QUOTES: ”Assembly . . .has regained four members who rercently walked out in protest
against Islamist monopolization of seats”; “the troubled Assembly still faces
the risk of dissolution by court order”
FULL TEXT:Egypt's Constituent Assembly, tasked with drafting a new constitution,
has regained four members who recently walked out in protest against Islamist
monopolisation of seats.
Constitutional law professor Gaber Gad Nassar, general coordinator of the National
Association for Change (NAC) Abdel-Gelil Mostafa, head of the National Council for Woman's economic committee Soaad Kamel Rizk and Coptic Christian
scholar Samir Morcos, had pulled out six hours after the assembly's second
formation, protesting what they deemed the assembly's factional and unbalanced
makeup, said returning member Abdel-Gelil Mostafa.
He noted that their seats had remained vacant until their return.
"We have decided to take on our role amid apprehension that has gripped
the masses over the drafting, which threatens Egypt's culture and manner of living,"
added Mostafa.
According to a statement issued today, their u-turn came after the Constituent
Assembly formed an advisory committee comprising a host of leading public
figures.
The writing of the constitution has reached a critical juncture that requires
those who walked out to yield to the calls of the public to engage
in drawing up a constitution that balances authorities and preserves rights and
freedoms without prejudice towards any faction or political or intellectual
current, added the statement.
The members, however, underscored they will take up any stance their conscience
dictates, so as to pursue the ultimate goal of writing a constitution that
represents Egypt's cultural and historical pluralism.
The statement highlighted that the members' return is aimed at pursuing this goal
by first electing substitute members in vacant seats to strike a
balance in the assembly's makeup, and second, setting up a technical advisory
commission comprising law and constitutional experts and
independent intellectuals.
The makeup of the Constituent Assembly has been locked in stalemate since April
when a court ordered the dissolution of a first, short-lived assembly because
it was dominated by Islamists and failed to fairly represent Egypt's diverse
social groups.
Most liberals and leftists have withdrawn from the second, replacement assembly,
deeming it biased towards Islamists who dominated the dissolved
People's Assembly that elected it.
The move by the four Assembly members comes as Nasserist Hamdeen Sabbahi and reform
campaigner Mohamed ElBaradei called for boycotting the current
constituent assembly on the grounds that it is incompetent during a meeting held
on Friday[28 Sept.].
The constitution-writing body held its first session in its reformed state 18
June.
This Constituent Assembly has suffered a number of withdrawals since mid-June,
when the Egyptian Bloc parties — including the Free Egyptians, the
Egyptian Social Democratic Party and the leftist Tagammu Party — initiated a mass
walk-out, which was followed by the Karama Party, the Socialist Popular Alliance
Party and the Democratic Front Party.
Their stated reason for resigning from the assembly was to allow greater representation
for women, young people and Coptic Christians, while also
registering their objection to perceived "Islamist monopolisation" of
the constitution-writing committee.
The troubled assembly still faces the risk of dissolution by court order on grounds
that it was drawn up by the subsequently dissolved People's
Assembly, the lower house of Egypt's parliament.
In October, Egypt's Supreme Administrative Court is set to rule on the assembly's
constitutionality.
+++SOURCE: Egyptian Gazette 1 Oct.’12:”Egypt's Copts to return to Sinai homes,
says government”,Reuters
SUBJECT: Threat to Coptic Christians in Sinai
QUOTE:”(Egyptian) security forces in North Sinai were working to return Coptic
Christians to their homes”
FULL TEXT:Egypt's presidency and prime minister said on Saturday security forces
in North Sinai were working to return Coptic Christians living near Egypt's
border with Israel to their homes after they fled in fear of attack
from Islamist militants.
Nine Christian families living in Rafah near Egypt's border with Israel left their
homes on Friday[28 Sept.] after Islamist militants made death threats and
gunmen attacked a Coptic-owned shop.
Analysts say Islamists with possible al Qaeda links have gained a foothold in
Sinai and the departure of the families could fuel concerns about religious
tolerance and the rise of militancy after the overthrow of President Hosni
Mubarak.
"The Coptic families quit their homes pre-emptively but the governor of North
Sinai has given orders to return them to their homes and this is being carried
out now," said Yasser Ali, presidential spokesman.
Two armed men riding a motorcycle opened fire on a Coptic-owned shop in Rafah
on Wednesday but no one was injured. Prime Minister Hisham Qandil said militants
had not tried to force the Coptic families from the border town and they had
left of their own accord. However, death threats against the Copts had been
printed on flyers circulating in the desert area.
"We must uproot fear and provide all security measures to every
citizen,"Qandil said.
Israel has voiced concern about security in Sinai, where at least four cross-border
attacks have taken place since Mubarak was toppled in February
2011.
Egypt's new president, Mohamed Mursi, has vowed to restore order. But efforts
to impose central authority are complicated by the indigenous
Bedouin population's ingrained hostility to the government in Cairo.
+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 1 Oct.’12:”Israel won’t allow flotilla to approach Gaza
Strip”, by Mohammed Mar’i
SUBJECT: Israeli foreign ministry warns flotilla
QUOTE: “Israel was in contact with the governments whose citizens were passengers
on the ship”
FULL TEXT:RAMALLAH — The Israeli foreign ministry announced that Israel will not
allow a new flotilla to approach Gaza Strip to break Israel’s sea blockade.
The ministry said in a statement that Israel was in contact with the governments
whose citizens were passengers on the ship.
The Israel’s Radio said that “Estelle” is due to reach Gaza waters in the middle
of October after stopping in a number of European ports to pick up
passengers.
Israel imposed an economic siege on Gaza Strip in June 2006 when Hamas-led armed
groups kidnapped Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit in a cross border raid
near the enclave.
Israel tightened the siege in June 2007, when Hamas routed security forces
of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and ousted his Fatah movement from the
area.
Israel calls its Gaza blockade a precaution against arms reaching Hamas and other
Palestinian armed groups by sea. Palestinians and their supporters say the
blockade is an illegal collective punishment.
Israel loosened its Gaza blockade to defuse international criticism after its
commandos killed nine Turks in Mavi Marmara on May 2010. However, Israel still
restricts shipments of construction materials through its land crossings with
Gaza.
The Palestinian Ministry of National Economy said that the Palestinian Authority
lost $1.9 billion due to siege on Gaza Strip
===SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 1 Oct.’12: “Iran Currency Tumbles 17%in One
Day to New Low”, Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Iran’s currency tumbles to new low
QUOTE: The rial has lost more than 80% of its value compared with the end of
last year”
EXCERPTS:Iran's currency plummeted at least 17 percent in trading on
Monday[1 Oct.], according to media and an online exchange website, severely
adding to strains on the Islamic republic's sanctions-hit economy.
The currency, the rial, weakened to 34,700 to the dollar by the end of the
day's trading, according to the Mesghal.com website, a drop of 17 percent
compared to the previous day's rate of 29,600.
The Mehr news agency said the rial fell 18 percent to 35,000.
The rial has lost more than 80 percent of its value compared with the end of
last year, when it was worth 13,000 to the dollar.
Visitors to the money-changing area in central Tehran said registered
dealers were no longer selling dollars in their shops, leaving the market to
informal traders in the street -- a situation resulting in dollars becoming
scarce and thus much more expensive.
Iran is suffering heightened geopolitical tensions over its nuclear program
and the effects of draconian Western economic sanctions curbing access to
its reduced oil exports.
It also is burdened with high inflation and rising unemployment.The rial's
plunge on Monday[1 Oct.] was largely censored online.
Websites that usually give real-time currency data, such as Mazanex.com, had
the dollar rate for the rial blanked out. The Iranian-hosted version of
Mesghal (mesghal.ir) disappeared half-way through the day to be replaced
with the message "Account Suspended".
The fall sent a shock through Iranian companies.
"It's a disaster," a manager of a business in Iran's import sector
told
Agence France Presse on condition of anonymity. "One business lady was
really crying, she was losing millions of dollars."
The Fars news agency said money changers in Tehran were hoarding dollars.
"We do not know what will happen in the coming days, we do not know what
the
government will do," it quoted one money changer saying.
The official news agency IRNA quoted a spokesman for Iran's money changers'
association, Nosrat Ezzati, as saying the latest rates for the rial "are
artificial as no real exchange is happening in the market."
While Western sanctions curbing Iran's ability to export oil or to make
financial transactions abroad were certainly having an impact, blame for the
situation was also being put on economic mismanagement.
The government has in recent weeks excluded almost all importers from buying
dollars at its official rate of 12,260 rials per dollar, encouraging them
instead to use a new "exchange center" where the rate was fixed daily
at a
small discount to the open-market rate. That has sharply increased consumer
prices and spurred the rial's fall. . . .
Mahmoud Bahmani, the head of Iran's central bank, was quoted by the ISNA
news agency as predicting: "The effects of the foreign exchange trading
centre will gradually emerge in the free exchange prices." . . .
+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 1 Oct.’12:”Turkey,Egypt plan to boost alliance,
slams Syrian regime”,Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Turkey,Egypt plan to boost alliance
QUOTE:” ‘I am fully confident that the meeting …will bring about very
important results’ said Erdogan “
FULL TEXT:ANKARA — Dozens of ministers from Turkey and Egypt will gather in
Cairo in November in a bid to boost their alliance, Turkish Prime Minister
Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Sunday[30 Sept.], Agence France-Presse
reported.
“Accompanied by 13 ministers, I will be in Cairo in early November,” for the
meeting of a high-level strategic council established between the two
countries to bolster ties, Erdogan told a news conference with Egyptian
President Mohamed Morsi in Ankara.
“I am fully confident that the meeting ... will bring about very important
results,” said Erdogan, according to AFP.
Morsi praised Turkey for standing by the Egyptian people during and after
the revolution that toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011, and
said Cairo would never hesitate to establish a partnership with Ankara.
The Egyptian president, who addressed the AKP congress early in the day,
lauded Erdogan’s party as a “source of inspiration” for the region, AFP
reported.
The Associated Press reported that Turkey and Egypt on Sunday[30 Sept.]
unleashed harsh criticism of the Syrian regime and pledged joint support for
the Palestinian cause.
“Our common goal is to support other people who are standing up against
their administrations or regimes, to support Palestine and the Syrians in
their efforts,” Morsi said at the Turkish ruling party’s congress.
“The events in Syria are the tragedy of the century,” he added. “We will be
on the side of the Syrian people until the bloodshed ends, the cruel regime
is gone and Syrian people reach their just rights.”
In his speech to the congress, which is marking the ruling Justice and
Development Party’s decade in power, Erdogan promised that Turkey, which is
host to some 88,000 Syrian refugees as well as Syrian opposition groups,
would continue to support the Syrian people wanting to oust the regime of
President Bashar Assad.
He appealed to Russia, China and Iran to stop backing the regime.
“We call on Russia, China as well as Iran: Please review your stance.
History will not forgive those who stand together with cruel regimes,” he
said, according to AP.
With Khaled Mishaal, the leader of the Palestinian Islamist Hamas group also
present, Erdogan said Turkey is determined to speak out against what he
called Israel’s “state terrorism” in the region and praised Morsi for his
support to Palestinians. “Through Morsi’s leadership, our Palestinian
brothers in Gaza and in all other Palestinian cities are able to breathe
easily,” he said.
Erdogan said Turkey would not reconcile with former ally Israel until it
lifts its blockade of Gaza and apologises for an attack in 2010 that killed
nine mostly Turkish pro-Palestinian activists in a raid on a flotilla that
tried to breach the blockade.
Earlier, Erdogan told delegates at the congress that the era of military
coups in the country is over and that Turkey is a model for other Muslim
countries to emulate, AP reported.
The Justice and Development Party, which came to power in 2002, has
maintained Turkey’s decades-old secular system, but at the same time has
curtailed the power of the military, which have staged three coups since the
1960s and forced an Islamic government out of office in 1997.
“The era of coups in this country will never return again,” Erdogan said.
“Anyone who intervenes or tries to intervene in democracy will sooner or
later go in front of the people’s courts and be made to account
+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 1 Oct.’12:”Olive oil producers threaten to quit over
‘rampant smuggling’(of Syrian olives) by Hana Namrouqa
SUBJECT: Smuggled Syrian olives undermine Jordan producers
QUOTE :”the smugglers bring almost as much oil into the country as Jordan
produces
FULL TEXT:Jordan produces between 25,000 to 35,000 tonnes of olive oil every
season
FULL TEXT:AMMAN — Olive farmers and olive oil producers threatened on
Sunday[30 Sept.] to shut down their businesses this season unless the
government ends alleged smuggling of olive oil from Syria.
The Union of Olive Press Owners and Olive Producers urged the government to
take serious measures against what they said was continued smuggling of
olive oil from Syria, claiming that smugglers bring almost as much oil into
the country as Jordan produces.
“The Kingdom’s olive sector is now paralysed. The local market is inundated
with thousands of tonnes of smuggled olive oil, especially from Syria, so
much that the sector is facing depression,” president of the union, Enad
Fayez, said at a press conference on Sunday[30 Sept.].
Around 4,000 litres of olive oil is smuggled every day from Syria into
Jordan, where they are sold at below-market prices, union members said.
The Ministry of Agriculture and the Jordan Customs Department are turning a
blind eye, although the union repeatedly complained and even documented
smuggling activities with photos and videos, union secretary Nidal Samain
told reporters at the press conference.
“This is threatening millions of dollars worth of investments, because
people are buying smuggled oil at lower prices, while the Jordanian produce,
which is costly to farmers, is left on the shelves,” Samain said.
The costs of olive oil production are increasing, he added, including the
costs of harvesting, packaging, water, electricity and the maintenance of
presses.
“Press owners and producers are no longer making enough revenues to cover
their operation and production costs or their debts to banks,” Samain said.
A total of 125 olive oil presses are spread across the country, especially
in the central and northern regions, with an investment volume exceeding
JD200 million, according to the union’s figures.
“There are over 20 million olive trees in Jordan, providing income to more
than 80,000 families… The Kingdom produces 25,000-35,000 tonnes of olive oil
every season, which meets local and international quality standards,” Samain
said.
He highlighted that annual local consumption of olive oil totals 22,000
tonnes, while the rest is exported.
“The smuggled olive oil affects not only the olive sector in Jordan but also
public health, because it isn’t tested and samples showed that it wasn’t
properly filtered,” Samain told reporters.
Under the current circumstances, he said, consumers shopping for olive oil
should check the source of the product and its production date. If the
product is not labelled with the source and production date, he advised
consumers not to buy it.
“People can head to olive presses or farms across the country and buy their
supply of olive oil from the source to avoid purchasing cheated oil, which
is either mixed with other types of oil or not properly filtered,” he noted.
The union also called on the government to set up a higher council for olive
oil, which would be tasked with drafting production and marketing strategies
to improve the sector locally and internationally.
Agriculture Ministry Secretary General Radi Tarawneh said in March that the
government had finalised the makeup of the projected council and was working
on drafting its bylaw, and that the olive oil council would see the light
“soon”.
Since then, however, there has been no mentioning of progress on
establishing the council, which the olive sector stakeholders had been
demanding for years
+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 1 Oct.’12:”Extra sanctions aim to punish Iran and
restrain Israel” Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: EU and US re Iran sanctions
QUOTE:” The European Union and the
United States are set to toughen nuclear
sanctions aiming to punish Iran while seeking to hold back Israel from a
military strike”; “The United States is pushing Gulf states to develop
missile defence plans, amid what
they see as a rising threat from Iran”
FULL TEXT:UNITED NATIONS — The European Union and United States are set to
toughen nuclear sanctions aiming to punish Iran while seeking to hold back
Israel from a military strike, top officials said as the showdown enters a
critical phase.
Western moves to pressure Iran have been made more urgent by Israeli Prime
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s stern call for a “clear red line” against the
Islamic state’s nuclear drive, diplomats said.
Netanyahu’s conversation with US President Barack Obama on Friday[28 Sept.]
reassured some envoys that Israel and the United States are more in tune
over Iran. But they highlighted lingering uncertainty about if and when
Israel could launch unilateral action.
The European Union will be first to step up sanctions as part of the
international campaign of pressure alongside increasingly frustrating
efforts to negotiate a halt to Iran’s uranium enrichment.
“What we will do next is intensify sanctions,” a top Western official close
to talks on the crisis said on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly. EU
foreign ministers are to meet in Luxembourg on October 15 to discuss the
measures.
“They will include the financial area, definitely,” the official added,
speaking on condition of anonymity. He stressed, however, that the measures
have not yet been settled.
Iran’s economy has been severely hit, particularly by action against its oil
industry.
Its rial currency fell 6 per cent to a new low of about 28,600 to the dollar
on Saturday[29 Sept.], according to exchange analysts. It has lost 60 per
cent of its value this year, while food prices have risen 50 per cent.
The European Union ordered a ban on Iranian oil purchases from July 1, but
Britain, France and Germany are “united” in pressing for additional
sanctions by the 27-nation bloc, the official said.
A second senior official said the United States is also looking for “new
areas” where sanctions could be applied or toughened.
The US Congress approved action in August targeting companies that work with
Iran’s petroleum or natural gas sector, provides insurance to the National
Iranian Oil Company, engages with uranium mining with Iran or sells oil
tankers to the country.
“There are always ways to refine the measures already taken by the
administration,” the official said, also speaking on condition of anonymity.
“The number of targets could be increased. The aim has got to be to hit the
government but not the people.”
Netanyahu’s speech to the UN General Assembly unnerved many. He warned that
Iran could have the necessary material to make a bomb by mid-2013 and called
for “red line” to stop Iran enriching uranium to the required purity for a
bomb.
Netanyahu indicated that his deadline for a decision on action is now after
the November 6 presidential election in the United States. But Israeli
officials increasingly indicate their impatience with the sanctions path.
“Iran is on the verge of bankruptcy because of the sanctions, and there are
growing protests against the Ayatollahs, but these sanctions have not
dissuaded the regime in power in Tehran from pursuing its nuclear
ambitions,” Israel’s deputy foreign minister, Danny Ayalon, said last week.
The first senior official noted that Western nations “have said to Israel
that we are not in favour, in these circumstances when we are pursuing
sanctions and negotiations, of any attack on Iran”.
The US administration “wants to pursue diplomacy, so we are nervous of any
suggestion of any attack,” said the second official.
The trio of European nations plus the United States, Russia and China — the
so-called E3+3 group — has sought to negotiate with Iran, which denies it
seeks a bomb.
Ministers from the six nations met in New York on Thursday[27 Sept.] and
again called on Iran to “urgently” show the proof that its intentions are
peaceful.
Experts from the six are due to meet in London soon to “determine our
negotiating position for any further meeting with the Iranians,” the first senior
official said.
EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said she would be contacting Iran to
determined whether more negotiations should be held.
Alongside the sanctions and talks, the United States and Europe have also stepped
up pressure on Iran over its support for Syria’s President Bashar Al Assad and
militant groups in the region.
The United States is pushing Gulf states to develop missile defence plans, amid
what they see as a rising threat from Iran, US officials said
==========
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA
--------------------------------------------
IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis
Website: www.imra.org.il
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