"Das Motto des diesjährigen Pfingstseminars lautet "Fight like an Egyptian!" und verweist schon darauf, dass die Arabische Revolution einer der politischen Schwerpunkte auf dem Seminar sein wird.
Das Pfingstseminar, das sind drei Tage im Zeichen von marxistischer Theorie, Austausch mit Gleichgesinnten und Planung der konkreten politischen Arbeit."
“The next time you visit Jerusalem you might not be able to walk around Mamilla, Talbiya or Holyland – but rather in the Hagoshrim, Komemiyut or Eretz HaTzvi. A new bill is aiming to refer to neighborhoods in the capital by Hebrew names only
…
The new bill is expected to anger the residents of Arab neighborhoods, as it will also apply to them. The Palestinian town of Abu Dis, for example, will become Kidmat Zion, while Abu Tor will turn into Givat Hananya.””
“Egypt's foreign minister, Dr Nabil El Arabi, has affirmed that the detention of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails and the torture and killing of some, "represents a flagrant violation of the Fourth Geneva Convection and the principles of human rights and international humanitarian laws". He added, "These violations require urgent investigation and the prosecution of those responsible for inhumane practices before an international tribunal."”
"While one might find the main divisions and overlaps between the various Salafist branches and outlooks confusing, it is palpably clear that the Salafi genie has burst from the lantern that the security agencies had once kept tightly corked. Although the regime had used the Salafis in the 1980s and 1990s as a means to counter the Muslim Brotherhood, it succeeded in bringing them under control again. Then, however, it offered them outlets on satellite television, primarily in order to distract public attention from major political issues by focussing their attention on religiously lawful or proscribed food and clothing. Indeed, one recalls programmes in which viewers would phone in to ask a sheikh such questions as whether it was lawful to purchase a watermelon that had been cut open to reveal the colour of its flesh, or why it was forbidden to force feed ducks when a mother force feeds her children, or whether using beer yeast to make bread would induce intoxication. As the scholar of Salafist movements Ammar Ali Hassan put it, the Salafi emphasis on the formalities in religious observance became an obsession that left the Egyptian intellect in the lurch, making it all the easier for the "conversion of a Coptic woman" to become the gateway to sectarian strife and acts of sabotage."
