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Baskin who mediated between Hamas and Israeli government as well the Egyptian intelligence in the Galid Shalit case spoke about long truce talks that was between him , Hamas and Egyptian intelligence. Baskin also says that he informed Israeli officials nevertheless they went on their plan.
To be honest I will not be surprised at all if this turns to be true because I remember when Sheikh Ahmed Yassin was assassinated sources in Cairo spoke that the Hamas founder was ok with a long term truce “30 years” on the condition that Palestinians would have a state based on the Pre-1967 borders. “242 resolution”
I will not be surprised or shocked because aside from all the usual debate , there are some people in Israel who have got huge benefit in keeping the ongoing struggle and the fear factor aside from the elections games.
Also on Friday more rockets were fired from North Sinai and fell near some Israeli village on the Southern Israeli borders
Where is the intelligence from this ?? We can enter war or rather be dragged to war because of these actions because of our intelligence failure. Getting rid of these groups from Sinai is a must now. We can not wait till we amend Camp David accord, you got Special forces you brag that they can bring down mountains unleash them on these groups for God sake !!!
This is intelligence failure not to mention an army failure too that shows how vulnerable we are.
A horrible tragedy to wake up and find it in the morning !! More than 47 student have been killed in a train crash in Mandara , Assuit ,Upper Egypt earlier this morning.
A train has hit a school bus carrying over 50 students in their way to their school. The students were in KG and Primary stages. The photos are horrible for the scene already. The early batch of photos from the scene are taken by "Osama El Sayed"
You can see the rest of the shocking photos below.
According to the ministry of health the death toll increased to 49 "it raised to 50" and the injured to 15.
The people of Al Mandara village have blocked the railway in order to search for the remains of the students. The families of the students cut the Assuit-Cairo agricultural highway setting tires on fire. I can feel their anger , for God sake they were gathering the remains of their children in plastic bags !! There are 3 brothers that are killed in that terrible crash.The victims are from 4 villages.
It is worth to mention that police only showed up after 2 hours of the terrible accident and one ambulance showed up at first with no first aid supplies. Some of the victims died in their way to the hospital.T Already the injured were transported to Manfalut General Hospital that is already suffering from bad management and turned in to public market according to citizens in Manfalut.he army sent its helicopters to transport the injured to the military hospitals.
Here is a video where an eye witness explains what happens in Arabic.
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The eye witness says that the train level crossing point’s guards were not there during the accident , in fact the level crossing “which is operated manually if I understood correctly” was open !! The eye witness demands the resignation of Hisham Qandil, the prime minister. He also slams how the officials in Egypt hurried to Gaza while they did not show up except so late in Asuit.
The minister of transportation has resigned while prime minister Qandil and minister of interior Gamal El Din are heading to Assuit. President Morsi has accepted the resignation of both the minister of transportation as the CEO of Railways authority. Morsi vowed on his official twitter to hold anyone responsible for this tragedy accountable
Morsi spoke to the public in televised speech announcing that he ordered to referred all those involved in the accident to public prosecution. This is quick action and it is good to see him wearing black tie.
According to what the government announced the families of the deceased children will be compensated for each child LE 5000 !!! This is less than the price of iPhone 5 in Egypt , this is less than the Price of Macbook Pro in Egypt not even the Retina one !!! By the way the national mourning has not be declared and the Egyptian National TV is showing comedy film right !!
Here is another video from Youm 7
People in Cairo are extremely angry and they have to. This is the second related train accident in one month. Of course we need to wait for investigations still everybody knows that the victims of traffic and transportation systems in Egypt in one year are more than our victims in wars.
People became more angrier when they read the tweets and Facebook Status of MB leading members and FJP deputy chairman Essam El Arian calling for the return of the Parliament because of this accident and to hold the government accountable. He is political bastard who is only searching for his party’s gain. This is the second time he uses a disaster to call for the return of that bloody useless parliament of his party after the Gaza tragedy in less than 72 hours !!
Nevertheless there are still some politicians who understand what they should say
Since early morning Egyptians on social media are mourning the loss of 50 innocent child in Assuit.
I will leave you with these illustrations and graphics made online because I got no more to say.
"To the school we are going as millions of martyrs"
Assuit Massacre angel
Mourning : They are gone and they will not be back
First class in heavens : Attendance sheet
We got 4 siblings from one family , another 3 from another family and two siblings from another family. The families do not know the remains of their kids , they gathered the remains of their kids in plastic bags and they are waiting DNA tests.
Of course we got Egyptians “mainly from Muslim brotherhood” who are celebrating the Turkish PM’s speech at Cairo University and Egyptians who are dying to watch that football game !!
This is a famous Palestinian lullaby sang by Palestinian Rima El Banna ,“Ya Sitti” lullaby { oh My grandma}
I dedicate to the children of Assuit , Gaza and Syria.
The popular version of that lullaby was cover by none other than legendary Fairoz in 1960s “Rima goes to sleep”
All Children go to heaven.
And Pope Tawadros II has officially assumed power of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria after a ritual ceremony in the St. Mark Cathedral in Cairo after being chosen in the Conclave from two week ago.
The new Pope cried when he assumed power.
The pope crying
The ceremony was a ritual one , there were no celebrations in solidarity with the tragedy of Assuit. In fact Pope Tawadros II was thinking of cancelling the whole coronation but he could not because foreign delegations and VIPs arrived yesterday.
The ceremony was attended by hundreds of Egyptian Christians as VIPs from public figures like Mohamed ElBaradei and Amr Moussa. Prime minister Hisham Qandil attended the ceremony after 2 hours of its start.
PM Qandil
It is worth to mention that the President did not attend the ceremony , there are lots of justifications regarding this matter but let’s say the only thing I am convinced with the theory that he is trying to please the Salafists and other radicals.
Pope Tawadros II
Of course the Muslim brotherhood youth and young Islamists are happy that the Muslim president does not attend such ceremonies against our religion despite the Muslim brotherhood declared that it would send a big delegation representing the group to attend the ceremony !!!
Morsi does not even try to win the Egyptian Christians and to prove that he is the president of all Egyptians. He does not really care about Egyptian Christians as much as he cares about his image and the brotherhood’s image abroad. The Muslim brotherhood members and youth “that are not shown to the brotherhood’s allies in the West” say that he should not care for them because they voted for Shafik !!!
Oh yes the MB youth , the future of the brotherhood believe that 48% of the Egyptian voters in the Presidential elections whether Muslims or Christians should not even have the right to exist or speak. This is their concept of democracy. They can not stomach the Church after its withdrawal from the failed bloody Constituent assembly.
Anyhow back to Tawadros II , I think he knows he got big challenges whether political challenges or social challenges or even religious challenges inside the church.
There are unconfirmed as well contradicting reports that refugees camps are being set up in Rafah and Al Arish in the past few hours. An Egyptian military source denied these reports but organizations in Sinai confirmed it. These alleged refugee camps are set up just in case Israel launches a massive ground offensive. That IDF ground offensive seems to be too close especially with the statements of Bibi's online that Israel will continue to escalate.The news coming from Cairo that the negotiations between Hamas and Israel have failed on Sunday makes the possibility of ground offensive very likely unfortunately. In normal countries I do not find a reason why some people would be against having refugees camps just in case Palestinians escape from the hell of IDF invasion. But this is in normal countries not in Egypt especially now. TV hosts like Lamis El Hadidy and Amr Adeeb are scaring millions of Egyptian viewers tonight claiming that these camps are actually future settlements for the Palestinians who will invade Sinai. These TV hosts supported by a media machine that is either connected to the former regime in a way or another or can not stomach the Muslim brotherhood are playing the fear factor game in an excellent way. It is not a secret that Israel and some American administrations have spoke before about giving Sinai to the Palestinians as substitute land. Already there are some reports saying that Qatar got another old plan , Egypt to restore the control on Gaza like in Pre1967 days still despite the Muslim brotherhood is ok with this suggestion , the army is standing against it. The only way to stop this from happening is to develop Sinia for real and to facilitate the internal immigration of Egyptians for the valley to Sinai. For human reasons these camps should be ready to receive any refugees , it is an obligation. Now if you fear of Palestinian invasion , you have to express this fear not only to the president but to the army. I am not afraid from Palestinian invasion because the Palestinians will not accept it nor will the Egyptians accept too. In fact if Morsi by any chance loses in anyway Sinai ,the Muslim brotherhood's end will be written by the hands of Egyptian people for real. Let's leave that fear behind and pray that the situation does not escalate to that extent.
Despite we are late by 5 days in Muharram , I will say Happy New Hijri year 1434 regardless what. Hopefully this year will be better for Muslims and Non Muslims as well in the whole world regardless of all the sadness seemed to surround us.
It is a long day in Cairo. I started it with a quick visit to Quorsaya island where clashes took place between civilian residents and army units then when I returned back home I found clashes between army officers and officers in some police station in New Cairo.
At the same time I heard the protesters commemorating the Mohamed Mahmoud clashes' first anniversary by having clashes once with the police forces. It is like reviving the whole scene in miniature way to be accurate. The protesters threw Molotov cocktail and rocks at police forces that threw tear gas grenades. There is also field hospital for the injured that are suffering from wounds and suffocations. There are also motorcycle medics. It is a small déjà vu.
DO NOT ASK ME WHY THIS IS HAPPENING ONCE AGAIN BECAUSE I DO NOT KNOW AND I DO NOT CARE TO KNOW ACTUALLY. I AM TIRED OF ADRELINE JUNKIES IN THIS COUNTRY.
What is interesting and funnier for me is the clash between the police and the army. Once again the army officers beat crap out of the police officers because the later insulted them. It seems that the fight started at the 2nd police station in New Cairo between a Police officer and the army officer that ended with the police officer shooting the army officer in his foot. It developed to 800 army officers “according to news reports” came suddenly from no where besieging the police station demanding the arrest of that police officer who shot their colleague !!
The commander of the central zone had to arrive to the scene to stop that Egypt remake of army Vs.navy fight in 1941 !! The military police had to protect the police station by the request of the police station’s sheriff !!!!
It is not the first time that a police officer gets in to a fight with an army officer and the fight ends by the whole battalion smash down the police station and the ministry of interior apologizes to the ministry of defense !! It always starts as personal issue and gets bigger and bigger.
Here is an eye witness’ testimony “Arabic”
It is like a black comedy film !! I mean the police officers fired tear gas grenades at the army officers and the army officers hurled rocks at the police station
Here is the police station after that battle or rather attack.
In mid 1990s a police officer sexually harassed a lady and threatened to send her to jail because she slapped him and refused his advanced. That lady turned to be the wife of a special forces officer and she told him what happened. As Egyptian man he defended his honor and his wife’s honor with the help of his battalion who brought down El Nozha police station over that police officer and those who defended him. The ministry of interior apologized to the ministry of defense.
Protesters , army and police lost their mind in this country !! And Gaza is being shelled and kids are killed in Assuit !! I am starting to believe in 2012 !!
I think this info graph is extremely important when we speak about the arming and weaponry of both Palestinian militant groups like Hamas and El Kassam compared to the IDF which takes pride as the strongest army in the Middle East.
Click to enlarge it
Of course the period it covers when it comes to the numbers of casualties is not updated by that November 2012 war.
I went to Mohamed Mahmoud street and Tahrir square to see what is happening today after yesterday clashes between the protesters and the police forces on the anniversary of Mohamed Mahmoud Massacre. I went in the morning when dozens of young protesters "mostly teenagers and even school children" blocked the traffic in Tahrir square carrying anti-Muslim brotherhood slogans chanting "We will not leave , Morsi leaves"
The ages were too small. Many of these protesters are actually school kids who came carrying their back.
There were side talks conversations between citizens whether there should be protests or not in Tahrir square. There were tear gas grenades' smells through out El Sheikh Rihan street. Already when I went there , I was shocked to find kids and teenagers"Not revolutionary at all" standing on the wall blocks between them and the security forces provoking police. The kids were hurling rocks at the police while cursing and giving their middle finger to the CSF !!! The CSF from time to time hurled rocks. While taking photos , I snapped a shot for a kid collecting rocks to those standing over the blocks. When he saw that I was taking his photo , he requested to be removed , I told him to stop collecting rocks immediately and throw these rocks away if he wants not to be photographed. He did and stayed away. Of course I know that he would return to collect rocks as soon as I left the place but he was scared !!!
The kid was about 10 years old. There is nothing revolutionary about that. If that kid is killed or injured , I doubt that anyone will help his family for real or help him except God !!!
I headed to Mohamed Mahmoud street. Again more street talks and discussion. New graffiti paintings are added to the street. There was a small protest led by that Al Azhar sheikh known from his opinions against Muslim brotherhood online. The protest was calling Morsi as the "agent of the Americans" demanding him to leave !!
Moving to Youssef El Gendy street that also leads to ministry of interior. It is blocked just like Sheikh Rihan street. It was a true war zone with all the broken rocks and glass.Again kids over the blocks taunting the officers and soldiers sitting on the other side. The Lycee El Horeya school was partially torched.
In my way out I heard that two young men "Gaber" and "Mido" were shot down in the street from an hour or something. To be honest I did not hear gunshots , may be it happened when I was in Sheikh Rihan street, yet again I did not see people escaping or screaming or even blood. The people told me that his bag at the Mogamma. I have to check.
Here is a quick video clip for what I saw today
Do not ask me how the clashes started or why it started because I believe it was beyond remembering the Mohamed Mahmoud street massacre's martyrs. My friends who went yesterday there from revolutionaries and anarchists believe it started by troublemakers who fought each other before it would reach to clashes with the central security forces.
Please do not preach me about the rights of martyrs because as far as I could the only thing we have excelled in those 2 years is to increase the numbers of martyrs. We are restoring the rights of the martyrs by increasing their numbers , this is what we are doing !!
Now here is how it is going to happen , it will escalate by afternoon and soon enough we will have the full show : Molotov cocktails, rocks , tear gas grenades and bird shots as well live ammunition by night !!!!!!!!!
There is no cause and being blinded by anger without thinking in a plan will not lead us to anything. We are losing our cause for God sake
Update :
It did escalate as predicted !! Clashes are back , more injuries. The police forces from CSF are now standing on the rooftops of the schools in Youssef El Gindy street hurling rocks and glass at the protesters below !!
There are field hospitals now.
The ministry of hospital announced officially that 44 have been injured from the protesters. Unfortunately today the injured young man I heard about in Mohamed Mahmoud street was announced dead !! Ahmed Gaber , a student and a member in April 6th youth Movement was shot down in Mohamed Mahmoud street this morning from what I understood. Some are reporting that he was at point blank in his head !!He was shot in his skull and in his chest.
Late Gaber
I think with the death Gaber , things will turn worse and more people will protest and clash with security forces.
The Muslim brotherhood supporters and media speakers are claiming that these are "Secular militias" who attempt to storm and bring down the ministry of interior. I am waiting for these secular militias to attack the ministry of defense !!!! The MB will do its best to win politically from these clashes as usual and the victims will be just numbers.
I want this
And the on going war in Gaza has entered its seventh day today. According to Palestinian official numbers 135 Palestinians have been killed including 34 kid and more than 1100 have been injured mostly from women and children. I do not know if there is going truce between Hamas and Israel at all as president Morsi declared in his sister's funeral. Already according to sources in Cairo the Egyptian intelligence is trying to reach to a deal with Hamas and Jihad. Strangely after that we got the Israelis saying that the truce has not been finalized. Of course Morsi does not look now that good. It is a lesson for him not to spill the beans about something that important when it is too early.
Here is a collection of extremely graphic photos showing the suffering of children in Gaza in the past 72 hours including the horrible El Dolue massacre that was featured in media worldwide.This is on the occasion of the Children's Universal day !! "They included even more graphic photos from Ashour family's massacre"
Angry mob today torched Al Jazeera Mubshar Misr "Ajmmisr" studio in Tahrir square. The attack took place at about 10.30 AM. I arrived there at 11.45 AM to find the famous Al Jazeera Mubshar's studio looking over Tahrir square has been completely torched.
The famous studio was torched
I went there and asked people. Of course as Egyptians everybody know everything. A man standing at the entrance of the building told me that 'bearded men attacked the channel' !! Do not even wonder why bearded men "allegedly salafists" would attack Al Jazeera Mubshar Misr which is accused of being bias to the Islamists !! Of course other men had other theories about who torched Al Jazzera Mubshar Misr , I fear it would reach to aliens from outer space in midday Cairo !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The door is smashed
I asked the doorman and he told me a different story which I believe more as it is more consistent with what I heard in the way. "A group of angry mob stormed the channel and torched after a TV interview the channel aired with some Muslim brotherhood member" The doorman said adding that that MB guy accused the protesters of the Mohamed Mahmoud of being thugs and thus some protesters attacked the channel. I went to the studio in the second floor.
Another man told that the assailants were
The employees of the Ajmmisr were letting the follow journalists and reporters to film inside the apartment that looked so terrible.
The door of the channel was badly smashed.
The floor was wet as a result the attempt to put off fire. The electricity had been cut for couple of hours for security reasons.
Wet floors
The studio is completely drestroyed
I entered the main studio, the famous on air studio looking over the Tahrir square to find it completely torched and its equipment destroyed.
I found one injured Mr. Mohamed Nabil , a worker who does not work in Al Jazeera channel but wanted to save the people stuck in the fire. He got burns on his arm. He was saluted by the head of Cairo security directorate. Nabil as an average Egyptian told the police general "I did this for Egypt sir".
Now The ministry of interior that it will arrest those who are standing behind this criminal act.
Personally I do not like what happened to Al Jazeera Misr regardless of how much I criticize it. If it is Al Jazeera today , tomorrow it will be ONTV.
Al Jazeera Mubshar Misr has become the news of the day.
Minister of foreign affairs Mohamed Kamel Amr has announced from short time ago that a truce deal has been reached between Palestinian groups and Israel in a press conference held with Hilary Clinton in Cairo.
According to this truce there will be a cease fire that will start from 9 PM Cairo local time. Till 9 PM Cairo local time each team got some time to kill the other !!!
Anyhow let’s pray that this nightmare ends tonight for real. Ironically that nightmare started last Wednesday !!
Ok Reuters public the text of the Ceasefire agreement.I will copy it here.
Agreement of Understanding For a Ceasefire in the Gaza Strip
1: (no title given for this section)
A. Israel should stop all hostilities in the Gaza Strip land, sea and air including incursions and targeting of individuals.
B. All Palestinian factions shall stop all hostilities from the Gaza Strip against Israel including rocket attacks and all attacks along the border.
C. Opening the crossings and facilitating the movements of people and transfer of goods and refraining from restricting residents' free movements and targeting residents in border areas and procedures of implementation shall be dealt with after 24 hours from the start of the ceasefire.
D. Other matters as may be requested shall be addressed. 2: Implementation mechanisms:
A. Setting up the zero hour for the ceasefire understanding to enter into effect.
B. Egypt shall receive assurances from each party that the party commits to what was agreed upon.
C. Each party shall commit itself not to perform any acts that would breach this understanding. In case of any observations Egypt as the sponsor of this understanding shall be informed to follow up.
This is victory for Post Revolution Egypt in diplomacy.
The smell of tear gas grenades was all over the place.
Protesters hurled rocks at the CSF and the CSF hurled at them rocks, chairs , computers as well tear gas grenades in return !!
The CSF occupied the rooftops of the two schools in Youssef El Gendy street from what I understood. I could not go there as I was hit in my arm by a rock thrown by some CSF conscript.
The CSF threw the Lycee school’s furniture including computers.
It was not a big surprise that some parts of Lycee were torched because of the Molotov cocktails. It was matter of time. I predicted it since I saw the scene in the morning.
The Lycee’s KG’s chairs were gathered when I was there to be kept away for the school.
There were injured , most of their injuries in the head. They were transported to some field hospital or Clinic by bikers.
A 10 years old kid standing outside the street told me not to go because “the army” was beating the protesters , I told him that there was no army and it was only the police. He told me that his friend is there and he did not approve that he would go there. He also told me that his buddy told him that “he is going there for the sake of Egypt !!”.
speaking about young generations and the future of Egypt , here is a statement issued by the Lycee El Horreya students. The LHC students demand the dismissal of the school for allowing the CSF to use and to destroy the school’s properties. The students will start an open strike till their demand is met.
The Lycee´s students´statement
Well I think the students will be forced to have an open strike if the school is torched !!Anyhow I am proud of those kids.
Here are the photos I took today.
BY the way here is a preliminary list of detainees’ names arrested in the clashes.The ministry of interior announced that over 120 suspects have been arrested in the clashes.
I do not want to speak about Ahmed Gaber today , seriously I do not want tonight. By the way the MB boys are silent online. They have not received the orders yet.
Despite their hate to Nasser , the Muslim brotherhood and its man in the presidential palace Mohamed Morsi is walking on his foot steps directly. Today constitution declaration makes from Morsi a god whose orders and decrees can not be disputed in front of courts allegedly for four months. Morsi is the new pharaoh but only God knows who will Moses.
The international community will not open its mouth because the United States prefers dictators plus he managed to get that truce between Hamas and Israel.
I am furious and angry. I do not care about the public prosecutor in this degree nor do I care about the superficial money aids to martyrs' families and injured. I care about the bigger picture.
Revolutionary parties and powers were organized for a protest in Tahrir square for two weeks now to commemorate Mohamed Mahmoud 2011 anniversary and after the renewed clashes more powers planned to go. Now after the constitutional declaration issues by Morsi that turns him in to a new pharaoh Egypt is on the verge of the unknown.
You must know my laptop is dead and I donot have anything now except a desktop and an iPad. I can use the iPad now while sitting in front of TV channels catching news and updates.It is difficult thing , I can not add links or photos easily.
No one is sleeping in Cairo or Egypt technically. There are protests in Tahrir and Mohamed Mahmoud against Morsi and his declaration. There is a protest in Port Said now against Morsi. Some are saying that a mob torched the Freedom and Justice Party in Assuit. Political parties and powers are calling for a million man protest in Tahrir square and all squares in Egypt. Most if not all of the parties known in Egypt except FJP, Salafists and Al Wasat are going to protest.
April 6 Youth , The National front, The Popular current as well Ultras Ahlawy 07 are going to protest. The constitution Party, the popular current , Popular committees, Popular socialist alliance party are organizing rallies. Mohamed ElBaradei will lead the rally coming from Mostafa Mahmoud square. Hamdeen is going to lead a rally too.Abu El Fotouh is currently in the States and he slammed the declaration that shocked his supporters from MB and Islamists.
You must know that constitutional guru Tarek El Bishry is against what happened and he will not be silent
The Judges' club is holding till this late hour in its river club in Agouza where Ahmed El Zend , its head announced the judges' refusal to the declaration. The judges seem to start a strike in several governorates.
by the way Morsi is going to address the people tomorrow.
The political parties held a meeting at Al Wafd party tonight and they demanded the following :
To cancel the constitutional declaration
To disband the current constituent assembly
To issue a law for the rights of Martrys
Political powers and parties call all people to down this declaration
I am worried and scared from tomorrow , I fear from a civil war especially that we got two teams that include radicals going to the streets. The Muslim brotherhood members and supporters are going to protest at presidential palace.
Insh Allah I will be heading to Tahrir square after few minutes. I am going to spend all morning there insh Allah. I will be trying to send my updates through Cover it live here.
Several activists I know from Pro-revolutionaries expressed their concern and fear that today would turn in to violent clashes among Egyptians. I am extremely worried.
Late night I heard that protesters from Sharkia set up a tent in Tahrir square. From 4 hours someone claimed on twitter that a young man was shot down by a sniper riffle in Tahrir square. There are many rumors about the position of the army regarding this.
Today is the anniversary of Karbala , from 14 centuries ago idealistic few were conquered by the many looking for poor and domination. I wonder how it will end in Egypt.
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