Today the newly appointed Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf participated in the protest at Tahrir Square, he walked amongst his people and told them he would step down if they did not feel he was making progress for them. They reacted by mobbing him and kissing him on his cheeks and chanting that they love him. I trust their instinct. Sharaf by the way is staunchly against normalization with Israel; here’s an article for the Arab readers.
Later, in Alexandria, Egyptians marched to the State Security (SS on twitter for more reasons than one) headquarters to stop officers in the building from destroying documents that potentially detailed the rights violations and torture that took place there. Egyptians have decided that everyone must be held accountable, may they be a model to the rest of the Arab world, may Arabs never be complacent again:
From Al Jazeera: Around 1,500 protesters have stormed Alexandria’s state security headquarters after earlier clashes with police, gaining control of its lower floors and driving police officers to hide in the upper floors of the building, witnesses and protesters told Al Jazeera.
Hundreds of the protesters stormed the building on Friday night, after petrol bombs and gunfire were reported as emanating from within the building.
One witness said demonstrators had smashed pieces of furniture on the ground floor of the building, adding that army troops were guarding the upper floors of the four-storey building.
Ahmed Hatem, a protester on the scene, said the army had told demonstrators that they had orders to arrest the members of the state security agency, but that they would not do so unless they could guarantee that the arrests could be made safely.
Hatem said the army had been “rather co-operative with the demonstrators”.
And despite what some people think, a lot of what is happening in Egypt, is in fact about Israel. (Also read this: How Palestine’s uprising inspired Egypt’s, Hossam el-Hamalawy.)
Mubarak Faces Corruption Probe For Years Of Selling Gas To Israel At Sub-Market Rates
Hosni Mubarak and his former oil minister are being investigated for exporting artificially cheap gas to Israel and six European countries, according to Al Masr Al Youm.Egypt’s new authorities say these deals cost the country $170 million over the past five years. Chief prosecutor Magid Mahmud claims deals with Israel cost as much as $500 million, according to DEBKA.
Israel signed a 15-year contract worth 1 trillion cubic feet of natural gas in 2005, following up the big contract signed in 1979 after the Camp David Accords.
Gas exports from Egypt to Israel were supposed to resume this weekend, after being shut down since the pipeline was sabotaged in early February. That probably won’t happen now. This represents a big worry for Israel, which relies on Egypt for nearly all of its gas supply.
And:
Now Amr Mousa has become anti-Israel
“In an interview with Al-Masry Al-Youm daily, the former Egyptian foreign minister recalled his disagreements with ousted President Hosni Mubarak regarding Israel. “The foreign ministry during my term suffered from a negative policy on Israel’s part with regards to the peace (treaty). I thought we should be honest with the Israelis and take firm measures against them in the framework of the foreign ministry’s activities. Maybe this created some discord regarding (Egypt’s) relations with Israel.” Moussa, who served as Egyptian foreign minister from 1991 until 2001, also addressed Israel’s nuclear program. “The issue was under the full responsibility of the Foreign Ministry. The idea was to establish a nuclear-free zone and simultaneously ‘besiege’ Israel’s nuclear program,” he said. Moussa was referring to diplomatic measures he thought should have been taken as a means of curtailing Israel’s nuclear program. ”There were disagreements because officials in the president’s office feared this (tactic),” Moussa told the Egyptian newspaper. He continued to say that the “West and Israel are very familiar with my policy. They know I believe the interest is always peace and not war. I’ve read that Israel is currently trying to maneuver between the political forces (in Egypt) in a bid to thwart my candidacy. I am not ruling this out, but I don’t think the national political forces will cooperate with Israel to block the candidacy of an Egyptian citizen.”
