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Hussamic Vision, the life and tales of Hussam FatahallaSo far Its been great being me!!:) |
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«المعسل» يغير عادات العرب إلى الالتزام بالمواعيد«المعسل» يغير عادات العرب إلى الالتزام بالمواعيد تأسيس «علاقات» وتبادل «أرقام» وتقديم بقشيش سخي لحجز طاولات الشيشة في لندن لندن: مطلق البقمي قد تقع في حرج لا محالة في حال قدوم أحد أصدقائك أو معارفك في إجازة أو لإنجاز مهمة عمل في العاصمة البريطانية لندن، وكان ضيفك هذا من مدخني الشيشة «الأرجيلة» وأحد المدمنين عليها، لا بد له منها لكي يعدل الرأس وبالتالي المزاج. بعد قرار الحكومة البريطانية حظر التدخين في الأماكن العامة منذ مطلع الشهر الجاري، «تلخبط» الوضع في «ادجوار روود» الشارع المصطلح عليه بأنه الحي العربي والذي كان حتى دخول الأول من يوليو (تموز) الجاري، شارعا تزدحم فيه الرائحة العربية وسط تناقل العاملين في المقاهي والمطاعم، التي يشتهر ويكتظ بها، لخراطيم «الأرجيلة». هذا الأمر سيدفعك إلى امتطاء ذراع ضيفك لتنتقل بين مقاهي هذا الشارع لعلكما تجدان موطئ قدم يستطيع رفيقك أن ينفث فيه «هموم» البحث عن «الشيشة»، لا سيما بعد قرار منع تلك المقاهي من تقديمها داخل المحال، والسماح لها بتقديمها لزبائنها أمام مداخلها في الهواء الطلق. قرار الحظر أدى إلى تقليل أعداد مرتادي المقاهي بأكثر من النصف حسب تقديرات عاملين فيها. هذا العناء الذي تكبدته لإراحة ضيفك، حسب الأصول العربية، يستوجب عليك أن تحتاط للأمر مستقبلا من خلال خلق نوع من العلاقة مع أحد العاملين في المحل. لكن هذه العلاقة لا بد لشيء يغذيها، هذا الشيء هو أن لا تنسى وأنت تخرج أن تترك للعامل على الطاولة، أو أن تناوله في يده «بقشيشا دسما»، ولا تخف فسيبادرك هذا العامل بإعطائك رقم هاتفه الجوال، مذكرك بأنك في حال رغبت العودة مرة أخرى، سيساعدك على توفير سبل راحة من خلال حجز طاولة لك مسبقا تجنبك عناء التعب أو الانتظار. وهذا الأمر مشروطا بأن تبلغه بموعد وصولك قبل وقت كاف، لا يقل عن ساعات، حتى يتمكن من إبلاغ، من يسعفه الحظ للجلوس على الطاولة، بأنها محجوزة ابتداء من موعد وصولك بحسب الحجز المسبق. هذا الأمر يزداد سوءا هذه الأيام، التي تشهد فيها لندن وبقية المدن البريطانية هجوما كاسحا من أبناء الخليج العربي السائحين والهاربين من حرارة صيف ملتهب بحثا عن أجواء معتدلة. يصف أحد العاملين في المكاتب العقارية القريبة من «ادجوار روود» بأن السياح الخليجيين هذا العام أكثر من المعتاد، عازيا الأمر حسب قراءته إلى أحداث لبنان وصعوبة الحصول على التأشيرات للدول الأوروبية الأخرى والذي استفادت منه بريطانيا بشكل كبير نظرا لسرعة الحصول على الـ«فيزة». عاملا آخر في أحد مقاهي لندن يحضّر الماجستير في إحدى الجامعات في العاصمة البريطانية، ويعمل نصف دوام «بارت تايم» يشير إلى أن العرب عادة غير ملتزمين بمواعيدهم، لكن وفي ظل التزاحم على حجز الطاولات للحصول على الشيشة أو المعسل أصبحوا أكثر حرصا على الوفاء بالوعود التي قطعوها. فـ«الشيشة ألزمتهم بالحضور في الأوقات التي يحددونها» حسب قوله، لأن تأخرهم قد يفقدهم الحصول على طاولة. ويضيف أن الأمر غير المستغرب حاليا أن تجد مجموعة يتشاركون طاولة واحدة، لكن لغة الحوار بينهم تكاد تكون «مقطوعة» نظرا لعدم معرفتهم ببعض، فقط حضروا فرادا واشتركوا في الطاولة مع طلباتهم وهي عادة غير منتشرة في الأقطار العربية التي تحب الاستقلالية. يذكر أن مجموعة أطلقت على نفسها اسم «اتحاد ادجوار روود» بعثت برسالة الى الحكومة البريطانية، تشير فيها الى أن قانون حظر التدخين في الاماكن العامة، يعد تمييزا وله تأثير غير مناسب على الجاليات المسلمة الذين يدخنون المعسل والجراك. ويسعى القائمون في هذه المنطقة بمحاولة استثناءهم، حيث لا يقدمون في تلك المقاهي الكحول، ويؤكدون أن دخان الشيشة يحتوي على 20 في المائة من النيكوتين وبالتالي ليس مضرا مثل السجائر والسيجار، ويطمحون في عودة زبائنهم السابقين الذين لا يقتصرون على أبناء الشرق الأوسط فقط، بل يشملون ابناء شمال افريقيا وجنوب آسيا الذين اعتادوا زيارة المقهى لتدخين الشيشة ولقاء المعارف والاصدقاء. New York times: The streets of EgyptJuly 17, 2007 Cairo Journal Stepping Boldly Off the Curb, With a Wave and a Prayer By MICHAEL SLACKMAN CAIRO, July 13 — Ahmed Hussein may well have one of the scariest jobs in Egypt. Every morning, about 7 a.m., he takes his position in the middle of some street, somewhere in this city of 2 million vehicles, and attempts to direct traffic. This day he is staring down the barrel of Talat Harb Street, in the heart of Cairo. He is facing five rows of cars squeezed into three lanes of traffic, a scene intimidating in sight and sound. His assignment is to make sure the cars actually stop at the red light before barreling into a traffic circle. In Egypt, red light, green light, it’s all the same. “The most important thing for us is if people follow the rules,” Mr. Hussein said with such understatement about the problem that he might as well have noted how different life would be in the Middle East if only there were peace between the Israelis and the Palestinians. The traffic here, and the army of police officers who try to manage it, tell much about modern Egypt in ways big and small. The first seems to be that no matter how crowded, and it is beyond crowded, no matter how chaotic, and it is beyond chaotic, Egypt functions. The poor manage to eat. Children go to school. Government offices open and close. Garbage is collected. And the traffic flows, or perhaps crawls is a better description. In fact, it is such a miracle that someone can get from Point A to Point B at certain times of the day that some say it must be a result of divine intervention. And that may be the second point. No one is saying the traffic is responsible for the Islamic revival in Egypt, but some people say the burden of the street, like the struggle of daily life, has reinforced a conviction that God’s hand must be helping people get through their day. “It is amazing how people survive, and how Egypt continues to remain standing, and how the people can still, if they are patient enough, sometimes get to their destinations,” said Osama Anwar Okasha, a television writer whose shows explore Egypt’s social and political life. “It is as though there is some miracle. The solution is in the hands of some invisible force.” Chaos. It is often the word associated with Egypt’s roads, its maddening bureaucracy, its ill-prepared health care system. But it is chaos only to the untrained eye, the uninitiated, and in the case of driving here, the weak of heart. There is a system, from top to bottom, which may be corrupt, class-based, inefficient and ineffective, but it is a system nonetheless. Drivers almost never look behind them. And they rarely look to the side. Instead, the whole flow of cars moves like a school of fish, straight ahead, then weaving, darting in unison. The traffic stops, usually, when a traffic officer steps into the road. “In all civilized countries there is no such thing as a guy standing giving signals for 10 hours,” said Brig. Gen. Hussein Bedeir, who supervises the officers. “But here, it is what people are used to.” Over all, the Egyptian system seems to function on three basic principles: Every man for himself; when necessary, offer a little baksheesh (cash); and accept that money and connections go first. “We are people who don’t do things unless someone is there to make us do it,” said Essam Qassem, a cabdriver fighting his way along Hassan Sabry Street in the well-to-do area of Zamalek. “We don’t comply with rules on our own.” But people here say drivers’ lawless nature is not without a reason. These same traffic police officers assigned to make traffic move are also ordered to make traffic stop. They close the streets so Mr. Important does not have to tolerate the indignity of traffic. That makes people mad. That sense of injustice, felt by the common man stuck for hours in deadlocked traffic, fuels disregard for the law in general, people said. “The problem of Egypt is not that the Egyptian people do not like order,” said Salah Eissa, editor of Al Qahira, a weekly newspaper published by the Ministry of Culture. “It is the problem of making exceptions in enforcing this order — and this applies to traffic. It is something that provokes Egyptians and pushes them to think that since it is all a question of bullying, then every man to himself and everyone becomes a bully.” Back at Talat Harb Street, the day was getting hot and Mr. Hussein’s radio was squawking like crazy. Horns. Exhaust. Aggressive drivers. “You get used to it,” Mr. Hussein said. There are 6,000 traffic police officers in Egypt, and in Cairo alone the police estimate they manage as many as two million cars squeezed into a system designed to accommodate a half-million cars at any one time. The police at each intersection are divided by rank, and the men with long black sleeves are at the bottom of the ladder. “Yes, it is very hot,” Said Galal Ahmed, 21, said, on a day the temperature hit over 100 degrees. Mr. Ahmed, 21, was wearing a plastic reflective vest, long black sleeves over his long white sleeves. He is a military conscript paid the equivalent of $26 a month. He must serve for three years. His sole duty is to step into the street to stop traffic, then wave it on when it is time to go. Mr. Hussein was higher on the ladder. He was wearing a light, short-sleeved shirt and carried a walkie-talkie, the universal symbol of power in the Middle East. Anyone can carry a gun, but a two-way-radio represents being part of something bigger, something with power: in this case, the Egyptian police. With his superiors around, Mr. Hussein limited his conversation and smiled a lot. But across town, a traffic police officer named Muhammad Ahmed was more open. He said he made 400 pounds a month, or about $70, of which 150 pounds goes to rent. To make ends meet, he said, he took other jobs, and without saying so acknowledged another fact of life in Egypt: the traffic police routinely take “tips” to allow people to park illegally, to remove boots from seized cars, to look the other way. “While we admit the wages are meager, this is the capacity of the country,” said Ahmed Assem, a public relations official with the traffic police. Tipping is not exactly condoned, but it is regarded as a safety valve, a way for people to make a few extra pounds at a time when prices are rising and salaries are not. It is also widespread at all levels of the system. “Corruption is very widespread in society because it has become part of the mode of life here,” said Abdel Fattah al-Gebaly, an economist at the government-financed Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo. “The social culture started to justify it — people consider it a kind of rizq now, a blessing from God.” With his income and expenses, Mr. Ahmed said he could not really explain how he survived, which brought the discussion back to the first two points. The system works, but it must do so with some help from above, he said. “Don’t ask how we make it every month,” he said. “God blesses us, and we manage.” Mona el-Naggar contributed reporting. Last conversation with Ashraf Marwan
Saudi revises role of religion enforcers
Mubarak: Ashraf Marawan is a patriot
القاهرة-ا ف ب أكد الرئيس المصري حسني مبارك ان الملياردير المصري الراحل أشرف مروان المتهم بأنه عميل مزدوج، والذي توفي في ظروف غامضة في لندن الأربعاء, لم يكن جاسوسا بل على العكس كان "وطنيا مخلصا", وذلك في أول رد رسمي مصري على هذا الموضوع.
Egyptians!( Anis Mansour)سمعت عربيا شهيرا كان في مصر وعاد يقول لنا: رأيت الشعب المصري ماشيا علي قدميه يزاحم بعضه بعضا في كل الشوارع والميادين. وهذا الزحام لم يترك لاحد وقتا لكي ينظف الشوارع ويغسل الميادين ويقيم الارصفة.. واذا كان هذا العدد الهائل يمشي طول النهار فمن الذي يصنع الخبز والماء النقي والدواء والتعليم. وتساءل الرجل بمنتهي حسن النية: ان كانت هناك مظاهرة احتجاج علي شيء ما! فقالوا: لامظاهرة. وانما هم المصريون يمشون علي اقدامهم. فقد ضاقت عليهم السيارات والقطارات والمقاهي والمطاعم والمدارس. ثم قال إن مصر اليوم تشبه في مظاهر الحزن علي الوجوه والكآبة في البيوت والملابس القديمة. تشبه سكان أوروبا الشرقية عندما كانت شيوعية. عندما كانت اكثر الشعوب حقدا علي الغرب وعلي أمريكا. وكانت آمالهم فقط هي اليوم الذي تنهار فيه الرأسمالية الغربية. وفي انتظار هذا اليوم, كانت الشعوب الشيوعية تمشي في جنازة طويلة في انتظار الميت الذي بشر به كارل ماركس. ومات كارل ماركس ولم تمت الرأسمالية الغربية. بل ماتت الشيوعية في روسيا وفي أوروبا الشرقية ... أما الذي نراه في مصر فلا هو مظاهرة ولاهي جنازة. ولا أحد في انتظار من سوف يموت.. وانما هو المشي في أثناء النوم, فالشعب المصري: لاهو نائم ولاهو يقظان.. ولاهو في وعي ولاهو مسطول. والفرق بيننا وبين الدول الشيوعية السابقة هو الأمل.. فقد كان عندهم أمل في فجر تنهار فيه الرأسمالية! Isreal honors terrorists!!Israel honors 9 Egyptian spies After 50 years, President Katsav presents three surviving members with certificates of appreciation at Jerusalem ceremony By Reuters
JERUSALEM - After half a century of reticence and recrimination, Israel on Wednesday honored nine Egyptian Jews recruited as agents-provocateur in what became one of the worst intelligence bungles in the country's history.
Israel was at war with Egypt when it hatched a plan in 1954 to ruin its rapprochement with the United States and Britain by firebombing sites frequented by foreigners in Cairo and Alexandria.
But Israeli hopes the attacks, which caused no casualties, would be blamed on local insurgents collapsed when the young Zionist bombers were caught and confessed at public trials. Two were hanged. The rest served jail terms and emigrated to Israel.
Embarrassed before the West, Israel long denied involvement. It kept mum even after its 1979 peace deal with Egypt, fearing memories of the debacle could sour ties.
"Although it is still a sensitive situation, we decided now to express our respect for these heroes," President Moshe Katsav said after presenting the three surviving members of the bomber ring with certificates of appreciation at a Jerusalem ceremony.
What went wrong in the "Lavon Affair" - after Pinhas Lavon, Israel's defence minister when the plot came to light - remains a matter of debate in a country more used to tales of espionage coups.
The Egyptian agents were ignored
The Egyptian Jews were recruited by a fringe unit of Military Intelligence rather than the premier Israeli spy agency Mossad.
The situation recurred in 1985, when U.S. Navy analyst Jonathan Pollard was sentenced to life imprisonment in the United States for passing military secrets to Israel's scientific liaison office.
"As with Pollard, this (Lavon Affair) was a rogue operation," David Kimche, a former Mossad deputy chief, said. "We knew never to go down that road again."
There is a twist to the Egyptian case - the now widespread belief that the bombers were betrayed to the authorities by their Israeli handler, who turned double-agent.
"The general feeling is that he was the one who caused it all," Kimche said.
Under a veil of secrecy, the handler was tried for contacts with Egyptian intelligence and jailed for 10 years. Meanwhile, the agents locked up in Egypt were ignored, excluded from several prisoner exchanges with Israel after the wars of 1956 and 1967.
Now that they have been officially recognised in Israel, the former agents are campaigning for a full account of their operation to be included in the high-school syllabus.
"This is a great day for all of us, those who were hanged and those who died," Marcelle Ninio, the only female member of the cell, said. "We are happy we've got our honor back." Saudi Shoura council denies funds to religion enforcers
Thou shalt not steal my playstation3 heheTeen Scares Off Burglar With Samurai SwordKarate Brown Belt Lunges At Burglar After PlayStation 3 With Sword
POSTED: 8:12 am EDT June 8, 2007
HIALEAH, Fla. -- A teenager with a brown belt in karate used a samurai sword to scare off a burglar who was after his PlayStation 3 video game console.
Last Friday afternoon, Damian Fernandez and his 15-year-old sister, Deanne Fernandez, were home alone at their northwest Miami-Dade County home while their parents were at work when they heard knocking on the front door. Moments later, two men were prying the front door unlocked, prompting Deanne to hide in her closet. "I was so scared," she said. As her brother slept in the next room, the burglars ransacked their parents' room, taking some jewelry before moving on to what they were really after -- a PlayStation 3. According to a police report, one of the burglars kicked in Deanne's bedroom door. She said she could see his foot through the closet panels. The burglar found the empty PlayStation 3 box and ran out of the room, but Damian was waiting for him. "Once I saw him take off running back, I jumped off my (bunk) bed and I grabbed my sword … and I just waited for him," he said. Damian said he lunged at him with his samurai sword, striking him in the chest. "He freaked out," Damian said. The burglar ran out of the house with Damian chasing him down the road. When police arrived, a K-9 officer located the burglar hiding behind a neighbor's palm tree. The second burglar got away. Javier Cotera, 21, was arrested and released early the next morning on bond. Local 10 attempted to contact Cotera at his Hialeah home, but his family said he wasn't there and that they didn't know anything about it. Damian and Deanne's father, Delio Fernandez, said he is concerned Cotera is out of jail. "If he would have had a gun, I could have lost one of my children," he said. Cotera is scheduled to appear in court in two weeks to face three felony charges. Mubarak..the new prophet!hehe
Africa's only subway system, a smooth rideON THE GROUND
Africa's only subway system a smooth ride
Jun 02, 2007 04:30 AM Oakland Ross MIDDLE EAST BUREAU CAIRO–"There are just two things that work in Egypt," a young denizen of this teeming North African capital was observing the other day, "the telephone information system – and the Cairo Metro." I don't know about Egypt's telephone information system, but praise Allah for the Cairo Metro. Not only is it the only subway system in all of Africa, but it works very well. Give credit where it's due. For all his shortcomings in certain other areas – human rights, for example, or democratic institutions – President Hosni Mubarak deserves congratulations for his foresight on the transit front. It was under his watch that the Cairo Metro got started, something that few commuters here are likely to forget, considering that a huge likeness of the Egyptian leader appears in practically all of the stations arrayed along the Metro's two working lines. A third line is supposed to open someday, although no one seems quite certain when. There is, inevitably, a station named after the incumbent president, a circumstance that highlights one of several conspicuous differences between the Cairo Metro and the Toronto subway system. Another station is called Sadat, for late president and Nobel laureate Anwar Sadat, and yet another is named after Gamal Abdel Nasser, that giant of pan-Arab nationalism, who ruled the country from 1954 to 1970. Operated by the aptly dubbed National Authority for Tunnels, the Cairo Metro runs from five o'clock each morning until 1 a.m. and carries an estimated 2.7 million passengers a day – a very good thing. Otherwise, those same travellers would be riding in cars, of which in Cairo there are altogether too many. "It's very convenient, it's clean and it's fast," says one commuter named Mohamed Hamdi, who works at a military factory as a technician but won't provide more information. "It's sensitive," he adds, meaning his job, not the Metro. But the Metro seems to be somewhat sensitive, too, not surprising in a city where terrorist incidents have been known to occur now and then. "No photography – no," declares a police officer clad in a white uniform with a black beret. He waves his arms at a camera-toting visitor – actually, me – who is snapping away on an underground platform in violation of a system-wide ban on the use of cameras. Construction on Line 1 of the Metro began in 1983, and the network has gradually expanded since then. A 1.3 kilometre extension of Line 2 was inaugurated in 2000, bringing the total length of track to 63 kilometres (compared with 68.3 kilometres – the combined length of Toronto's three subway lines). Although run by a tunnel authority, much of the Metro is above ground. In fact, only 17 of its 52 stations are located underground. The stations themselves are generally spacious and clean. The escalators typically are in working order. The tickets are moderately priced, for most people – just 1 Egyptian pound (about 20 cents). And each train has a car or two reserved for women and children. On the other hand, Shamaa Saad, a young female architecture student, reports that she often rides in the unreserved cars, usually with a girlfriend, and doesn't encounter problems. In fact, an almost chivalric code seems to prevail on the trains. Based on my admittedly limited experience of the system, men here are far more likely than are their Toronto counterparts to surrender their seats to women. Without the Metro, it is difficult to imagine how this city could survive. A great many more people would have to do what overwhelming throngs of Cairo residents are already obliged to do, day in, day out. They would have to swelter for hours on end in the Gordian knot of this city's incessant traffic jams, leaning on their horns, shaking their fists at other similarly frustrated motorists, while a near infinity of internal-combustion engines pumped unthinkable quantities of carbon dioxide and other pollutants into the dry desert air. "I personally think it's the worst traffic I've ever seen," says a European diplomat in Cairo, who has possibly never been to Lagos. But Lagos lacks an underground Metro system, while Cairo – alone on this continent – has one. Praise Allah. The Egyptian national/Ghana 1st lady diedFathia Nkrumah is dead Former first lady Fathia Nkrumah has passed away in Egypt.
The wife of Kwame Nkrumah, Ghana's first president and one of the fathers of pan-Africanism, died while in hospital, one of her sons, Sekou Nkrumah, has confirmed to The Statesman.
"She was not well for the past few weeks," Sekou said. "Recently her condition had deteriorated so I more or less expected it."
Ghana"s current President John A Kufuor was in Egypt earlier this week and visited Mrs Nkrumah at the Nile Badrawi Hospital in Cairo. Sekou told The Statesman yesterday that he was not sure of the exact time of her death but said since having a stroke on February 9, she had not been well.
Mrs Nkrumah, who was born and raised in Zeitoun, Egypt, was 75.
Fathia married Dr Nkrumah at a young age and had with him three children: Gamal, Samia, and Sekou.
Son Gamal, who edits the Al-Ahram Weekly newspaper in Egypt, in a profile he wrote of his mother, said of her love for Ghana: "She was happy to escape the suffocatingly conservative culture she grew up in and happily embraced the rich vibrancy of Ghanaian culture. She was amazed at the fierce independence of Ghanaian women."
Fathia and the three children fled back to Egypt when Nkrumah was overthrown in the 1966 coup and Nkrumah lived out the rest of his life away from the family, in exile in Guinea until his death from cancer in April 1972.
The third daughter of a civil servant, Mrs Nkrumah once worked as a teacher and at a bank, before she married Kwame Nkrumah in 1958 at age 27. Nkrumah was 49.
Reportedly, Mrs Nkrumah was planning on attending Ghana’s 50th celebrations this year, however, due to the stroke, she was paralysed and unable to walk, let alone travel. Up until hospitalisation, she had been living in Maadi, Egypt.
In his profile, Gamal remembered Mrs Nkrumah’s taste for Ghanaian food, especially Kenkey, which he said was her all-time favourite. He added however: "Father nicknamed her 'rabbit,’ because she always insisted on green salad as a side dish, which most Ghanaians of his generation thought rather odd." Egypt celebrates Everest conquerer
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