Mission & Justice

17/6/08

Israel and Hamas have agreed to a ceasefire arrangement, according to Egyptian and Palestinian officials. “Implementation of the truce will begin at 6am (0300 GMT) on Thursday,” a Palestinian official said on Tuesday. Hamas said it would respect the six-month deal, which materialised after months of mediation by Egypt. “Hamas will adhere to the timetable which was set by Egypt but it is our right to respond to any Israeli aggression before its implementation,” Fawzi Barhoum, a Hamas spokesman, said. Israeli officials, however, have yet to confirm the Egyptian-brokered deal.

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Gloria Esguerra Melencio; 13/6/08

The family of an overseas Filipino worker who worked as a domestic helper in Saudi Arabia cried foul over her alleged suicide as they met her casket at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport yesterday. Remains of OFW Eugenia Baja were repatriated through the Saudi Airlines flight number CX 903, a report to the media sent by an organization of OFWs said. The Baja siblings, together with Migrante, met her at the airport. Her body will be flown to her province in Bohol in a connecting flight this morning.

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Ramadan Al Sherbini; 9/6/08

Mustafa, a father of three girls, is proud of having his children circumcised, and vows to do the same if he gets a new baby girl. Under a new law passed by the Egyptian Parliament this week, female circumcision, also known as female genital mutilation (FGM) is criminalised. “This is nonsense,” said Mustafa, a native of the south Egyptian city of Sohag who has been living in Cairo for around 20 years. “Circumcision for girls is a must as it protects their chastity,” added the 48-year-old Muslim father. “Islam also encourages circumcision for girls as well.”

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5/6/08

A four-year-old girl has been killed and her mother wounded in an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip.Another woman was also wounded in the attack which the Israelis said had targeted Palestinian armed groups. The attack came after Palestinian fighters shelled an Israeli kibbutz (collective village), killing one person and injuring three others. The girl and her mother were outside their house near Khan Yunis in southern Gaza when a drone fired a missile, witnesses said.

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Natalie O’Brien; 27/5/08

The former head of spy agency ASIO, Dennis Richardson, warned US authorities that Canberra could not agree to their transferring Mamdouh Habib to Egypt at least a week before the Sydney man was “kidnapped” and sent to the North African country, where he was subjected to months of torture. The current head of ASIO, Paul O’Sullivan, revealed during a Senate estimates hearing yesterday that his predecessor, Mr Richardson, was per-sonally involved in discussions with the US State Department and the intelligence community about the “hypothetical” possibility of Mr Habib being taken to Egypt. “The director-general of ASIO informed the US au-thorities that it was not the Australian government policy position to engage in practices of rendition,” Mr O’Sullivan said.

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14/5/08

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has promised to build about 600 housing units in contentious West Bank settlements, a political ally of the prime minister said Wednesday, adding new tensions to peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. The announcement came shortly before U.S. President George W. Bush arrived in Israel to take part in the Jewish state’s 60th anniversary celebrations - and to try to nudge forward Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations. Palestinians want all of the West Bank as part of their future state. They oppose all Israeli settlement activity in the West Bank, saying it undermines peace talks.

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14/5/08
A judge in Milan has ruled that Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s prime minister, can be called to testify in a trial of CIA and Italian spies who are accused of kidnapping a ‘terrorism’ suspect in Milan and flying him to Egypt. Berlusconi is not accused of any crime and would appear as a witness to speak on the issue of state secrets in the case. The 71-year-old billionaire could become the first head of government in the world to testify in criminal proceedings over secret US transfers of “terrorism” suspects, known as renditions. Judge Oscar Magi also ruled that Romano Prodi, Berlusconi’s predecessor, could be called to give evidence.

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Joseph Mayton; 1/5/08

Almost two months after Amal Soliman became the gem child of Arab world feminists when she was appointed as the Islamic world’s first female maazun (notary), the men in Egypt’s Ministry of Justice still have not given their seal of approval.  Nevertheless, the latent women’s groups across the region have taken her March appointment as a sign of optimism. Soliman, 32, grabbed national and international headlines in late February when her successful application was made public. She beat out 10 other candidates, all men, for the position of Islamic notary, which authorizes her to conduct weddings, sign marriage certificates and authorize divorces.  With her degree in Islamic law from the University of Zagazig, in the Nile Delta, Soliman is qualified to take on the challenges, her supporters argue. Indeed, the Egyptian Justice Minister Mamdouh Mari said in a statement: “Soliman’s nomination depended on her abilities rather than on her gender.” But there are many critics. Islamic scholars, intellectuals and some citizens bemoan Soliman conducting weddings by arguing that a woman has unique limitations that get in the way of the job.

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30/4/08

Several Palestinian factions have accepted, in principle, to a ceasefire with Israel. A Palestinian official has said that 11 small groups agreed in Cairo on Wednesday to proposals that include a six-month truce, a prisoner exchange and reopening of the border between Gaza and Israel. Israel will now be asked if it accepts the proposal. The truce, if it is implemented, will initially take effect in Gaza, with a view to being extended to the West Bank. Egyptian security officials mediated the talks with the factions, including Islamic Jihad, but not Hamas or Fatah, who control Gaza and the West Bank respectively.

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14/4/08; http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=7139

Egypt said on Sunday it would step up airport security procedures for British officials after authorities at London’s Heathrow Airport tried to search the head of Egypt’s Coptic Orthodox Church. Egypt has already complained to Britain after airport authorities on March 30 tried to physically search Pope Shenuda III, 84, who has a diplomatic passport, before he boarded his flight. He was not physically searched but was “forced to go through a metal detector,” Egypt’s Deputy Foreign Minister Wafa Bassim told the Shura Council, the upper house of Egypt’s parliament. As a result “we will apply the principle of reciprocity and treat British representatives the same way,” following the March 30 incident. She said that a “firm letter” had been sent to the British foreign office about the incident. During the same session, Shura Speaker Sawfat Sherif demanded an official apology from the British government. A spokeswoman for the British embassy in Cairo could not confirm that the letter had been received and declined to say whether ambassador Dominic Asquith would be meeting Shenuda to apologise for the incident.