Egypt

Man sentenced to one year for insulting Prophet’s companions

Via Egypt Independent

Photographed by Ahmed Shaker, archived

 

Egyptian authorities sent Mohamed Fahmy to Wadi al-Natrun Prison on Tuesday to serve a one-year sentence for insulting the Prophet’s companions and spreading the Shia doctrine.

A court of appeal issued the verdict against Fahmy Thursday after he appealed the first ruling, which sentenced him to three years and fined him LE100,000.

His lawyer, Youssef Qandil, threatened to escalate the issue internationally and submit a complaint to the United Nations, describing the verdict as “personal” and “fabricated.”

The residents of Fahmy's village in Kafr al-Zayat said the Muslim Brotherhood group tried to talk him out of his doctrine by arranging meetings for him with Al-Azhar University professors that usually ended in fights, which prompted the group to warn the young villagers of following his thoughts.

The story began a year ago, when local residents kicked Fahmy out of the mosque and filed a complaint against him with the police, accusing him of inciting sectarian strife.

Anti-Shia rhetoric is prevalent in Egypt, especially among Islamist groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Salafi movement.

Shia community leaders complained of persecution under former President Hosni Mubarak. Al-Taher al-Hashiemy, the secretary general of the Hashemeya Sufi order and one of the founders of the Sufi-led Egyptian Tahrir Party, once said that Shias abstained from performing their rituals to avoid detention by the now-dissolved State Security Investigation Services.

In December, security forces shut down Cairo's Hussein Mosque, apparently fearing that non-Shia citizens would react angrily to Egyptian Shias celebrating Ashura, an annual event that marks the death of the Prophet's grandson Imam Hussein.

 

via www.egyptindependent.com

Egypt's Mursi frees Islamists jailed by Mubarak

Via Reuters by Tom Perry

(Reuters) - Egypt's President Mohamed Mursi has freed a group of Islamists jailed for militancy during Hosni Mubarak's era a step seen as a gesture to hardliners who supported his presidential bid.

A lawyer for 17 Islamists, many of them held since the 1990s, say they owe their release to a pardon issued by Mursi. At least three of the released Islamists had been condemned to death, said the lawyer Ibrahim Ali.

Those released in recent days include members of al-Gama'a al-Islamiya, jailed during the group's armed insurrection against the state in the 1990s, and Islamic Jihad, the movement behind the 1981 assassination of President Anwar Sadat.

The pardon underlines efforts by Egypt's first Islamist president to satisfy the some of the hardliners he courted with election promises to implement Islamic law.

Mursi is facing calls from Islamists to secure the release of the remaining few dozen of their brethren who they believe are being kept behind bars by security forces resistant to the new president's wishes.

But he is also facing criticism from activists who are questioning his priorities, believing he has not moved far or fast enough to secure proper justice for thousands of others jailed by military courts since Mubarak was deposed, although he launched an investigation that did result in some releases.

"Mursi is paying off a political debt," said Nabil Abdel Fattah, a political analyst, referring to a move he said would anger Egyptians who recall the bloodshed of the 1980s and 1990s.

"This carries a message: that even those who were condemned to death can be released," Abdel Fattah said. The presidential spokesman could not be reached for comment, but a security source said the men had been released on Mursi's orders.

Mursi has not spoken in public about the pardon for which he has been publicly thanked by al-Gama'a al-Islamiya. The group says those held in jail are innocent victims of summary justice in military and other courts where they were denied fair trials.

Islamist lawyers say some 2,000 Islamists have been released in the 18 months since Hosni Mubarak was removed from power, many of them last year on the orders of the council of military generals that steered the transition.

MEN ACCUSED IN KILLING OF POLICE

They have included high-profile figures such as Abboud al-Zumar, known as the man who supplied the bullets for the Sadat killing. Mohamed al-Zawahri, brother of al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri, also walked free earlier this year after a retrial cleared him of charges for which he had spent a decade in jail.

Ali, the lawyer, said the 17 men released in the last few days include two members of al-Gama'a al-Islamiya accused of killing a police officer a third accused of killing another police officer in a separate incident. He said the men had not been involved.

More than 1,000 people were killed between 1992 and 1997 in al-Gama'a al-Islamiya's campaign against the state.

The violence culminated in the 1997 Luxor massacre carried out by a group of al-Gama'a al-Islamiya members who ignored a ceasefire declared by the group's leaders. They killed 62 people, mostly foreign tourists, at a pharaonic temple. In 2003, the group published books renouncing violence.

Al-Gama'a al-Islamiya has moved into the political mainstream since Mubarak was removed from power, setting up a political party, winning seats in parliamentary election 

 and later campaigning on Mursi's behalf in the presidential vote.

Mursi had promised to work for the release of Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the group's spiritual leader who is serving a life sentence in the United States for planning attacks in New York.

Al-Gama'a al-Islamiya has called on Mursi to release the last few dozen Islamists still being held from the Mubarak era.

According to lawyers working for their release, Mursi had sought to secure freedom for all the Islamists still being held, but the security forces had blocked the move, signaling the resistance he is facing from unreformed security agencies.

"Those remaining must be released," said Tareq al-Zumar, a senior member of al-Gama'a al-Islamiya.

(Writing by Tom Perry; Editing by Michael Roddy)

via www.reuters.com

It feels like this is how it’s always going to be | Collective Action for Safe Spaces

By Nancy Messieh, via Collective Action for Safe Spaces

This piece was originally published on Nancy’s blog. 

When I moved to Washington DC from Cairo last month, I made a mental list of all of the changes that I was going to be met with, many of them positive. I would no longer have to deal with Cairo traffic, with the city’s grime and pollution, with an overly-nosy neighbour, with the oppressive heat, and best of all, I would no longer have to deal with the daily bombardment of sexual harassment.

As it turns out, that isn’t entirely true. The first thing I discovered was the fact that Washington DC’s summer is more humid than Cairo’s. I told myself, at least I won’t have to think twice about what I wear, about the length of my skirt, or my sleeves; I won’t have to trade comfort in the heat, for the comfort of one less stare or one less comment from a man in the street because of my choice of clothing. As it turns out, that isn’t entirely true either.

Women’s rights groups demand anti-harassment legislation on the steps of Cairo’s Journalists’ Syndicate shortly after the 2006 Eid incident. © Alexandra Sandels

I have very suddenly become aware of just how naive I was to think that anything had changed in any major way just because I was in a different country, one that prides itself on values of freedom and equality. I was still a woman, walking the streets of a city by myself, always open to the possibility that there was a man out there who felt entitled to things he had no right to. I was still a woman wearing a skirt that some men might think provocative. I was still a woman.Of course anyone who has been to both DC and Cairo knows there isn’t much of a comparison when it comes to picking out your outfit. How can you compare a conservative Middle Eastern city, with  its small pockets of cosmopolitan carefree life, to the capital city of Freedom Central? I thought there simply was no comparison whatsoever, until last week when I read an article by DC photographer, Liz Gorman, “On The Reverse ’10-5 Rule’ and Walking While Female,” detailing her own sexual assault in Dupont Circle at 3:30pm on a Thursday afternoon. On Friday, still unaware of Gorman’s story, I sat on a bench in Dupont Circle waiting to meet a friend. I was wearing a skirt, certainly not one that is short by any DC standards, although one I would have thought twice about wearing in Cairo.At the time, I didn’t give it much thought. Now, I do.

It was a sobering moment, as I read Gorman’s story, and delved deeper into the reality of sexual harassment in DC, reading stories of women on the Orange Line being followed by men as they do the simplest and most pedestrian of things, like walking home from the metro station after a long day at work. I read names of stations that I pass through every day, once in the morning, once in the afternoon, and suddenly it was all far more real than I wanted it to be.

In Cairo, I had become accustomed to lewd comments and stares. I had all but managed to completely block out the whistles and cat-calls, the loud smacking of lips, like an unwanted kiss. I learned to ignore the cars that slowed down as they approached you in the street on the off chance that you might get in. I no longer saw the winks, the overly-friendly smiles. I pretended that these men didn’t exist: the particularly emboldened ones, who took one step too close, reached out a hand, or simply brushed past you, using the crowds and bustle as a convenient and dirty excuse; the taxi drivers who took advantage of the fact that you’re trapped in the back of their cars, on a bridge, with nowhere to go, and you have no choice but to sit there while they rub themselves, and you do everything you can just to keep looking out the window, praying that they don’t take it any further; the men that flashed you as you walk past them. Cairo has it all – every garden variety of sexual harassment can be found in the city that is spilling outside of itself with people. And I simply learned to ignore it all.

One month ago, I thought that I wouldn’t have to deal with that anymore, at least not until my next visit home.Yesterday I went for a run with my sister. Well, she ran, as I trailed behind her with my camera. We were in the heart of suburbia, in the midst of townhouses, parks and schools – it couldn’t have been more innocent on the surface. We passed a running trail, and I wanted to wander down it, figuring that I’d be able to find something a little bit more interesting to photograph besides the ducks on the lake, that I had just photographed out of the desperation of wanting to photograph anything at all.

My sister told me it was a bad idea. It turns out that the path is known for being the haunt of a particularly elusive flasher, one the police haven’t been able to catch. He waits for women, walking or running by themselves, and jumps out in all his naked glory.

Protestors against street harassment in Adams Morgan, Washington DC. Image from sarah-graham.co.uk

The park flasher, Gorman’s assaulter, the stories of harassment dotting the Orange Line – they’ve all changed my perception on what it means to be a woman anywhere in the world.Living for the past fifteen years in a country where sexual harassment is such a rampant problem that a rally for women’s rights was attacked by men, I had somehow come to assume that this daily harassment was something peculiar to the city I called home. I thought that these little day-to-day assaults – that aren’t really little at all but we learn to brush them off, just so we can actually step out into the street again – were products of culture, or poverty, or anything that simply didn’t exist in cities like Washington DC. It’s these small attacks, that chip away at the feeling that you deserve to be treated any better than this, that I didn’t expect to find here. I couldn’t have been more naive.

Gorman reminded me that walking while female in Egypt is the same as walking while female anywhere in the world – it means that, at any moment, you could find yourself on the receiving end of unwanted attention.

So far since moving here, since reading Gorman’s article, I’ve been verbally harassed twice. It’s nothing in comparison to the daily harassment I faced in Cairo, and I’ve found myself doing exactly the same thing – ignoring it, the same way I had learned to all these years in Cairo. I turned the music I was listening to up, pushed the buds of my earphones deeper into my ears, and kept going. Because it was just one comment, so what difference did it make?

But once is all it takes to make you feel threatened, to make you feel that you’re not going to walk down that street again, that you’ll walk an extra five minutes out of your way to feel safer. It’s all it takes for that inadvertent bump on the metro to become a threat. It’s all it takes to make you realize that you’re always walking with your head down.

It’s all it takes to make you feel like this is how it’s always going to be.

via www.collectiveactiondc.org

Canadian anchor appears on screen in full veil to mock niqab-only TV

Via Alarabiya

Canadian anchor Michael Coren appeared on his TV show wearing a niqab to seemingly mock the launch of a TV channel in Egypt that caters to women dressed in niqab. (Photo courtesy Youtube)

A Canadian TV anchor appeared in a full face-veil (known in Arabic as the niqab) to present his show on Canadian Sun News TV, ostensibly in a bid to poke fun at the newly-launched Egyptian channel, Maria TV, which features women clad only in the niqab, the Maan News Agency reported on Sunday.

Maria TV, which was launched on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan earlier in July, employs only women in niqab, even for behind-the-camera jobs.

Canadian anchor Michael Coren, dressed in black from head to toe, hosted a Muslim cleric from Toronto at the studio and discussed with him the idea of creating such a channel in Egypt.

Coren asked the cleric why Muslim women dressed “in that weird way?”

The Canadian anchor also asked the imam why Muslim men do not get dressed in black like women. The imam replied saying it is the same reason that persuades Christian nuns to wear their veil in church.

Earlier this month, Coren appeared on his show to talk about a nine-year-old Canadian girl who refused to remove her hijab during a soccer tournament. During his show he said girls in such situations had two choices: remove the hijab or not play soccer.

“It has already been established so many times that the burka, hijab are not religious requirements,” he said on his show, a video clip of which was posted on July 12. “The Quran only demands modesty. Even if it is a religious requirement, so what? We respect your right to wear it but it does not mean we have an obligation to allow you to wear it in a soccer league,” he said.

(To view the clip of Coren speaking on Maria TV visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ii3QygrGXDM)

via english.alarabiya.net

Rural women in Egypt: Can we afford to neglect them?

Via بيت الحوار - Beit El Hiwar

Various groups and minorities in Egypt are discriminated against and marginalized. With all the mobilization and debate happening in this post-revolution phase, one group has got very little attention and spotlight. Which group in Egypt suffers from highest rates of illiteracy; bears the heavy burden of utmost poverty; lack essential healthcare greatly jeopardizing their lives; and is not represented in our new parliament at all?

The answer is rural women. This is certainly not a simple minority group as rural females make up about a quarter of Egypt’s 82-million population. However, rural women are not a homogeneous group; they live in different regions and have different socioeconomic conditions. In this light, the most disadvantaged group would be poor, rural women living in Upper Egypt.

Not only rural women do not get enough attention, but rural Egypt as a whole. Despite all the debates brought up during the revolution, little we knew of its impact on rural Egypt. Media outlets keep an urban eye to whatever going on despite evidence of a lot of mobilization happening on the rural front. We do know, however, that rural communities had a sense of solidarity with Tahrir Square, but they couldn’t fully participate because of the need to look after their lands or simply because they could not afford transport. However, there were growing concerns because of the rising costs that seriously undermines the agricultural process and the deteriorating security situation within the villages. In general, there was a sense of a need to put rural issues on the agenda and that reform has to reach the countryside.

The past regimes always asserted that farmers are on top of the development agenda, while the reality was that they worked on undermining the situation and rights of farmers. While Nasser’s regime sided with the villagers and worked to end feudalism and monopoly (despite other flaws), the neoliberal policies introduced in Sadat’s era placed higher value on exporting goods and joining the global market at the expense of local self-sufficiency; and this persisted through Mubarak’s time.

If we go back to look at rural women and their conditions, we’ll soon find out how they fall at the bottom of all welfare indicators. Only 66% of adults are literate in Egypt; Women living in rural areas are most likely to miss school or get the least years of education either for economic or cultural reasons, whereas the sons’ education is prioritized. Missing education is a major barrier for rural women as it shapes their potential; and illiteracy limits their life options such as economic opportunities and health status.

When we look at working conditions, we find that rural women play a crucial role in agriculture and rural development; however they get the least benefit from that process. Women perform many agriculture-related activities and mostly don’t get paid for it. This does not exempt them from the household chores they have to take care of besides their production. Although 41% of people working in agriculture and fisheries in Egypt are women, their right to own land is violated, mostly due to traditions enforced by family and community, and this is a worldwide problem not only in our region. With the increasing male migration to urban areas, more women are in charge of households and face extra burdens to maintain their livelihood.

Sadly too, rural women’s health is much at risk. They usually suffer from malnutrition despite her contribution to the production of food, but they usually favor giving most of the food share to her family. Additionally, they work long exhausting hours in the home and outside and they do not get sufficient health care. The highest fertility rates exist among rural women while they risk losing their lives during pregnancy and delivery because of the lack of access to adequate health services. It’s needless to say that they suffer most from patriarchal values. One of the mortifying realities is that the prevalence of female genital mutilation is highest in rural Upper Egypt and reaches 95% of women despite the ban and the efforts to eradicate this practice.

Rural women are also excluded from the decision making process. They don’t have representation on the local (agricultural associations, etc.) or national level (government, parliament, etc.). We don’t hear those women’s stories and they’re not empowered to advocate for their causes. We need to direct more attention to those women and their lives. New Women Foundation and Rising Voices has ran this project to convey the voices of rural women, listen to their stories!

With the dire conditions facing rural women (not only in Egypt but in various world regions), we need to reevaluate our priorities. The United Nations has chosen rural women as this year’s theme for International Women’s Day to help highlight the cause. Mervat El Tallawy, the newly-elected president of the recently-revived National Women’s Council presented a statement on the topic at the 56th session of the UN Commission on the status of women, and pledged to push their issue to the top of the agenda. Would those promises be realized? How much more can we afford to ignore rural women and rural issues in general while half of our population lives in rural areas?

The writer Maria Golia has made the case for the rural side of Egypt in her recent article.

“In the absence of intelligent top-down strategies, change must come from the bottom up. Egypt’s revolution began in cities, but the nation’s life literally relies on its grassroots. Think of this next time you slice a tomato: Unless Egypt’s head remembers its body, its stomach will go empty and it will lose its heart.”

via beitelhiwar.com

Twitter clocks half-billion users

Via Ahram Online

Twitter in Egypt's Tahrir Square during the early days of the January-25 revolution in 2011. (Photo:Reuters)

Over 500 million people are on micro-blogging site Twitter and Americans and Brazilians are the most connected, according to a study by social media monitor Semiocast released Monday.

Twitter surpassed the half-billion mark at the end of June, with the United States accounting for both the most users and largest number of "tweets" or short messages of no more than 140 characters posted on the site.

The Paris-based monitor carried out the study by analysing data like time zone, geolocation and language available for the social networking site's total 517 million accounts. The US accounted for more than 141 million of Twitter users, with Brazil ranking second with 41 million after seeing its number rise by 23 percent since the start of the year. Japan came in third with 35 million users.

Americans also posted the highest number of Twitter messages, with 25.8 percent of all tweets hailing from the US. Japan came second accounting for 10.6 percent of all tweets, making Japanese the second most common language on Twitter after English.

The study found Jakarta to be the most active Twitter zone, with 2.4 percent of all tweets originating in the Indonesian capital.The popularity of Twitter continued to soar in the Arab world following the site's key role in the "Arab Spring" revolutions last year, with Arabic now the site's sixth most common language.

via english.ahram.org.eg

Morsy to make Clean Homeland campaign permanent

Via Egypt Independent

Photographed by Islam Farouk

President Mohamed Morsy’s Clean Homeland campaign is set to become an official institution that would work in partnership with the state and civil society "to oversee the beautification of the Egyptian street," said presidential spokesperson Yasser Ali on Monday.

He added that the institution would be formally established soon.

Ali said in a press briefing that the campaign was launched Friday and Saturday with the goal of creating "a nation that is clean from all types of corruption and negligence."

Over those two days, an estimated 107,000 volunteers from government institutions and civil society organizations removed 203,000 tons of construction debris and 120,000 tons of garbage from the streets of 22 governorates, Ali claimed, adding that in some areas volunteers removed debris that had been sitting in the street for up to five years.

Clean Homeland achieved 60 percent of its goals for the weekend, Ali said.

The campaign is not meant to be a radical solution to the nation’s trash problem, Ali continued, but rather is intended to mobilize municipal governments to do their duty, as well as to encourage the principle of civic engagement. The campaign is also not meant to excuse corporations from their responsibility for cleaning up after themselves, Ali added.

The Freedom and Justice Party has supported the campaign, but other political parties call Clean Homeland evidence of the state’s infrastructural failures.

The Popular Social Alliance Party said last week that Egypt’s problems can’t be solved with these sorts of campaigns, which it claimed are based on a “twisted” understanding of civic engagement and societal participation.

 

via www.egyptindependent.com

Egyptians believe they know best

The liberals are adamant in their dislike and disdain of Morsy. They claim he will never be able to fulfill his promises. To them, Morsy is siding with SCAF, working for the Ikhwan, and betraying the revolution. He is a mere puppet figure handing over power to the Muslim Brotherhood. And his only few decisions are instantly attacked: why does he need to provide Palestinians with water and electricity when the Egyptians have neither? 

The above is a mere fraction of the whiplash Morsy receives on an ongoing basis. In addition, his pious nature is also ridiculed. Does he think he can govern by praying at mosques five times a day? Does he have enough time to preside over the country’s needs? And why is he giving interviews in mosques and praying with all his visitors? And how is he going to entertain non-Muslim visitors? These are some of the wisecracks that many Egyptians are voicing. 

From another perspective, Ikhwan followers are joyous and jubilant. They are endorsing their party and its successful candidate. They are also getting arrogant and pushy. They too are extremely critical of their opponents and are aggressively promoting sharia and its guidelines. Trying hard to glorify Morsy and his team, they are humbled by his religious outlook on matters and his visible tears as he prays in Mecca. 

All this is happening while the revolutionists are still seeking Mubarak’s defamation, his loot, and his downfall. They continue to hold him, SCAF, and the police force accountable. They blame him and SCAF for every fallout that takes place even today. Had he not brutalized the Ikhwan, maybe things would’ve been different. Had he done something about the informal settlement, fewer thugs would’ve emerged. And it goes on.

A newfound zeal for not only political knowledge but for exhibiting political wisdom is what many Egyptians show off today. Liberals, Mubarak’s followers, Ikhwan, Salafis, and everyone in between believe they know best. All other Egyptians must accept their views, follow their course, and heed their warnings.  

The minute a decree is announced, a ministerial position is filled, or a showdown of any sort occurs, everyone has an opinion.  

Don’t get me wrong. Much of what they are criticizing is true. Morsy has yet to prove himself, and Mubarak, amongst others, is often to blame. Still, much more of what is being said is slander and not thought out.    

Then there are the jokes. Egyptians are best known for their humor, and they are good at it. This is a proficiency no one can deny, but sometimes the jokes overrule logic and override wisdom.

Social media is not making things better either. Egyptians now can yell to their hearts’ content without any hindrance or rebuttal. Sure someone may respond with a dislike or a displeased comment, but in no way would this stop tweeters from pouring their vehemence out. And on Facebook, the chain of jokes, heresy, cartoons, and illogical comparisons defy rationality.

Perplexed? Absolutely. Worried? Most definitely.

Egyptians have reached a stage of rift and division that may never heal. All the main issues and the challenges are yet to be resolved, and Egyptians are busy telling each other how to lead their lives—you see, each Egyptian believes he or she knows best. This is happening across the board. It doesn’t matter which party or group a person is affiliated to: everyone is knowledgeable and everyone else isn’t.

It is also happening at the personal level: friends and family members are losing one one another over who is right, for suddenly making others accept one’s side has become pivotal to all.

Where will this take Egypt? It will actually destroy it. It will leave Egypt in constant dissatisfaction and ongoing disarray. Someone will always find a decision incorrect. Someone will always criticize and create a frenzy against the opponents be it SCAF, the government, the assembly, or the president.

It is true that vigilance is extremely valuable. To remain vigil will save Egyptians the hassle of demonstrating before an event becomes fait accompli. It’ll also keep the political forces on course.  To judge and comment is healthy, but to slander and insult isn’t. Being watchful and observant does not mean becoming suspicious of everyone who doesn’t follow one’s view and resorting to bashing them.

Egyptians should accept where they are now. The revolution has taken them to this fork in the road. They need to move on from here by overcoming the big hurdles not by focusing on themselves.

Freedom is a difficult matter—appreciating and utilizing it wisely is a feat in itself.

 

 

Alexandria residents refuse to evacuate dilapidated buildings

Via Egypt Independent

Photographed by طارق الفرماوي, Archived

Residents of Alexandria’s Manshiya neighborhood refused to evacuate two buildings, as per a request by municipal engineers who had formed a committee to check the buildings after cracks started to appear on them.

The residents decided to remain inside the two three-story buildings, , saying they have nowhere else to go.

Building collapses in Egypt have increased in recent years. They are often blamed on local authorities’ failure to execute demolition orders on time and unauthorized construction of additional floors.

At least 19 people died earlier in July when four building collapsed in the Alexandria neighborhood of Gomrok because of construction violations. Authorities arrested the owner days later.

via www.egyptindependent.com

Egypt’s Islamists Tread Lightly, but Skeptics Squirm

Via NY Times, by Rod Nordland--read on! 

CAIRO — During Egypt’s presidential campaign, the candidate of the Muslim Brotherhood, Mohamed Morsi, made no apologies for the group’s slogan: “Islam is the solution.”

Simon Maina/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images

President Mohamed Morsi appears to be trying to mollify the Muslim Brotherhood’s wary critics.

Shariah law would provide the principles on which the country’s legal system would be based, he acknowledged repeatedly. When he was sworn in last month, the Arab world’s biggest country gained an unabashed Islamist as its leader for the first time, arousing alarm here and abroad.

Since then, however, the new government has not publicly made a single Islamist move.

“For 80 years, hundreds of thousands of books and articles were published about what would happen in case a Brotherhood president made it to power in Egypt,” wrote Ahmed Samir, a columnist in the daily Egyptian newspaper El Masry El Youm. “It was said that veils would be required, banks would be closed, a war would be declared, and bathing suits would be banned. Today we discovered what happens when a Brotherhood president holds power. Simply nothing.”

Such a definitive pronouncement could be premature. The Brotherhood has often taken the long view, preferring incremental change to sweeping gestures. And Mr. Morsi’s power has been severely circumscribed by the military, which still holds most of the cards; a rash move by Mr. Morsi could provide a pretext for the military to crack down further on the fledgling government.

On the surface, however, Mr. Morsi seems to have gone out of his way to allay fears that Islamists would radically change Egyptian society. He promptly fulfilled a campaign promise to resign from the Brotherhood and its political party, the Freedom and Justice Party, and chose a prime minister, Hesham Kandil, who is a religious Muslim but known as a technocrat rather than a hard-liner.

Mr. Morsi met early with the acting Coptic pope, Anba Bakhomious, though during the election campaign he had said he did not believe a Christian or a woman could ever be president of Egypt. He went out of his way to praise the role of the military as guarantors of Egypt’s new democracy, and word was that the choice of a defense minister in the new government would be left to the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.

Significantly, he has refrained from taking any action on hot-button social or foreign policy issues, or even discussing them.

The sale and consumption of alcohol remain legal, a concern of the important tourist industry, which has been on the rocks since last year’s revolution toppled Hosni Mubarak from power. No one in ruling circles is calling for the government to make wearing head scarves obligatory, ban pop music or review the peace treaty with Israel.

Not that it could. The new Parliament, where Islamists hold a majority, has been dissolved by the courts and has been able to meet only once since then.

Mr. Morsi’s public positions so far are a far cry from the Brotherhood’s reputation and even its history as a conservative, Pan-Islamic party, founded in Egypt but long banned from Egyptian political life. The Palestinian extremist group Hamas, which governs Gaza, is an offshoot of the Brotherhood, for instance, and in the past Mr. Morsi called for opening the border between Egypt and Gaza to relieve the pressure on Hamas of an Israeli blockade.

Yet when the Hamas leader Khaled Meshal visited Egypt this month, Mr. Morsi took care to receive the mainstream Palestinian Authority chairman, Mahmoud Abbas, first — and never raised the issue of opening the border, at least publicly. The Hamas prime minister of Gaza, Ismail Haniya, visited Cairo last week and similarly left empty-handed, although he professed confidence that Egypt’s Islamists would come through for Hamas eventually.

“The Brotherhood is not in any position to make any bold moves on foreign policy right away,” said Shadi Hamid, director of research at the Brookings Doha Center in Qatar. Hamas, he said, “is bound to be disappointed.”

Despite such efforts, Mr. Morsi and his Brotherhood allies have had little luck placating secular and other opponents. The Brotherhood remains reviled and feared by secular activists and many Christians, who make up 10 percent of the population and remember when Brotherhood ideologists talked about assessing the jizya, a tithe on Christians in Islamic-ruled states that goes back to the conquests of Christians by early Muslims.

Many secular and Christian Egyptians, even some who participated in the revolution, have come to see the military as a guarantor against Islamist excess, a role the military has claimed for itself. Just two weeks ago, the leader of the ruling military council, which has controlled Egypt since Mr. Mubarak was ousted, vowed that the army would not let Egypt “fall” to “a certain group,” a not-so-veiled reference to the Brotherhood.

“Since Morsi won, the Muslim Brotherhood adopted more of a conciliatory tone and made an effort to reach out to non-Islamists,” Mr. Hamid said. “The question is if it has worked, and I would say it hasn’t. It’s deep-seated. Neither side trusts the other.”

via www.nytimes.com