Egyptian politicians and intellectuals often claim that other Arabs borrow their ideas or attitudes from Egypt. It would not, therefore, be surprising if they claim that the Saudi rulers are copying president Husni Mubarak in their recent overtures to France, in an apparent attempt to distance themselves from the US, which has become very unpopular in the Muslim world.
Here we reprint an interview with KHALID MESHA’AL, leader of the Hamas politburo, given during talks between different Palestinian groups in Cairo last month.
When millions of anti-war protestors took to the streets in towns and cities across the world on the weekend of February 15-16, some commentators noticed that protests in Arab countries were muted at best.
Egypt, having maintained a low profile over Iraq and avoided having high-level contacts with Ariel Sharon, is now blaming Saddam for sabotaging Mubarak’s efforts to prevent a US attack, and is also about to entertain Sharon at a summit.
The new Shaikh of Al-Azhar in Egypt, Dr Muhammad Sid Tantawi, who is better known for his trendy opinions on social issues than for firing off pointed fatwas on the hot political issues of the day, has reacted spiritedly to the challenge of Israeli rabbis, who invited him to condemn ‘suicide’ attacks on Israeli targets...
