Jumping back in to the blogging game from Gaza… Rumors have it Palestinian factions will announce agreement tonight, but for now with regards to the beach deaths, Hossam mentioned Saturday’s Guardian report. In fact all three British tabloids, Guardian, Telegraph and her majesty’s Times took the Israeli army’s account to task on Friday and Saturday, [...]

I just received this Email:
Abdolkarim Nabil Seliman [aka: Kareem Amer] is a 21 year-old Egyptian student of law at the Azhar University, Damanhour Campus, a women’s-rights activist and a correspondent for Copts United. In addition to writing at Civic Dialogue, he also publishes at a blog he maintains.

On Wednesday 26 October 2005, Egyptian State [...]

Here’s a roundup of a few internet polls on the Egyptian presidential elections:
Shebab Misr (2264 responses):
Ayman Nour -63%;
Hosni Mubarak - 21%;
Nomaan Gomaa - 12%
Egyptian Referendum (1591 responses):
Hosni Mubarak - 39.66%;
Ayman Nour - 28.16%;
Nomaan Gomaa - 15.78%;
Boycotting - 10.56%
From Al Waai Al Misri (2706 responses):
Ayman Nour - 31%;
Hosni Mubarak - 11%;
Nomaan Gomaa - [...]

Mubarak’s campaign promises in his campaign kickoff event last night at Al Azhar Park:
-Constitutional amendments that enshrine the liberites of the citizen, reinvigorate political parties, develop the institutional framework of our policies and the decision making process, and place restrictions on executive authority.
-Amendments to enhance parliament’s oversight, allowing it to hold the [...]

An interesting new movement launched last night called Shayfeenkum– We’re watching you. The movement’s 12 founders, and reported 250 members to date, will provide an avenue for citizens to report any human rights violations, electoral mishaps, and other problems to the media and government ministries. Anybody can file a complaint through the groups slick Web [...]

So Egypt’s presidential campaign officially begins today. The three candidates that people will be watching, Ayman Nour from Hizb al Ghad, Nomaan Gomaa from the Wafd, and of course Mubarak, are each holding kickoff press conferences today. Mubarak will deliver a live television address on Dream TV tonight at 8 pm. Dream, by the way, [...]

I’ve spent my day immersed in the Arab blogosphere. A lot of good reading out there. Here one gem I came across, pretty much the funniest thing I’ve ever read. I got it from the Dubai blogger Secret Dubai Diary, who by the way was temporarily shut down recently for publishing a Gilbert & Sullivan [...]

It appears the Algerians aren’t too happy about what they see as Mubarak’s latest political stunt, the Egyptian leader’s call for an Arab Summit in Sharm al Sheikh to show solidarity against terrorism. The Khaleej Times reports:
A high-level Algerian source said his country was not keen on attending the summit, adding that Algeria was upset [...]

The 20th issue of Cairo Magazine has been banned by Egyptian censors. It is the third issue to be banned in the magazine’s short history. Censors said that the offending passage came in the article about last Saturday’s demonstrations titled “Anti-Mubarak protesters violently beaten by police.” The offending line was this quote from one demonstrator: [...]

It looks like Hizb Al Wasat, the centrist Islamic political party, may be on its way to legitimacy. A report commissioned by the Cairo administrative courts gave a hearty endorsement to the party. The court will issue a final ruling on the party in October. Hizb Al Wasat has been rejected by the parties committee [...]

The Abdeen demo was the first Kefaya sponsored rally in a month. After declining turnouts at recent demos, as Issandr pointed out in his post on the Imbaba demo, last Thursday’s protest saw improved turnout and a more charged atmosphere.
The demo was bigger than past demos (Al Misry Al Yom generously estimated turnout at [...]

I just received this SMS from Hizb Al Ghad.
One of the state witnesses has reversed his testimony saying that police obtained his earlier confession that was used against Nour under pressure. This proves the fabricated nature of Ayman Nour case and the regime intentions of framing hiim to prevent him from challenging NDP power [...]

In addition to the article referred to by Issandr about the death of an Al Ghad supporter during the trial of Ayman Nour, Al Misry Al Yom has a story today that reports that NDP leaders have begun calling for state television to cover and broadcast the oppostion’s anti-Mubarak demonstrations. Ex-minister of youth Ali Eddin [...]

UPDATE: Al Arabiya and Al Jazeera reporting now that there were two bombings that killed three and injured eight. The second bombing was near Sayida Aisha, a working class Egyptian neighborhood about 15 minutes by car from the site of the first bombing. Al Jazeera is interviewing somebody now saying that it was carried out [...]

Here is an interesting article by Neil King, the diplomatic writer for the Wall Street Journal, about the US State Department’s Middle East Partnership Initiative and implementation of the program in Egypt. Titled “Democracy Drive By America Meets Reality in Egypt,” it includes some interesting details about the push and pull that occurred on [...]

Al Araby’s page 1 top of the fold screaming red headline today read: “President Mubarak is politically responsible for the return of terrorism.” Here is a translation of much of the accompanying article written by the paper’s editor-in-chief Abdallah al-Senawy.
Among the stranger theories that have been circulating in some sectors of public opinion is that [...]

This may have been widely commented on already, but if it has, I haven’t seen it. In any case, while looking for population figures for the West Bank and Gaza, I came across this US State Department human rights report for 2004. It was released on February 28, 2005. Here are the population figures it [...]

An article posted to the Kefaya movement Web site claims to have a picture of the bomber. The accompanying article reports that the bomb probably went off prematurely. If true that should answer all the questions as to why he’d have set it off in the Muski, a somewhat less tourist oriented area.
A security [...]

Al Arabiya is reporting that an unknown Islamic group has claimed responsibility for yesterday’s attack on its Web site. The group calls itself “كتائب العز الاسلامية بارض النيل”, or something akin in English to “The Islamic Pride Brigades in the Land of the Nile.” Al Arabiya reports that the group said that one of [...]

This from Reuters:
“It’s a very unsophisticated type of device, typical of acts planned and executed by one individual,” [Tourism Minister Ahmed] el-Maghrabi said, quoting a cabinet report on the attack. Three U.S. citizens, four Egyptians and two French people are still in hospital, Maghrabi said. One of the French casualties is in critical condition, but [...]