- On August 18, Israel aggressively entered Sinai, killing
five Egyptian security force members and injuring seven others.
-
- At issue was allegedly looking for unnamed attackers
held responsible for eight same day Israeli deaths.
-
- Filing an official protest, Egypt demanded an "urgent
investigation," explaining reasons and circumstances surrounding the
incident. Withdrawing its ambassador from Tel Aviv also was threatened.
-
- Refusing to apologize, Israel claimed militants responsible
for killing Israelis came from Gaza through Sinai. No corroborating evidence
was cited because there is none.
-
- Israel lied about what has all the earmarks of another
false flag to divert public attention from more pressing issues, including
unmet social justice demands!
-
- Egypt began its own inquiry.
-
- Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak blamed the victim,
saying the incident "reflects the weakening of Egypt's hold in the
Sinai and the broadening of activities by terror elements."
-
- Egyptian officials responded angrily. Sinai governor
Khaled Fouda rejected Barak's comments, saying:
-
- "We refute such statements and have increased security
patrolling and checkpoints in Sinai."
-
- The incident also sparked public anger, noticeably in
Cairo where protests rallied outside Israel's embassy and continue. They
denounced the attack, demanding authorities expel Israel's ambassador,
and end its 1979 peace treaty, following the 1978 Camp David Accords.
-
- To diffuse tensions, Egypt walled off Israel's embassy
in recent days. It didn't help. Protesters sprayed the two and a half meter
high barrier with comments like:
-
- "The people want the fall of the wall."
-
- Protests grew louder and angrier. On September 4, an
unidentified man told Egyptian radio:
-
- "Why would we protect a state that is killing our
people? This is wrong, unfair and irritating."
-
- Visceral street anger expressed the same sentiment. On
September 9, it erupted. New York Times writers David Kirkpatrick and Heba
Afify headlined, "Protest of Thousands in Cairo Turns Violent,"
saying:
-
- Demonstrators Friday in Tahrir Square turned violent
when "thousands....tore down a protective wall around the Israeli
Embassy, while others defaced the headquarters of the Egyptian Interior
Ministry," expressing anger over lack of social justice progress and
military junta repression.
-
- Egypt's state news agency said hundreds were injured
and numerous arrests made. In fact, since Mubarak's February ouster, thousands
have been terrorized, tried in military tribunals, and imprisoned.
-
- On Friday, protesters "scaled the walls of the Israeli
Embassy," removing Israel's flag for the second time in less than
a month. The earlier incident replaced it with an Egyptian one.
-
- Using wooden poles and hammers, they tore down the restraining
wall while chanting, singing and carrying Egyptian flags. They also broke
into offices, tossed documents out windows, and allegedly attacked an employee
inside.
-
- Egyptian soldiers and security police finally stopped
them, but by 3:00AM Saturday, thousands still battled security forces in
streets. "Demonstrators threw rocks and gasoline bombs at the officers,
sometimes forcing them to retreat, and the police fired back with tear
gas."
-
- In response, Israeli ambassador Yitzhak Levanon, his
family, and most embassy staff were flown out of the country for their
safety.
-
- Haaretz said an Israeli Air Force plane evacuated over
80 diplomats and their families.
-
- Later reports said three protesters were killed.
-
- Press TV reported that Egypt's Information Minister Osama
Heikal said Cairo will enforce "all articles of the emergency law
to ensure safety."
-
- Egyptian political analyst Nabil Abdel Fattah said:
-
- "This action shows the state of anger and frustration
the young Egyptian revolutionaries feel against Israel, especially after
the recent Israeli attacks on the Egyptian borders that led to the killing
of Egyptian soldiers."
-
- Haaretz said an unnamed senior Israeli official denounced
the overnight attack, calling it a "grave violation" of diplomatic
norms and a "blow to peaceful relations" between both countries.
-
- Netanyahu said Israel won't compromise its peace treaty
with Egypt, adding that regional turmoil shows he's right to insist on
security assurances in any future peace deal.
-
- He also bogusly linked events in Cairo to stalled Middle
East peace negotiations, pointing fingers away from who deserves blame.
Instead, he insisted Israel must "defend its interests in the region."
-
- Left unsaid always is its belligerent way of doing it,
making enemies, not allies, especially on Arab streets.
-
- On September 10, New York Times writer Ethan Bronner
headlined, "Beyond Cairo, Israel Sensing a Wider Siege," saying:
-
- "With its Cairo embassy ransacked, its ambassador
to Turkey expelled and the Palestinians seeking statehood recognition at
the United Nation, Israel found itself on Saturday increasingly isolated
and grappling with a radically transformed Middle East where it believes
its options are limited and poor."
-
- Context was entirely missing from his article, including:
-
- -- longstanding below-the-surface Arab street anger over
years of Israeli crimes of war and against humanity, as well as 44 years
of illegal military occupation;
-
- -- Israel's premeditated May 31, 2010 murder of nine
unarmed Turkish nationals aboard the Mavi Marmara humanitarian ship, bringing
vital aid to besieged Gaza;
-
- -- Israel's refusal ever to apologize for its most grievous
crimes; and
-
- -- its collusion with Washington to block long overdue
Palestinian statehood within 1967 borders (22% of historic Palestine),
East Jerusalem as its capital, and full de jure UN membership.
-
- Israel, in fact, is lucky Arab anger didn't erupt sooner.
So far, it's on a low boil in Egypt, but it's only a matter of time before
it engulfs the entire region and beyond.
-
- When it does, its Washington paymaster/partner will also
be affected, and well it should for much greater cause than just supporting
Israel.
-
- Keep that in mind on 9/11's tenth anniversary. Honor
the millions of Afghans, Iraqis, Libyans, Pakistanis, Somalis, Yemenis,
Bahrainis, Palestinians, and other global victims of US lawlessness, in
partnership with NATO allies and Israel.
-
- Think of them in the aftermath of the duplicitous 9/11
weekend commemorations, especially on what passes for US television.
-
- Understand 9/11 truth, and condemn the criminal class
in Washington, complicit Western capitals, and Israel for partnering in
a global state terror war for the spoils of imperial triumphs.
-
- Then get mad enough to do something about it!
-
- Anti-Military Protests Across Egypt
-
- Besides anti-Israeli anger, rage against Egypt's military
junta erupted again in cities across Egypt, including a new wave of strikes
for better pay and working conditions among other grievances.
-
- Despite Egyptian security forces occupying Tahrir's central
island since August 1, thousands massed in the square. Another demonstration
started on Cairo University's Giza campus.
-
- Protesters also rallied in Cairo's Shubra neighborhood,
carrying banners saying:
-
- "A minimum wage for those who live in cemeteries,"
and "A maximum wage for those who live in palaces."
-
- Farmers joined in as well, marching past Dokki's agriculture
ministry on the Nile's Western bank, directly across from downtown Cairo
in Giza.
-
- In addition, protesters denounced repressive mass arrests
and military trials, calling for "purging the judiciary of all of
Mubarak's supporters."
-
- Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of Egypt's
ruling junta, was also condemned, including by protesters chanting "A
word in your ear, marshal. The revolution in Tahrir," and "Tantawi
is Mubarack."
-
- Alexandria demonstrators demanded all members Egypt's
military junta be put on trial, saying "Everything is the same even
after the revolution."
-
- Earlier strikes paralyzed the country. Since Ramadan
ended in late August, they erupted again. Workers demand social justice,
including better pay and benefits, ending corruption, and Mubarak-era officials
purged from top posts in factories and institutions.
-
- Egypt's state-owned Al-Ahram said striking postal workers
reflect "wider disillusionment of many public sector employees with
the lack of progress" under the ruling junta.
-
- Other strikes and industrial actions targeted the High
Dam Electrical and Industrial Company, as well as auto, chemical, textile,
and other workers demanding their rights.
-
- In addition, law students protested against judicial
system nepotism in front of Egypt's Supreme Court, and Beheira Governate
residents blocked a highway in Edku, protesting Egypt's collaborating with
Big Oil giant BP.
-
- Beginning September 10, an open-ended textile workers
strike was planned in Mahalla, home of Egypt's largest textile factory.
Besides their own grievances, they also want working conditions for all
Egyptians improved.
-
- At the 11th hour, negotiations with labor minister Ahmed
Borai stopped it. An agreement was reached to accept monthly meal and other
incentive increases. Discussions about other grievances were also delayed,
pending a meeting of the Holding Company for Cotton, Spinning and Textiles.
-
- At the same time, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and his
cabinet discussed the "deteriorating security situation," issuing
directives relating to new Satellite television state licenses, legal procedures
reviewing those issued to stations with programming accused of inciting
violence and protests.
-
- In other words, airing views of street protestors and
strikers, as well as others calling for democratic reforms won't be tolerated.
-
- Other directives related to halting and criminalizing
politically and economically disrupting strikes, saying Sharaf won't "negotiate
with strikers over any demands until workers halt their workplace actions."
-
- Nonetheless, as evidenced by continuing street protests,
Egyptians know ousting Mubarak changed nothing.
-
- A previous article discussed an Arab spring yet to bloom,
saying throughout the region, people want jobs, decent pay, better services,
ending corruption and repression, as well as liberating democratic change
in a part of the world where poverty, unemployment and despotism reflect
daily life for tens of millions repressively.
-
- Access it through the following link:
-
- http://sjlendman.blogspot.com/2011/04/arab-spring-yet-to-bloom.html
-
- Another headlined, "Hold the Celebration: Egypt's
Struggle Just Began," saying everything changed but stayed the same,
calling it a common bait and switch scheme.
-
- In this instance, a military junta replaced Mubarak,
assuring no possibility of democracy and social justice without sustained
heroic pressure forcing it.
-
- Indeed, Egypt's liberating struggle just began, as it
has across the region in Bahrain, Jordan, Yemen, Saudi Arabia, Algeria,
Morocco, Qatar, other Gulf States, and elsewhere in the region - notably
in Occupied Palestine, seeking statehood and full de jure UN membership
later this month.
-
- Its 11th hour draws near.
-
- Virtually everywhere, moreover, the struggle for liberation
never ends.
-
- Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at
lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.
-
- Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and
listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive
Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central
time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy
listening.
-
- http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour/.
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