Arab West Report Egyptian press summaries and media research for dialogue

The NGO, in a report published on its website, linked proposed step to the state of anger sweeping the Egyptian street towards the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), paralleled with the steady ascension of Islamists, which left Copts standing between the devil and the deep blue sea. 

The state of confusion Egypt is going through now furnishes a good opportunity for Copts to speedily prepare for declaring a state of their own, adding the army that has killed protesters in Tahrīr Square is the same army that has killed Copts in Maspero area and that the slogans raised in the square and Maspero are the same. 

Accordingly, the Copts should not give up on their demands, the least of which is having a Christian state. 

RAND, which usually offers reports and recommendations to the decision-makers in the United States, said there are signs that the army, as well as the street, is already experiencing splits and that the differences among the political parties have become a dominant characteristic. [Dālīyā Taha, Rose al-Yūsuf newspaper, December 20, p. 1] Read original text in Arabic

Meanwhile, the Egyptian Union of Human Rights Organizations (EUHRO) invited the members of SCAF to attend an international ceremony to mark the 63rd anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and set up a committee of 100 public figures who do not have any political or partisan affiliations. 

EUHRO said in its invitation that this committee would not represent the Copts but rather would work in association with SCAF and the cabinet to achieve full-fledged citizenship rights for the Copts as a key component of the fabric of this nation, especially in light of emergence of Islamist movements' domination of the political scene in Egypt. 

EUHRO Chairman said the 100-person panel does not represent the church, not ruling out that there might be a dialogue with moderate Islamists. [Amānī Husayn, Rose al-Yūsuf, Dec. 20, p. 14] Read the original text in Arabic

An opinion article in al-Ahrām, headlined Brutal Religious Channels, read that in recent years dozens of religious stations have become rampant and they are welcome if they strictly call for clinging to religious, moral and human values. 

However, if those channels are attacking others' faiths and only disdain religions others than their own, then this should be considered as running counter to the principles of any religion. 

Officials have to bring clerics – Muslim or Christian – who might think of giving fanatic discourses on religious TV channels to court for immediate trial. [Fāyīz Farah, Al-Ahrām, Dec. 20, p. 12] Read the original text in Arabic