Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

The Center for Arab-West Understanding presents its annual report for 2006, highlighting the objectives achieved and the goals for the upcoming year. 2006 was landmarked by growing toward the Center for Arab-West Understanding, and laying the basis for an electronic documentation center.

The authors have developed a new transliteration system for Arab-West Report that will facilitate the search functions in the Electronic Documentation Center under construction and the work of students and scholars who need to know how names are spelled in Arabic. Readers are invited to respond if they see anything that could be improved.

A controversial article on the growing Islamization of Egypt and the effect this has on the Coptic community.

The administrative court reinstated an archpriest whom the church deposed because of marrying divorced Copts without obtaining the permission of the church. The church does not allow for divorce except for marital infidelity. That is why it does not allow a second marriage except for the one whose partner committed adultery.

In memory of Prof. Meinardus by Dr. Mary Massoud, Professor at Ain Shams University, Cairo.

An interview with Metropolitan Bishoi.

This report explains the escalations following the alleged

conversion of a priest’s wife to Islam. Much background is given to the cultural context that

explain why such an issue is so sensitive in Egypt. The report also shows that several of the

organizers of the demonstration in Cairo have done so to attract media attention as a means to

put pressure on Egyptian authorities. The report also shows most media have taken a partisan

approach in reporting this issue and thus have added to the escalations. AWR added a postscript

to this reported dated May 10, 2005.

The Editorial Board has met on December 1 and December 21 and decided to ask Dr. Arne Fjeldstad, Dr. Mary Massoud and Dr. Amr Assad Khalil to join the Editorial Board. The board also discussed the membership of Dr. Mike Shelley and Ms. Dale Gavlak, who have both left Egypt, and decided to ask them to remain on the board since many discussions about texts take place via e-mail correspondence. Dr. Fjeldstad, Dr. Massoud and Dr. Khalil have accepted the invitation and Dr. Shelley and Ms. Gavlak have agreed to remain on the board.

In his interview with Drs. Cornelis Hulsman, Khaled Hamza, asked him about his opinion concerning the relationships between the Muslim and Coptic communities in Egypt as well as about his opinion on both Pope Shenouda and the Sheikh of Al-Azhar. In addition to this he was asked to comment on the case of the Ibn Khaldoun Center.

The RNSAW is glad to inform you that Prof. Dr. Mary Massoud, "Professor of English and Comparative Literature" at Ain Shams University, has agreed to serve on the board of advisors of the RNSAW. The RNSAW asked Dr. Massoud to introduce herself to you.