The Arabs central experience has been tied to the fortunes of Islam: the uniting under Mohammed, the conquest of a vast portion of the civilized world, and the fall into disunity, impotence, and obloquy, which lasted from the thirteenth century to the early twentieth. Little wonder that Arabs ,and Israelis as well, are determined to suffer no further loss, either at the hands of each other or of anybody else….
It was on the twenty-seventh day of Ramadan in the year 610 that the Koran was first revealed to the prophet Mohammed. In celebration of this event, Moslems are encouraged to fast from sunrise to sunset, for as the Koran commands: “Eat and drink until you can tell a white thread from a black one in the light of the coming dawn. Then resume your fast until nightfall and do not approach your wives.”
—Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi told Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh on Sunday that “Egypt and Palestine are one entity.”
The Muslim Brotherhood-affiliated Morsi, calling to convey holiday greetings in honor of Eid al-Fitr [marking the end of the month of Ramadan], also told Haniyeh that Egypt will stand by the Palestinians, and stressed the importance of security cooperation between the two countries.
The call comes three weeks after the two leaders met in Cairo, where Haniyeh led a Hamas delegation. According to a spokesman for Morsi, the two leaders discussed potential solutions to the siege imposed on Gaza and the prospects of a reconciliation between Hamas and Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.
In related news, Egyptian state news agency MENA reported on Saturday that Morsi will visit Iran at the end of August to attend meetings of the Non-Aligned Movement. Morsi’s visit to Iran would be the first by an Egyptian head of state since Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution.—Read More:http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/president-morsi-to-hamas-pm-egypt-palestine-one-entity/2012/08/19/
—“We are talking about missiles: anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles that the Egyptian Army has introduced into Sinai, according to reports, in violation of the peace treaty between the two states,” declared Eran Singer, Arab Affairs commentator of The Voice of Israel Radio.
“This is something that is happening these recent days,” added Singer, who did not mention his sources, but it is likely the information came from the Israeli army (IDF).
Putting missiles along Israel’s border, without Israel’s permission, was one of the central factors leading up to the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, when Egypt used the cover of anti-aircraft missiles to attack on Yom Kippur.
But the commentator says that the missile move is only the most visible part of sweeping changes in Egypt since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, the pro-US autocrat who led Egypt for 30 years.
“Morsi is now the head of the executive branch, and he appoints and dissolves governments in Egypt, [but] he is also the legislative branch in the absence of a parliament. and [can] … enact any law he wants.,” said Dr. Guy Bechor, one of Israel’s top Arab affairs experts.
“The new Egyptian leader is also in charge of foreign policy, domestic policy, security, economy and more,” added Bechor, who specializes in legal and journalistic analysis of Arab society at the Interdisciplinary Center of Herzliya.
“He finalizes international agreements, interprets the constitution, and has the power to appoint a taskforce that will draft a new constitution. And so, after a year and a half of semi-anarchy, Egypt is once again a country ruled by one person – a dictatorship.”
Bechor said “the current dictatorship is even harsher than Mubarak’s, whose decisions were reached together with parliament, political parties and the courts. Here we are talking about one man who controls everything.”
Avi Yissacharoff, Arab affairs reporter for Haaretz newspaper, agreed, noting that Morsi had effectively become the king of Egypt.—Read More:http://www.algemeiner.com/2012/08/19/egypt-reportedly-sets-up-anti-aircraft-missiles-in-sinai-desert/ image:Wiki
Every Muslim seems to possess a personal fund of information about Mohammed that is not to be found in the Koran. Stories spiral one into another: Mohammed cutting off the heads of his enemies in such a way that they do not know it until all their heads fell off at once; about Mohammed being met by a Christian king who dropped to his knees to kiss his feet; and about Mohammed’s ability to satisfy all of his fifteen wives in a twenty-four hour marathon span.
—The country’s leaders have belatedly acknowledged that their insistence that Iran must enrich its uranium in defiance of the West is causing pain. The supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has called for an “economy of resistance” based on self-reliance. If meat is not available, says one Friday prayer leader, people should make do with traditional egg soup.
In fact, Iran is much richer than it was in the war years of the 1980s. On paper at least, it earned a plentiful $120 billion from oil revenues in the financial year ending in March 2011. Some of the lucre has gone to finance the pro-poor subsidies beloved of the president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, but big sums have also found their way into the pockets of senior clerics, former Revolutionary Guard commanders and well-connected businessmen at the heart of the economic elite. Porsche says it sold more cars in Tehran in 2011 than in any other city in the Middle East.
Politics and economics are notoriously mixed. Shortly before Ramadan, a sumptuous open-air wedding party for the son of a very rich businessman was invaded by masked riot police who had apparently been dispatched at the instigation of a political foe. To the screams of guests, the police fired tear-gas and pulverised crystal fixtures as the inhabitants of neighbouring apartment blocks looked on in horrified fascination.—Read More:http://www.economist.com/node/21560596
Through this traditional information, Mohammed is made more familiar than Christ is to Christians. Muslims talk about the prophet as if they had personally known him. Such stories and sayings, repeated after the Prophet’s death and embellished by successive generations, are known as Hadiths. …( to be continued)
ADDENDUM:
(see link at end)…The supreme leader disapproves of Iran’s dependence on hydrocarbon revenues and has called for investment in the country’s
-oil economy. But speculation offers better returns. Industrial units on Tehran’s southern fringe lie idle as investors buy foreign currencies or fixed assets as a hedge. Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is hard to find Iranians who argue that their travails are a price worth paying for nuclear self-sufficiency as a barrier against foreign-inspired regime change.
This is what their leaders insist, but they do their cause little good by squabbling among themselves. Less than a year before he is due to step down, Mr Ahmadinejad seems to be losing a power struggle with rivals who enjoy the support of Mr Khamenei. On July 30th four men believed to be associates of the president’s most controversial ally, Esfandiyar Rahim Mashaei, were sentenced to death for their role in a bank fraud said to have been worth $2.6 billion. Rumours suggest Mr Mashaei may himself be a defendant.
The president has accused his political enemies of deliberately stoking inflation in order to harm him. Parliament plans to deny the government a role in staging next year’s elections, the plan apparently being to “elect” a candidate more fully obedient to the supreme leader, whom obsequious disciples now consider quasi-divine….Read More:http://www.economist.com/node/21560596
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