last week Egyptian intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman, agreed
an ambitious timetable with the PA in which both security reforms and a new
Palestinian ceasefire would be in place by September. Following this, steps
would be taken to disarm the various Palestinian militias, preferably by
absorbing them into new "reformed" PA security forces.
[IMRA: An absolute contradiction.]
But Israel has made it clear that no decision on the evacuation of the
settlements in Gaza -- and so no military withdrawal -- will be taken until
March 2005. The idea that the Palestinian militias will hold their fire or
disarm while the occupation remains intact in Gaza is illusory. Palestinian
ceasefires under such conditions have never held in the past; they will not
do so in the future, the presence of Egyptian "security advisers"
notwithstanding.
The only way such a truce might endure is if it were met with Israeli
reciprocity. According to the PA's national security adviser, Jibril Rajoub,
this means not only "a comprehensive and complete Israeli withdrawal from
the Gaza Strip" but also "a parallel one in the West Bank and implementation
of the roadmap". It is a line echoed by numerous Egyptian government
officials.
... Sharon has made it clear that Israel's "freedom of action" in Gaza and
the West Bank will continue after and during the disengagement as well as
before it. He has also ruled out all Egyptian talk of a multi-national force
being stationed at Gaza's sea and airports as cover for the old Palestinian
attempts to "internationalise" the conflict. Finally, he has repeatedly
asserted that the disengagement is not a prelude to the roadmap but its
replacement.
[IMRA: Absolutely not. If it were, Usher would provide quotes, or at
least references.]

Dr. Joseph Lerner, Co-Director IMRA