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Sirgo’s Labyrinth

~ On Egypt news & other things on my mind

Sirgo’s Labyrinth

Tag Archives: news

The addictive cycle of TV news

07 Thursday Jan 2016

Posted by Ssirgany in Media, Sirgo's, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

african voices, becky anderson, CNN, connect the world, Egypt, forced disappearances, freedom project, immigration, inside africa, Media, metrojet, news, parliamentary elections, personal, plane crash, russian plane, sarah sirgany, sex and the citadel, shereen el feki, war, wedding dress

My 2015 resolution was more writing and less TV work. It turned out to be the year with the least amount of writing and variation in outlets I contribute to. Instead, I did more TV, much more TV than I had planned. And different from what I imagined, with more variety in story types and kind of work that made it an exciting year despite the failed resolution.

The Arab Summit in March, held days after the Saudi attack on Yemen started, was a window into the other and more influential side of war: the smiles of diplomats, the calculated anger of officials, and the hushed conversations tucked in the hallways of the resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh.

In the summer, I got the chance to take part in a lengthy investigation that spanned two countries. On the Egypt side, the team probed the factors and repercussions of illegal immigration of minors to Italy. Boys under the age of 18, usually 16 or younger, take advantage of Italian laws that prevent the deportation of unaccompanied minors. Their families buy them a spot on smuggling ships, hoping they would replicate the few success stories of illegal-immigrant-turned-business-owner in a short time. Kids picking up the main trade of sailing and fishing of the border villages they live in, like the Burg Meghizal village we reported from, are used by smugglers to sail the shaky boats. In case of arrest while en route to Italy, minors would be referred to shelters rather than prison, and if they make it safely, they would have worked the worth of their ticket to the other side of the Mediterranean.

In Italy, the rest of the team documented how these kids, under family pressure to make money, escape the shelters and end up in the prostitution or drugs businesses.

You can watch the three parts here:

Egyptian boys: seeking prosperity, dying at sea,

Egypt teens seek roads paved with gold in Europe

In Rome, migrant children forced to turn to prostitution

It was turned into a 30-minute special with more interviews and footage, but sadly it’s not online. The story was part of the CNN immigration and refugee coverage that won the Association of International Broadcasters Award in November.

Also in the summer, Becky Anderson’s Connect the World started its annual tour of the region, which is making a habit of ending prematurely in the wake of wars and other upheavals. This year, Egypt’s week wasn’t cut short like in 2014. The show was aired live from Cairo for four days culminating in the café set that featured multiple guests discussing sex, politics, economy and art.

You can watch clips from the Egypt arm of the tour here:

Bassem Youssef crashes Connect the World

Sex and society in the Middle East

Sharmoofers: The Sound of Cairo

Who’s responsible for over 160 missing Egyptians?

And to diversify things a bit, I got to work with African Voices and Inside Africa, two programs that are more flexible with format. We got to profile Sondos Shabayek, the woman behind the Bussy Project and its gender-based storytelling and interactive performances; and Yasmine Yeya, the talented and exclusive wedding designer, among others. We worked on an art-themed episode for Inside Africa.

Every year has to have an intense cycle of news coverage. This year it was the Russian airplane that crashed in Sinai. I traveled to Sharm El-Sheikh on the day of the crash and stayed there for almost two weeks. The intense live hits schedule and the continuous demand for new information drove an adrenaline high. Despite my long-unfulfilled intention to leave news, that adrenaline rush is as addictive as much as nerve wrecking. News for TV is more demanding than print. It’s highly competitive; scoops, deadlines and the demand for official response are measured in seconds and minutes. It gives less time for verification and the exposure each little piece of information aired on TV gets magnifies the smallest mistake. Despite this, and the unyielding struggle of acquiring information out of Egyptian officials, it is easy to get into this news cycle and deliver, like latching onto the greased wheels of a robust machine.

Such attachment to news cycles remains scary; like a black hole drawing you in to a grinder that spits you out months later unaware of the time spent – or wasted – or how the stories had scared you.

You can watch some of our plane crash coverage here:

Sharm el-Sheikh airport security under scrutiny

Can Egyptian tourism recover from Flight 9268 crash?

This year hasn’t been completely without writing. I contributed numerous stories to CNN.com, either to accompany TV reports we produced or on their own. You can read some of them here:

16 dead in protests marking Egypt revolution

Freed Al Jazeera journalist: I can’t get back my baby’s first 6 months

New terrorism law could target journalists in Egypt

Burned out and apathetic, Egypt prepares to vote – again

Is Egypt verdict a victory for LGBT rights? – Al-Monitor

The biggest contribution in writing has been on the research side. For over a year, I researched the disenfranchised electorate as a non-resident fellow at the DC-based Atlantic Council. The paper was postponed and consequently rewritten repeatedly as the parliamentary elections kept shifting from late 2014 to eventually October-November 2015. The paper surveyed previous and potential players and the voter base that would identify with them and why they would be sitting out the elections. According to the High Election Committee, the turnout for both phases was at 28.3 percent.

The paper, released end of July, can be read here:

To Vote or Not to Vote: Examining the Disenfranchised in Egypt’s Political Landscape

During the election season, I met with Mohamed Badran and members of the party he heads, Mostaqbal Watan (A Nation’s Future). With rumored closeness to Sisi and impressive results for a one-year-old party, Badran and his team are still on shaky grounds. His ambition could be hubris, and the rising star could crumble without any solid ideology gluing the party together.

The 24 Year Old Party Leader who Seeks to Rule Egypt

Despite the unrealized resolution, 2015 was gratifying career wise. I still aim to make the same resolution in 2016, and I’m trying to follow few steps to make it happen. But like last year, I’m open to what life brings my way.  It has been nothing short of exciting and invigorating.

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Disgusting. Humiliating. Ugly.

09 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by Ssirgany in Daily News Egypt

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

Daily News Egypt, DNE editorial team, DNE staff, editors, journalists, Media, news, newspaper, print media, reporters

Disgusting. Humiliating. Ugly.

That was my day yesterday. The editorial team behind Daily News Egypt was to get one more slap on the face Tuesday.

I hate to discuss this. We always resisted being the story, even when the paper was censored. But it’s difficult to remain mum for no good reason.

I thought we were dealing with respectful people. I thought the owners of the paper would sustain a shred of decency, but I was proven wrong.

We went to pick up our salaries for April, which we were told by the owners we should be grateful to take. While employees in other departments took theirs, an order was made to exclude the journalists and editors. The reason? “A problem with one of the investors with the editor over ‘passwords’”. But we left everything including access to our virtual profiles and emails at the office before we were effectively kicked out. No one asked me for any “passwords” until I went to get my salary. And even if a “problem” persists, why punish a team of 15 for a problem with one person?

Well, the “passwords” seem like a mere excuse to me. The editorial team is the one that led the move to file a complaint at the labor office, after being told by the owners and the liquidator (who also served as the supervising accountant and auditor for the company over the years) that court is our only option to get the outstanding financial rights.

Like the sudden closure of the DNE website for a couple of days last month, the owners seem to be making decisions affecting the paper and its staff based on any phone conversation they don’t like. Ironically, when we reminded the owners they owe us and the whole staff financial rights more than just salaries, they told us to talk to the liquidator they appointed because legally they had no control over the company assets anymore. This “control” is only effective when they want to change something.

It was heartbreaking to see the tears in my colleagues’ eyes, shocked by this spat of humiliation. Journalists have repeatedly put their lives at the line to get the story out and everyone has sacrificed a lot personally and professionally to get around the ever scarce resources. On Tuesday, we kept reminding each other to keep our chins up; this situation didn’t reflect on us as much as those who forced it on us.

I really expected it to go gracefully, or at least with less drama. Instead, we have to deal with erratic and spiteful decisions. Shame!

Read the statement by the staff over Tuesday’s events. (It’s mirrored on all of our individual blogs).

Make sure to read DNE business reporter Reem Abdellatif’s take on the investors of the paper here.

Related posts

Daily News Egypt website is back

Daily News: eulogies, thank yous and endings

Daily News Egypt offline

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The Inside Story from DNE Staff

09 Wednesday May 2012

Posted by Ssirgany in Daily News Egypt

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

Daily News Egypt, DNE, journalism, journalists, Media, news, newspaper, print media, shutdown, website

The original editorial staff of Daily News Egypt (which you can now follow on @OriginalDNE) would like to inform our loyal readers of the latest developments since the paper stopped printing. We had chosen to not go public with the story and our ordeal out of decency but were today pushed to speak out because we have been denied our most basic right, the salaries for the month of April.

Since we were informed of the owning company’s termination (Egyptian Media Services, which published Daily News Egypt), we were told that we have no financial rights pending, even though this is in violation of the Labor Law. We were informed, however, that we will be paid our full salaries for the month of April. This was noted in the termination letter we were handed on April 22, 2012, in which we were also informed that it would be our last working day. On that day we took our belongings from the office and handed in anything we had,such as a video camera, etc. The next day the locks on the office door were changed.

We left the office and decided to pursue legal action since the company’s liquidator told us we had no rights to severance packages for years of service ranging from two to seven, and this can only be resolved with a court order, thus encouraging us to file a complaint at the labor office for our financial rights. We did so, preceded by a complaint at the Dokki police station on April 24 and have been talking to a lawyer to pursue next steps.

We waited till the beginning of May to obtain our salaries. When we found out that the salaries were ready at the office, we went there to pick them up only to be informed that the editorial staff will not be paid. Other departments in the company got paid.

The owners allege that we have passwords that we have not handed in. This is untrue as everything we had access to was left at the office when we were told it was our last day, including passwords to the wire services which are even written on a whiteboard in the news room. They have full access to all usernames and passwords from our work PCs.

We are not holding any passwords hostage. We want to take this chance to inform our readers and followers that the original DNE staff is no longer affiliated with this brand. We are however, sticking together and forming a new venture.

Please follow us on @OriginalDNE and stay tuned. Your support is highly appreciated.

Related posts

Disgusting. Humiliating. Ugly.

Daily News Egypt website is back

Daily News: eulogies, thank yous and endings

Daily News Egypt offline

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Spinning the flotilla story as the world reacts

05 Saturday Jun 2010

Posted by Ssirgany in Media, Politics

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

flotilla, freedomflotilla, Gaza, Israel, news, occupation, Palestine, Rachel Corrie, raid

It’s been less than a week since Israel attacked the Freedom Flotilla sailing towards Gaza, and the details of the story have already been spun repeatedly to make it seem as if the activists are to blame for the raid that left nine dead.

Six ships were carrying 10,000 tons of aid and 700 activists from 42 countries. The aim was to deliver the aid and challenge the crippling Israeli blockade on Gaza – a blockade that Egypt is part of.

Aside from describing the activists as terrorists with Al-Qaeda relation (an act of public relation desperation to resort to such trite and overused labeling), the most popular counter version portrayed the activists as the attackers. The footage meant to show the Israeli raid also showed the activists standing on guard with clubs and sticks in hand. As the armed Israeli commandos descended from helicopters, clashes ensued. This, along with other claims that the activists attacked the Israeli military ships, was used to validate the conclusions some people reached that the activists were the assailants here. Even if the clubs and sticks were comparable to military firearms, those commentators and Israeli officials decided to overlook the simple fact that it was Israeli soldiers who jumped on the ship in international waters. The activists were in self defense. Anyone would resist commandos jumping on his/her ship. And in retrospect they should have been better armed; at least to deter such act of piracy.

There isn’t much to be said. It was an attack. Justice must be served. There’s already another ship, Rachel Corrie, sailing towards Gaza, and with no concrete steps taken against Israel for Monday’s attack, another tragedy is sure to happen.

For more on Israeli hasbara and the spinning of the story, read The Arabist’s in-depth analyses.

The rest of this post are statements from around the world, some strong, some mild, that we’ve received at Daily News Egypt over the past few days condemning the attack. They’ve been quoted here and there, but usually only partially. But first, these are the names of the nine activists killed by Israeli soldiers on Monday. Search each one, find a picture of them, put a face to the name, so that they don’t become just statistics.

The Nine are all Turkish, including one who is also an American citizen:

Cevdet Kılıçlar

Fahri Yaldız

Necdet Yıldırım

Çetin Topçuoğlu

Cengiz Songür

Furkan Doğan (also a US citizen)

İbrahim Bilgen

Ali Haydar Bengi

Cengiz Akyüz

The statements (make sure to read the last one from the Israeli Peace Movement):

Monday’s tragedy is a direct result of the Israeli blockade on Gaza, says Oxfam
Only 22 % of truckloads entering Gaza pre-blockade allowed in by Israel last week
Three-quarters of the damage caused during Israeli military operation “Cast Lead” still not repaired 17 months on

Gaza, 2 June 2010 – Oxfam condemns Monday’s attack on the aid flotilla that resulted in the killing of a number of passengers and it links the tragedy to the failure of Israel and the international community to lift the three year blockade on the Gaza Strip.

“We are shocked at the appalling use of violence and the killing of civilians which occurred when the Israeli forces took over the Gaza Flotilla in international waters”, said Jeremy Hobbs, Executive Director of Oxfam. “Tragedy struck as the international community failed to put enough pressure on Israel to put an end to the crippling policy of blockade. This flotilla would not have been needed, had the Israeli blockade not debilitated Gaza’s economy and prevented desperately needed humanitarian supplies from entering the territory.”

Contrary to what the Israeli government states, the humanitarian aid allowed into Gaza is only a fraction of what is needed to answer the enormous needs of an exhausted   population. For instance, Oxfam estimates that 631 trucks of humanitarian supplies were permitted entry into Gaza last week by the Israeli authorities. This constitutes only 22 percent of the weekly average (2,807 truckloads) that entered during the first five months of 2007, before Israel’s imposition of the blockade. Meanwhile, almost no exports have been allowed out of Gaza.

Despite a very modest relaxation on the entry of some supplies into Gaza in the past months, entry of major essential goods like materials for reconstruction remains in limited quantities or is barred. As a result, three-quarters of the damage and destruction caused to civilian infrastructure during Israeli military operation “Cast Lead” has still not been repaired or reconstructed 17 months on.

According to the UN, more than 60 percent of families are food insecure and are reliant on food assistance, and four out of five Gazans rely on aid to survive. There are daily electricity cuts in Gaza and the water network is working far below capacity. Some families with as many as seven members are consuming the same amount of water per day meant to meet the needs of just one person. Some patients have even died while awaiting permission to seek treatment out of the Gaza Strip.

This new tragedy strikes as we will soon commemorate the start of the fourth year of blockade. “We strongly condemn the killing, injury and holding by Israel of any passenger, and any use of excessive force against civilians on board a boat that was reportedly bringing direly-needed relief and everyday items into Gaza”, said Hobbs.

“Considering that the detailed facts of the situation remain unclear, Oxfam calls for a full and independent inquiry to ascertain what took place and ensure accountability”, Hobbs said. “The Israeli operation appears to have violated a number of basic rules of International Law. This comes on top of the blockade that inflicts collective punishment on the population, which is illegal under International Humanitarian Law”, Hobbs added.

The forced isolation of the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza, which fragments Palestinian society and artificially creates poverty and de-development, must come to an immediate end, as must all attacks on civilians on both sides. Israel and the international community must work together to immediately lift the blockade by fully opening all the crossings between Israel and the Gaza Strip. These crossings are equipped with technology to prevent smuggling of weapons.

“It is time for people in Gaza to receive more than promises and see their rights respected,” said Hobbs.

Oxfam works with others to overcome poverty and suffering

***

COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION
EN
Brussels, 31 May 2010
10485/10 (Presse 152)
Declaration by High Representative Catherine Ashton on behalf of the EU on the Israeli military operation against the Flotilla
The EU deeply regrets the loss of life during the Israeli military operation in international waters against the Flotilla sailing to Gaza and offers its condolences to the families of the victims. The EU condemns the use of violence that has produced a high number of victims among the members of the flotilla and demands an immediate, full and impartial inquiry into the events and the circumstances surrounding them.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains a source of grave concern. The EU does not accept the continued policy of closure. It is unacceptable and politically counterproductive. We need to urgently achieve a durable solution to the situation in Gaza.

The EU underlines its call for an immediate, sustained and unconditional opening of crossings for the flow of humanitarian aid, commercial goods and persons to and from Gaza.

The EU calls on Israel to urgently provide Member States with consular access to and information about their citizens.
The EU calls upon all parties and relevant actors to prevent a further escalation of tensions and underlines the need to continue the proximity talks with a view to the resumption of direct negotiations.

***

Human Rights Watch

Israel: Full, Impartial Investigation of Flotilla Killings Essential

(New York, May 31, 2020, 2010) – Israel should promptly conduct a credible and impartial investigation into the deaths of at least 10 activists after Israeli security forces boarded ships that were part of an “aid flotilla” to Gaza, Human Rights Watch said today.

Human Rights Watch said that the incident, in which dozens of activists and several Israeli commandos were also reportedly wounded, raises grave concerns about possible unlawful and excessive use of lethal force.

“A prompt, credible, and impartial investigation is absolutely essential to determine whether the lethal force used by Israeli commandos was necessary to protect lives and whether it could have been avoided,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “Given Israel’s poor track record of investigating unlawful killings by its armed forces, the international community should closely monitor any inquiry to ensure it meets basic international standards and that any wrongdoers are brought to justice.”

According to reports, at 4 a.m. on May 31, Israeli commandos boarded ships of the aid flotilla. Approximately 700 activists were taking part in the 6-ship flotilla. The flotilla’s organizers said it was carrying humanitarian aid intended for Gaza, including cement, wheelchairs, and parts to repair water infrastructure. The activists said the ships were 70 nautical miles offshore when Israeli forces boarded the ships.

The Israeli government stated that activists on the ships violently resisted Israeli boarding forces, seriously wounding two soldiers. Activists aboard the ships stated that Israeli forces killed unarmed members of the humanitarian aid flotilla. Human Rights Watch has not yet been able to conduct its own investigation to determine which account is accurate.  The government had warned the flotilla not to attempt to breach Israel’s blockade of Gaza.

“The Israeli government’s opposition to the flotilla initiative was well advertised, but does not address the main issues – did Israeli forces use unlawful lethal force aboard the ships, and could alternative steps have been taken that would have avoided the violence,” Whitson said.

Human Rights Watch called on Israel to grant all detained and injured flotilla members immediate access to counsel and their families, and to disclose the identities of all those injured and killed.  According to the flotilla’s organizers, Israeli authorities have denied those detained in Ashdod port access to their lawyers, and have yet to disclose where the injured have been hospitalized. All communications from the flotilla and flotilla members have apparently been blocked, and the names of those killed have not been released.

Israel has blockaded Gaza’s land and sea borders since Hamas seized control of the territory in June 2007. Egypt has been an essential partner in the blockade along Gaza’s southern border. The blockade, which amounts to the unlawful collective punishment of Gaza’s civilian population, has severely damaged the economy, leaving 70 to 80 percent of Gazans in poverty and dependent on humanitarian aid.

The United Nations Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials provide that authorities shall, as far as possible, apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms. The Principles provide that if the lawful use of force and firearms is unavoidable, then the authorities must use restraint and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offense. Lethal force may be used only when strictly unavoidable to protect life. The Basic Principles also call for an effective reporting and review process, especially in cases of death and serious injury.

For more Human Rights Watch reporting on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories, please visit:

http://www.hrw.org/middle-eastn-africa/israel-and-occupied-territories

***

The Jewish Voice for Peace

When I got the news about Israel’s armed attack on the Gaza Flotilla at 2:30 am on the morning of May 31, I felt sick. I immediately called a dear friend in Jerusalem, one of the most committed activists I know.  Across the ocean, I could hear in her voice that she was in tears. “The worst part about it, ” she said, “is that nothing will change.”

“No,” I replied. “I can’t believe that can be true.  Things have to change.”
“Well,” she said, “then it is up to you, the internationals.”

She’s right. It is up to us, the internationals both here in the United States and abroad. That is why I want you to send a message to US President Obama if you live outside of the United States, and to Obama and the US Congress if you are a U.S. resident, demanding the immediate release of the detained human rights activists, an end to the siege on Gaza, an impartial investigation of the attack on the flotilla, and a suspension of US aid until Israel abides by international law.

We still don’t know a lot about what happened to the flotilla of boats carrying some 700 human rights activists from around the world and over 10 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza– Israel has kept the activists under a near total media blackout while sharing only its implausible narrative of events. What we do know is that Israeli commandos boarded a ship in international waters and killed at least ten activists, injuring dozens of others.

Israel insists that highly trained commandos were forced to lethally fire on activists, creating a new definition of self-defense. In the first alternative accounts to appear, an Israeli Knesset member and an Al Jazeera cameraman who were on board the ship at the time each described something different, a scene of chaos with civilians waving white flags and commandos using stun guns, rubber bullets and tear gas. Regardless of what actually happened when armed soldiers landed, Israel’s wanton killing of civilians is unacceptable.

We still don’t know th
e names of those who were killed or injured, or where they are from. And we don’t know the whereabouts or well-being of more than 400 activists still being held by Israel.

These deaths, and the attacks on the boats, have hit all of us around the world particularly hard. There were people from 40 different countries on board the ships, including Israelis and Palestinians. Israel sent armed commandos onto a civilian ship in international waters, a brazenly illegal act to enforce Israel’s nearly 3-year illegal siege of Gaza – a siege that has left 1.5 million men, women and children living like prisoners on substandard diets, deprived of the simplest things like potato chips, musical instruments, and toys. The flotilla wasn’t just about this one delivery of aid. It was about the right of Palestinians to have sea, land and air routes to the rest of the world and for the need to end the blockade.

I know that there comes a point in one’s life when you simply have to take a stand. You cannot sit by silently and watch ongoing and wholly unjustified destruction of life, tacitly supported by governments around the world, and simply do nothing.

The flotilla was filled with people just like you and me who finally decided it was time to risk life and limb to take a stand, to break through those prison walls, and we thank them for it.

Now, as citizens of the world, we owe it to the people of Palestine, and the people of Israel who want to live in peace, and the brave people on that flotilla, to build the movement to make Israel accountable to international law and standards of simple human decency – especially because our governments have failed us.

The response of the U.S. government thus far has been wholly inadequate, with a mild statement “regretting the loss of life,” without assigning any blame for the fiasco, let alone applying any sanctions for Israel’s acts.  Please, join me in telling President Obama and Congress enough is enough

. US taxpayer dollars fund Israel’s occupation, and together with wall to wall uncritical diplomatic support have sent the message that any Israeli action, no matter how foolhardy, will be backed by the full might of the United States.

It’s time for that to stop.

We must also continue to build the already massive global people’s movement for justice, which has undeniably found its greatest impact in the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement. This is about all of the ways, big and small, people can bypass their often ineffective governments to use economic pressure to make the Israeli government accountable to international law. After launching our energetic support for campus efforts to divest from the occupation, Jewish Voice for Peace will let you know soon about our own divestment campaign to help bring pressure on Israel to reach a just solution.It is time for the United States, as Israel’s closest ally and most powerful nation in the world, to stop unconditional support for the Israeli government.Doing so will protect Israelis and Palestinians, American citizens, and internationals alike.

Click here to demand that President Obama and Congress call for an immediate lifting of the siege of Gaza,

an international and impartial investigation into the tragic killing of civilians in a humanitarian mission, and the suspension of military aid to Israel until he can assure the American public that our aid is not used to commit similar abuses.

Rebecca Vilkomerson,
Executive Director,
Jewish Voice for Peace

***

The Israeli Peace Movement

Press Release 05/31/2010

Uri Avnery: this night a crime was perpetrated in the middle of the sea, by order of the government of Israel and the IDF Command

A warlike attack against aid ships and deadly shooting at peace and humanitarian aid activists It is a crazy thing that only a government that crossed all red lines can do

“Only a crazy government that has lost all restraint and all connection to reality could something like that – consider ships carrying humanitarian aid and peace activists from around the world as an enemy and send massive military force to international waters to attack them, shoot and kill.

“Noone in the world will believe the lies and excuses which the government and army spokesmen come up with,” said former Knesset member Uri Avnery of the Gush Shalom movement. Gush Shalom activists together with activists of other organizations are to depart at 11:00 from Tel Aviv to protest in front of the prepared detention facility where the international peace activists will be brought.

Greta Berlin, the spokeswoman for the flotilla organizers located in Cyprus, told Gush Shalom activists that the Israeli commandos landed by helicopter on the boats and immediately opened fire.

This is a day of disgrace to the State of Israel, a day of anxiety in which we discover that our future was entrusted to a bunch of trigger-happy people without any responsibility. This day is a day of disgrace and madness and stupidity without limit, the day the Israeli government took care to blacken the name of the country in the world, adding convincing evidence of aggressiveness and brutality to Israel’s already bad international image, discouraging and distancing the few remaining friends.

Indeed, today a provocation took place off the coast of Gaza – but the provocateurs were not the peace activists invited by the Palestinians and seeking to reach Gaza. The provocation was carried out by Navy ships commandos at the bidding of the Israeli government, blocking the way of the aid boats and using deadly force.

It is time to lift the siege on the Gaza Strip, which causes severe suffering to its residents. Today the Israeli government ripped the mask of its face with its own hands and exposed the fact that Israel did not “disengage” from Gaza. Real disengagement from the area does not go together with blocking the access to it or sending soldiers to shoot and kill and wound those who try to get there.

The State of Israel promised in the Oslo Accords 17 years ago to enable and encourage the establishment of a deep water port in Gaza, through which Palestinians could import and export freely to develop their economy. It’s time to realize this commitment and open the Port of Gaza. Only after the Gaza port will be open to free and undisturbed movement, just like the Ashdod and Haifa ports, will Israel really have disengaged from the Gaza Strip. Until then, the world will continue – and rightly so – to consider the Gaza Strip under Israeli occupation and the State of Israel as responsible for the fate of the people living there.

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Al Khan, the end

01 Saturday May 2010

Posted by Ssirgany in Daily News Egypt, Sirgo's

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Al Khan, Cartoon, comic strip, commentary, daily, Egypt, Egyptian, graphic novel, Media, news, plot, Politics, Religion, Sarah El Sirgan, Shahine, society, stereotype, storyline, Tarek Shahin

For two years, my friend of 10+ years, Tarek Shahin, has been contributing a daily comic strip, Al Khan, to Daily News Egypt, the newspaper I work for. And over those two years, Al Khan has slowly become an addiction that I realized is shared by many. For me the addiction wasn’t just about finding out what happens next, but my regular chats with Tarek about the fictitious news room, its journalists and their friends and families have become part of my routine in the paper, more like a ritual I look forward to.

Whether its Omar, Nada, Yunan, Dr Anwar, or Brother Levy, many of the characters were loosely based on some people we know (Guess which one is Tarek?) and that made them a bit more real to me – even without this additional link, it was easy relating to many of Al Khan’s characters, their dilemmas and their choices.

Tarek’s wit and talent made the storyline — intertwined with commentary about current events on the political, economical and social scenes — more engaging. In few carefully chosen words, Tarek managed to convey a lot every day. (By the way, he’s a perfectionist, selecting the words and sentence structures with painful caution to make sure they communicate the exact meaning he wants).

Even in the few times I didn’t agree with his opinions expressed in Al Khan, I couldn’t but admire the way he put it all together. (DNE Editor Rania Al-Malky charts the story of Al Khan in the newspaper here).

As Tarek said in this last installment of Al Khan, it was a comic strip about individuality. True. In so many ways it was a testament to the diversity in this country, the antithesis of the superficial and uninformed generalizations, an animated proof to all who thought they’ve known Egypt that what they’ve done is barely scratch the surface. I’ve seen him strip his characters to the most common stereotype, only to build up their complexity, layer after layer.

It’s for these reasons and many more, reading the word “Fin” on Al Khan strip last week was heartbreaking. I’ve known that it was going to end in April, but still, last week was surprisingly an emotional one.

Tarek and me in 2009, Al Khan comics on the table.

It’s not like I won’t work with Tarek again; I’m sure that is bound to happen in one form or another. It’s not that we won’t be friends anymore; we’ve known each other for 10 years, even before we worked together for the Caravan, the student paper of the American University in Cairo.

I guess I was just too attached to Al Khan.

Tarek my friend, best of luck in your next project and I hope we run more of your cartoons in Daily News later on.

Al Khan is available on Daily News Egypt and here.

You can also check Tarek’s cartoon blog Cairo Freeze, but it has been inactive for a while.

The first season of Al Khan has been published in a book in 2009 and is available in local book stores.

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