The day started with high expectations for me. But after getting shoved around Tahrir square by one riot policeman after another for hours I was beginning to lose hope. They knew we were coming, and there were hundreds of them. Later there’d be thousands – riot police and mukhabarat alike. Their strategy was to prevent anybody from standing in one place for long. Then, they closed off the entire square which was a massive undertaking. The square was literally emptied of anyone who wasn’t a member of the security apparatus.
Tahrir Square, closed off (Photo: Ahmed Moor)
I have to admit that I felt a little defeated when I saw how effectively they’d sealed the area. I couldn’t walk thirty meters in any direction without being harassed by a Mubarak subordinate.
The protest began spontaneously at about two forty-five on one of the side streets. I’d been there since 10 am and was growing pretty despondent until I heard the commotion. At this point, I didn’t care how big the protest was I just wanted to vent some frustration; I am a young Arab, after all.
A group of about thirty men broke through a police cordon and about fifty of us joined them right away. That group quickly swelled to several hundred men and women. And an hour later, there were thousands of us. At various times over the course of the next four hours, I experienced a total failure in my ability to synthesize events around me. Was this really Mubarak’s Egypt? Was this really the spot where I’d been hounded by mukhabarat that morning? Right before I left, I climbed up on top of a police booth to get a better view. Someone said that I should get down, and I asked why. He didn’t have an answer for me.
We began to head towards the parliament building when the riot police began to use CS gas against us. First they shot the canisters over our heads, but then they began to lob them at us. It wasn’t a very good decision since we were able to kick the canisters right back in their direction. They were overcome by the gas and that caused their ranks to break. We rushed them and they started to beat people with their batons and that’s when the flagstone fragments began to fly.
As you can see in the video, they turned and ran and we chased after them. They got reinforcements and pushed back a few times and we ended up running. In the end, we didn’t make it to the parliament building but this is just the beginning. And the process of chasing down the tangible repression arm of the regime was explosively cathartic. I can’t really explain it.
I left the protest at about seven to write some dispatches and upload material, but from what I understand it’s still going on. I’m not very good at counting heads, but there were many thousands of people still demonstrating in Tahrir square when I left, and I think they’re still there. The intention is to keep them going all night and hopefully I’ll be heading back there soon. Tahrir means Liberation, by the way.
There are unconfirmed reports that Mubarak’s son Gamal and his family have fled Egypt for the UK. Egypt: President’s son and family ‘have fled to the UK’.
Lysias
So far only ONE source for all these reports in different media and it’s Akhbar al Arab…A bit strange! I’m a bit skeptical.
It used to be possible to buy meat on a public servant salary in Egypt. It used to be possible to get a decent education for the kids in state schools. It used to be possible to save for the wedding of a child with a job as a teacher.
Now 1 hour of tuition outside school hours costs what a taxi driver earns in a day. Most government clerks with kids doing exams also work as taxi drivers. A lot of passengers are not able to pay the full fare. Egypt is a tragedy and a revolution waiting to happen. Masr ta baan is what the people say. Egypt is exhausted.
Masr taa’ban = Egypt is exhausted/tired/poorly.
Masr ghalbaan . Egypt is poor.
misr halkaana.
bas ilmasriyyeen ged3an ;)
I’m worried here because the Egyptian army is not as sympathetic to the Egyptian people as the Tunisian army is to Tunisian civilians.
Unless at least a handful of Egyptian generals abandon instructions/loyalies to the ruling elites, I fear a bloodier revolt on the streets of Egypt than we’ve seen on the streets of Tunisia.
Taxi, that is what I am hoping for. But remember, last year those generals that were arrested and put on trial, hopefully there are many more of them!
If the regime falls in Egypt Israel is going to be on DEFCON 1.
If Iran’s regime didn’t fall last spring, Egypt’s won’t fall now.
The difference is that Iran’s people support their government and Egypt’s only hate theirs.
Whatever happens it is good for Israel.
The status quo is good, and if the islamists take over Israel will just take back the Sinai which is also good. Let’s see what they then do with Israel sitting on the Suez Canal. They will have to grovel to the US to get the Sinai back. And if there is a prolonged civil war, that is very bad for the Egyptian people, but how does it harm Israel? Egypt is such a basket case that it cannot make any meaningful problems for Israel.
eee,
You really are a sociopath. If you think Israel trying to “take back” the Sinai will be good for Israel, you are insane. Literally out of your mind, given the amount of blood, Arab and Jewish alike, which will be spilt in such a conflict.
Israel is 5.5 million ideologues, eee. It is run by a nightclub bouncer and a carpet salesman. It knows how to run an occupation. But is short of real practice. And it only needs to lose ONCE.
link to guardian.co.uk
“There is no revolution in Egypt, yet. But, hypothetically, if Mubarak were to fall, the consequences would be incalculable – for Israel and the peace process, for the ascending power of Iran, for US influence across the Middle East, and for the future rise and spread of militant, anti-western Islam. And not least, for 80 million Egyptians.
“Our assessment is that the Egyptian government is stable and is looking for ways to respond to the legitimate needs and interests of the Egyptian people,” US secretary of state Hillary Clinton declared on Tuesday night. They thought that about Ben Ali’s Tunisia, too. Clinton’s hurried words show how worried they are.”
Egypt would be an incalculable loss to the US. It would throw the last 38 years of containment and settlement expansion out the window. Israel is so vulnerable to the sort of change that may be around the corner.
Especially with the occupation on full throttle.
Woody,
If the Egyptians revoke the peace treaty it is a certainty Israel will retake the Sinai. And it will be done with very little blood shed. There is no chance the Egyptian Army which has been completely cleansed of islamists since Sadat’s murder is going to lift a finger to help an islamist regime. In fact, the islamists will be busy purging the army or there will be a civil war in Egypt.
“Israel is 5.5 million ideologues, eee. It is run by a nightclub bouncer and a carpet salesman. It knows how to run an occupation. But is short of real practice. And it only needs to lose ONCE.”
Why, what will happen if we lose? Ah yes, the Arabs will massacre us. Thanks for taking your mask down.
Ah yes, the Arabs will massacre us. Thanks for taking your mask down.
strawman. your arab/massacre jews meme eh. fyi, i think it is more likely a global boycott will bring down israel. you said this earlier:
Let’s see what they then do with Israel sitting on the Suez Canal. They will have to grovel to the US to get the Sinai back.
really, you are inflammatory and gross. there’s far more jews killing arabs going on and has been since israel’s inception. you glorify in israel’s violence, calling it ‘good’ while claiming to be the victim and ascribing your own glee to your adversary. it’s disgusting.
eee,
“If the Egyptians revoke the peace treaty it is a certainty Israel will retake the Sinai.”
Who says that if “the islamists” take over they will revoke anything?
“And it will be done with very little blood shed. There is no chance the Egyptian Army which has been completely cleansed of islamists since Sadat’s murder is going to lift a finger to help an islamist regime.”
Do you REALLY think that the Egyptian army will see the attempted invasion and theft of the Sinai as being of no concern because the regime in control is Islamist? Are you mad?
I know you have the morality of German National Socialists (or at least try fake it real good), but, really, you should at least learn from their mistakes. Just as the invasion of the Soviet Union unified the country in a “Great Patriotic War” against the depravity of the Germans, regardless of the divergent opinions regarding Stalin or the Communist system, so one would expect the Egyptians, like any country and any people, to stand up and fight for their country, even if not their government, in an attempt to fight and repeal a horde of murderous barbarians.
Annie,
What is inflammatory about it? What do you expect Israel to do if a regime in Egypt revokes the peace treaty? The Sinai was exchanged for peace. No peace, no Sinai. It is quite simple. And then the US will step in and broker another peace treaty and gain influence again in Egypt. And again you have proof of how valuable Israel is as an ally to the US.
Israelis are one-note Johnnies with their Blitzkrieg mentality. Didn’t learn a thing from the debacle in Lebanon, evidently.
It’s this rigidity of thinking — starkly visible in the Palestine Papers — which makes Israel so vulnerable. They sound like prewar Germans — stubborn, brittle, totally lacking in finesse. Not a winning combination for the long run.
Why, what will happen if we lose?
Let’s try it and find out.
Hey eee, you and who’s army is gonna take over AND maintain Sinai?
Do tell us that even Moshe Dayan will be head of the line of fantasy tanks, why don’t you?!
Honestly you are sooooooo 20th century.
The Sinai was exchanged for peace. No peace, no Sinai. It is quite simple. And then the US will step in and broker another peace treaty and gain influence again in Egypt. And again you have proof of how valuable Israel is as an ally to the US.
First of all, thanks for highlighting why Zionists can’t be trusted eee. They are constantly devising up new ways of exploiting or creating conflict to make more land grabs.
Secondly, I’d like to see Israel try and repeat its history with the Sinai, so that the world sees this time when Israel begins purging its population, the real values of Zionism.
“eee. You really are a sociopath. ”
Of course he is, Woody! From day one he’s been a “might makes right” adept even if he’s been trying to fool us into believing he’s moderated his tone since he’s been allowed back. The guy is quintessentially a fascist and a racist in the “glorious” Israeli fashion!. He’s well documented for having uttered some of the most callous, unscrupulous and most unprincipled statements I’ve ever seen on this site!
>> He’s well documented for having uttered some of the most callous, unscrupulous and most unprincipled statements I’ve ever seen on this site!
He’s the blunt, unpolished version of RW. They both share the same principles, but eee is the guy who’ll be getting sh*t done while RW is the guy who’ll be “holding his nose” and justifying eee’s hateful activity as “necessary”.
eljay
Both sociopaths (as Woody suggested)!. The day I’d make a distinction between a fascist and a fake liberal, I’d be missing the forest for the trees!
I think eee talking about a Sinai invasion right now is a little callous to say the least. But in all reality, if Israel were to do anything against the Egyptian military, they have air superiority. Which means a lot more than it ever meant in 1967.
Israel couldn;t even take the Litani against Hezbollah. They won’t be able to take the Sinai. Egypt isn’t Hamas.
Let’s see what Israle does when they get hit by a real military ratehr than just people throwing rocks. The IDF Dough Boys will go AWOL, like they did against Hezbollah.
Becasue Isrel is incapable of fighting a prolonged war.
If it hadn’t been for Nixon, they would have kicked your ass in 1973.
On the contrary. The belief in air superiority has proven to be folly, which explains why Israel got their asses kicked in 2006, in spite of air superiority.
If it hadn’t been for Nixon, they would have kicked your ass in 1973.
according to eee
And again you have proof of how valuable Israel is as an ally to the US.
defies logic how the US brokering peace amounts to proof israel is a valuable ally.
Or that the US would have to offer Israel a monumental bribe to simply stop building illegal settlements for 3 months.
BTW. Israel is not a ally. Israel has never signed an allied treaty with the US, becasue it woudl require Israel to:
a) declare its borders
b) inform the US of it’s miliatry plans and stratergies.
So, in Israelithink, eee says Israel should start a war in order to show that Egypt is against peace.
eee
You may not believe it, but there are other countries in this world outside Israel and the USA. Europe is getting very tired of your criminal affairs.
Wish you never have to see what happens if you take the Sinai.
Let me explain again, Israel will take the Sinai back only if Egypt annuls the peace treaty. The Sinai was returned as part of the peace treaty. If the peace treaty is null and void, so is the return of the Sinai. The US and Europe will understand and support that.
And if a new Egyptian regime does not annul the peace treaty, then what has changed from Israel’s point of view?
eee,
“Let me explain again…”
This is your war-masturbation fantasy and you keep changing the conditions. You initially said that if the Islamists take over Egypt that Israel will steal the Sinai, and now you are saying that if Egypt annuls the peace treaty Israel will try to do so. Which is it?
And second your view of the conditions of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty is, frankly, loopy. Israel’s agreement to return the Sinai was only one of the conditions in the agreement. Another was an end to the state of war which had, theretofore, existed between them. Egypt and Israel did not condition the return of Sinai on there being perpeutal peace, as you laughingly seem to suggest, but on ending the state of war which existed at that time.
If there is another casus belli between Egypt and Israel, then nothing in this treaty is affected, because neither state bound itself to limit its actions under international law in the future, except under the terms of the treaty, which did not include a term of perpetual peace.
yonira
We had wast air superiority in Vietnam, yet we lost the war.
The same in Iraq and Afghanistan, where we are losing the game.
Only feet on the ground can win a war and if people are ready to die for their cause you have no chance against them.
Air power is OK if you can back it up with a good infantry.
Israel bombed Lebanon plenty, yet still could not conquer the Hisbollah.
Hezbollah are insurgents?
Bukra fi mishmish
love it.
Bukra fi mishmish = tomorrow there’ll be apricots.
which is the equivalent to the English “when pigs fly”.
You think Iran and Egypt are the same?
Ellen,
I think they both have equally vicious secret police who maintain order. An authoritarian government is only as strong as their ability to squash resistance. Iran did a good job of it last Spring, Egypt seems to be doing a decent job of it so far. (although it doesn’t seem to be anywhere near what was seen in Iran)
As we are seeign with Israel.
As we are seeign with Israel.
Iran is under existential threat . Egypt is kept down in the interests of the US and Israel. There is no comparison. The vast majority of Egyptians hate Israel, and with very good reason. they can all watch Gaza on al jazeera. They know that Gaza was no different to al Arish in 1948….
existential threat by whom? Isn’t that an Israeli talking point?
Because Israel has never threatened to bomb Iran? Oh, remind me again, what was that song by the beach boys that John McCain tried to sing?
Just because you use it spuriously, yonira, doesn’t mean that anyone else is even a fraction as disingenuous.
Ahmed, you did an excellent job filming this, I love how you caught one of the homeless kids that live around the old AUC in this film EXCELLENT!
Look closely everyone the girl in the yellow skirt/ jeans/ veil is barefoot, and I assume one of the many Cairo street kids.
Yes, I saw that. She seems to be maybe 12 or so and is very brave, running right up to the police.
great video, Ahmed.
please stay safe. With best wishes.
Ditto on the safety. I must say I was worried when Ahmed appeared to be among the closest protesters to the riot police. I share Taxi’s concern that this might turn bloody before too long.
It has … police have moved into Tahrir Square to bust up the demo, Tiananmen Square style. Massive tear gassing, say reports.
wow this is amazing. we are so lucky to get this coverage here. thank you thank you thank you Ahmed and mondoweiss.
tweeters are reporting that Suzaane Mobarak arrived in London Heathrow Airport.
It would be kind of nice if any of these videos could be viewed.
Guardian is reporting “unconfirmed reports” that Mubarak et fils have fled to London.
And just a few hours ago Hillary C was saying the Govt there “is stable” !
Looks like the whole-scale dismantling of the US-built house of cards (of shameless sell-outs) is beginning to come apart.
Stupid neo-conism in US still hasn’t learnt to connect the dots, not in 9/11, not in Latin America which eased itself out from the grip of the Eagle during the last ten years and nor all over the Arab world.
What are the Ancient Arabs upto? I ask, in total respect?
It is more than dumb neocons. Neoliberal QE money is flooding into commodities all over the world and driving up the cost of food and driving people onto the streets. Mubarak can do a lot but he cant stop global capital inflating the price of wheat beyond the reach of the millions of Egyptians who depend on it.
Under the aid agreements with Egypt, they are required to make purchases of US Wheat with the aid.
I agree Seafoid, it’s more than just “dumb neocons”
Neoconism is an attitudenal-virus which infects neocons and neolibs alike into dumbness. Just look at the dear Leader announcing in an hour how the State of the Union is strong while the world falls apart around him. None accused him of being a neocon, hell, neither blacks nor gays nor women (not just Boxer, even Feingold and more) have any inherent immunity to neoconism.
Incidentally I am a bit skeptical of Mubarak’s flight from Masr. I don’t think the “revolution” will be that easy…there’s a lot more bloodshed to come, even as it appears at the moment to be all quiet in the Cairo Square — well past midnight there.
I think the Egyptians are well aware of the possible struggles ahead: strikes, sit-downs, protests and demos in different part of the country for weeks possibly months ahead.
Have received messages from colleagues in Cairo. The population is huge and the city enormous. Not all areas feel the protests. Messages are that it is only “some demonstrating for their legal rights.”
Egyptians live under strong repression and are cautious as to what they say. The military runs the country. Ironically, like Israel all in power come up through the military. (Mubarak, like Sadat came up through the military.)
If this could be broken and Mohamed ElBaradei could run for president this might break the pattern. He would have support of the proud (but repressed for centuries) Egyptians, but to succeed and run the country as an open society he would have to make alliances with groups the US does not like. If this demand for “legal rights” takes hold, I wonder if the US will support an outsider that will not be a puppet?
Egypt has a very young population. In spite of its poverty and poor infrastructure and education system, it is still the most educated population of young people ever.
I would be interested to know what the mood is like in working class areas of Cairo like Shubra. The political system is calcified and is incapable of addressing Egypt’s many problems. The longer the NDP staggers on for, the worse things get. The mukhabarat (secret police) rule by fear but on the other hand lots of middle class masris have access to the internet to organise.
The education system is poor if you don’t have the money. Teachers are paid a pittance and in Cairo at least most work 6 hours after school giving private lessons and they just don’t bother in their contracted school hours. Jordanians, Palestinians and Tunisians are better educated than Masris.
If there is going to be a change I think it is a long play. The sha’ab need to get the feeling that things can change first.
All I can say is wow effing wow!
USA supplied Mubarak with Tear Gas used in Cairo demonstrations (didn’t they also supply Israel with tear gas that killed and injured demonstrators in Palestine)?
link to masr.tumblr.com
Tahrir Square demo ends in tear gas, listen at the end of the video and you hear a woman speaking English choking on tear gas.
for MG: I try to demonstrate but I choke …
link to youtube.com
Very shocking. Did you see those children throw rocks at the police. Such unacceptable violence. Where is the Egyptian Gandhi?
‘We were able to kick the canisters right back in their direction. They were overcome by the gas and that caused their ranks to break. We rushed them and they started to beat people with their batons and that’s when the flagstone fragments began to fly.’
Now that’s what I call guerrilla journalism — pen in one hand, paving stone in the other!
Carry on, my man. Some ugly action is going down in Tahrir Square now.
I was watching the last live internet feed of Tahrir Square at 5:30 (EST) tonight when all hell broke loose. There was little visual available but there twenty minutes of shooting. I assume it was teargas and rubber bullets but there was no way to tell from the feed. The massive protest in Tahrir Square was cleared and the feed died. I have not seen this yet reported in the media.
sisters and brothers
today
in the streets of cairo
a rebirth of freedom
blessed be its martyrs
blessed be its martyrs, is a death more powerful than a life?
Poetry and humanity aren’t your strong suits are they yonira?
No, but dying standing up is preferable to dying on your knees Yonira, and life is not worth living as a slave – but I do not expect you to understand those sentiments. Similar phrases have been used “GIVE ME LIBERTY OR GIVE ME DEATH!” – was death more powerful than life for Patrick Henry?
FAMILIAR REFRAINS
Perhaps it was more acceptable because he was white
What, did you expect yonira to actually know the history of the country of his birth? Remember what happened when I quizzed him on whose signatures were on the Hamas Charter and he claimed that the Declaration of Independence had no signatures either?
Of course, there’s always “Its good to die for our country,” supposedly the last word of Yosef Trumpeldor, an early Zionist “martyr” who is revered in Israel.
Chaos,
your distortion of reality has no bounds does it? You are claiming I didn’t know the Declaration of Independence was signed? Is this your new MO, pop in here for one ad-hominem attack a day? If that is the case you gotta do better than that man.
I remember this conversation very clearly, yonira. I challenged you to list the signatures on the so-called Hamas charter, and your response was something akin to, “wtf? who signed the declaration of independence? lol?” And then I proceeded to list every one of the sixty-odd signatures on the Declaration of Independence.
Don’t make me go and fetch the link to all of this. Not that I don’t enjoy exposing you as a fool but I’m not as much a fan of “fish in a barrel” shoots as you and your college clique apparently are.
Here is what the target is, and anyone who serves this agenda – throw out the US and its supporters in your government, banish it from any influence. Tell them that you not only want your freedom, but you want the freedom of the Palestinians, and that the entire ME will be in flames until the people get what they want –
BULLSEYE!
Play it loud –
WHAT TIME IS IT?
Ahmed: Please be careful. We need your reporting, so stay safe. Mubarak will order them to open fire with live ammunition at some stage.
(By the way, that is the Mogamma building in the background, no? Anyone remember that great Egyptian film, Terrrorism and Kebab?)
El Irhab Wal Kebab
link to youtube.com
I sense some belief in a good number of the posters here that if the balloon goes all the way up over there and if the military doesn’t step in and decide things that some at least … roughly admirable group or system will emerge in control.
Might I inquire of those holding same the source of their optimism? Seems to me likely that without any great tradition or even template of anything else, the pretty strong bet would be that the most organized and motivated group will simply win and take over and if things are lucky will be *only* as non-representative and bad as Mubarak. And of course the most organized group there is probably the military, with the second most organized group (if not the *only* other one of any significance whatsoever) is the Muslim Brotherhood, no? And of course whatever else it may be lacking the Brotherhood isn’t short on motivation.
So is the hope here that someone *other* than the military or the Brotherhood will take over? If so … candidates and likelihood?
Or is the hope that the Brotherhood will take over and the belief is that *it* will be better than Mubarak? If so, I’d like to hear the arguments in support of that belief.
One would hope that Egypt finally gets an electoral process, so that if an undesirable crew takes power, it can be voted out in due course.
Not straying from the status quo is always the plea of those who are not oppressed, and raising the specter of a worse outcome is always used to stave off what needs to be accomplished. The vision of the future for those who can see nothing else but a “representative” sham shows the faithlessness of those who cannot see full participatory activity of the people. They have visions of an authoritative model over the people, because they are incapable of conceiving anything else. So they bring up the boogie man at the first sign of determined resistance.
Here is the goal of the state, you know, that which is essentially a franchise for the elite. They want to stop and tame you, and their moderate supporters (both conscious and unconscious) join them in trying to condemn the only activity which moves the state meaningfully – however the goal is not to merely move it, but to see to its destruction, so that it never arises again. Their goal is to control you and make you harmless, but there is nothing that moves this entity but force –
COLONIAL/STATE MYTHS AND “NON-VIOLENCE”
Essentially what they want to do to stem the tide of liberation –
PACIFYING RESISTANCE
Ahmed
Aren’t you ‘American’? Talk about dual loyalty. Is this an American first attitude or an Arab first attitude?
Dissent IS American, yonira.
Now what was that old saying…. oh yeah something about people who live in glass houses….
If Ahmed were to go straight out of an American college into a nationwide military state where he was aiding in the bulldozing of homes, strip-searching six-year-olds at flying checkpoints and murdering and dismembering American activists with tear gas canisters, then he’d have dropped down to your level where your criticism might actually make sense, yonira.
As for as Eee’s take on Sinai,what the other commenters said pretty much captures his delusions about Israel’s power. But i think Israel won’t wait for the new Islamist regime to scrap d peace agreement. Sinai would be invaded all of a sudden,and that is exactly what Al Qaeda has been trying to do since 9/11. They succeeded in embroiling US in their traps in Afghanistan and Iraq,now in Yemen,Somalia and Pakistan.what was missing regarding Israel was a similar tomfoolery on the zionist part. AQ can’t pull this in southern Lebanon,that’s Hezbollah’s and Iran’s turf.a Sinai invasion would be Israel’s biggest blunder,on the same scale as the misadventure of the Templars massacring Muslim civilians in the Crusades.and Israel won’t hav pansy enemies like Hamas or even Hezbollah(which is now so embroiled in politics,that they hav forgotten their founding goals). Israel wud be facing Salafi jihadis,in battle, for the first time.and unlike the salafis of Gaza,the Sinai jihadis would hav ample resources, to pull a more violent war than Iraq.In one stroke, Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas would be irrelevant. Coz right now,other than Hamas and Hezbollah,every anti-govt. armed group in MENA is salafi jihadist.and a Sinai invasion would make Israel taste stuff,they have never tasted. As for the Egyptian army,it won’t hold long any resistance. The only purpose of army and police in Arab world is to oppress their own people,nt defend the nation from aggressors.pretty fast,it wud only be the Salafi jihadis left standing.
Salafi jihadists are cowards only good at butchering defenseless people.
Defenseless like those 7 CIA agents plus one Jordanian GID agent killed in Afghanistan in 2009?
If you’re talking about what I think you’re talking about, you forgot to mention the Blackwater/Xe employees who were also caught up in that bombing. Worth noting since it hammers your point home.
I have no idea whether Israel would be dumb enough to invade Sinai–they probably are–but I think we all know that Israel will use whatever “chaos” it sees on its borders as an excuse to raise the well-worn flag of security and take advantage of the situation to further impose its will on the Palestinians, both those living in Israel proper and in the OTs.
With trouble on its borders in Lebanon and Egypt, and with the peace process finally and forever exposed as a sham, I could easily see the powers that be in Jerusalem begin to implement some final solution for the Palestinians.
The pretext could easily be Israeli Arab and Palestinian demonstrations in solidarity with the people of Tunisia and Egypt.
“I could easily see the powers that be in Jerusalem begin to implement some final solution for the Palestinians”
I could easily see a real life global jihad taking off if Israel tries to ethnically cleanse East Jerusalem of its Muslims. There are seasoned fighters in the Caucasus, in Pakistan, Afghanistan and Iraq with lots of Russian and American notches and many would be prepared to die for the Haram ash Sharif.
Zionism is a joke that has gone way past its sell-by date.
Here is a comment that sums up the day for me:
“All this is happening because we are not afraid,” said Shaimaa Morsy Awad, a young woman who held aloft an Egyptian flag during the protest. “Every day more people will join us. We are still weak, and there’s a lot of work we have to do. But there’s a revolution coming.”