Leave Cairo's Saint Patron Alone For God sake !!

I am getting tired of hearing that sort of news everyday.Yesterday I found photos showing horrible agression on Sayeda Zeinab Mosque in Old cairo. First you can read more about the history of that mosque and shrine in Cairobserver blog. You will be shocked to know that this mosque is not listed as Islamic monument !!
Now It seems that either the ministry of endowment or some people decided to paint the old mosque as they want. They began to color the roof white the minaret was painted by pink !!
Here is a photo gallery for what happened exactly in the mosque from Historic Cairo Facebook Page.

 It is unclear who is behind this cultural agression. Some say that it is the ministry of endowment while others say that they are some El Sayeda fantatics trying to get rid to celebrate the birth of Cairo's Saint patron in their own way !!
Either ways the ministry of culture and its Urban harmony sector are extremely angry and they demand that nonsense to stop right way.
The head of the Sayeda Zeinab district claimed that he did not do anything about the painting of the mosque !! 
The district stopped the painting thank goodness but one must wonder what if those photos above did not make it online.
By the way I think the ministry of culture and ministry of antiquities should pay attention to what is happening to the old mosques related to Islamic saints. I wrote before about Sultan Abu Ela Mosque and nothing happened. By the doom of Sultan Abu Ela mosque is painted white. 

And The Soldiers Are Back and Free

From four hours ago the official spokesperson of armed forces announced the end of the hostages crisis in Sinai with the following message : 

The 7 kidnapped soldiers are in their way back to Cairo after they are being released thanks to the efforts of the military intelligence with the help of the tribes chieftains and honorable people of Sinai. 

I think my predictions were right.
After an honor we found that the soldiers would arrive to Al Maza Military airport where President Morsi , minister El Sisi of defense and PM Qandil were waiting for them.

Morsi, El Sisi, Qandil and Ibrahim at Al Maza airport 

During that time the soldiers were being prepared to show  up shaved and wearing their uniform. The soldiers look even younger and distraught.

Sinai’s Hostage Crisis Day#7: Statements and Conferences

On Tuesday we found the admin of the official FB page of SCAF “Do you remember him !?” posting a very interesting Wall post about the latest developments in Sinai. The post’s title was “The last message” and it was more of warning.

Up till this moment , I repeat till this moment we respect the Egyptian blood despite how awful the terrorist act but our answer will be quick and touch. It will be devastating and we will not have mercy on the terrorists or those who will help them by protection or shelter.

This page is from the official FB pages following the Egyptian armed forces last time I checked.
Amazingly the Salafist Jihadist group in Sinai issued a statement on the same day. First the group holds the presidency , the ministry of interior and the commandership of the army the responsibility of what happened. Neglecting the demands of the detainees families and torturing one of the detainees “Hamda Abu Sheita” till he lost his sight led to what we see from what I understood in the statement. This makes me wonder whether the unidentified group was related to the families. Also how the group  knew about this.

To Negotiate or Not to Negotiate , To Attack or Not Attack , The Options currently in #Sinai

We have got a national security crisis in Egypt , the recent kidnapping of the soldiers in Sinai is a huge challenge for the Egyptian state whether for the Presidency “as in Morsi’s administration” or the army or the police.
The presidency and the army are in extreme critical position with not much options. All the options come with the price especially we are speaking about Sinai.
Sinai and its tribes got its own share from neglect and security mistreatment especially in the last ten starting with Taba explosives and what followed it from random arrests by state security. We are not speaking the tamed Nile Valley but a tribal environment with people of high dignity.
After speaking to several people from Sinai in the past two years I can say the locals especially from tribes did not forget what the ministry of interior. “We will not allow the old days of El Adly and Mubarak to return back” this phrase I heard from locals in Sinai too many times including today.
I believe the army and the police understand this very well especially the military intelligence that runs the show in the North and the South. Thousands of men were arrested randomly whenever something happens in Sinai and some of them were badly tortured by security forces. They can’t forget the humiliation they faced.

And Who is that sick person behind this stupid act ?

Just today people in Alexandria were shocked in the morning to see the beautiful and iconic Mermaid statue disfigured by some assholes , yes assholes.

Some idiot or idiots threw blue paint on the beautiful statue made by famous artist Fathy Mahmoud. I am so angry.
Anyhow a group of Alexandrian activists are having an event to clean the mermaid next Friday.

Kidnapped Soldiers appear in Video "Updated"

In a major development today a video surfaced online allegedly for the 7 kidnapped soldiers in Sinai. The kidnapped soldiers identified them and their ages. They demanded to President Morsi to release all Sinai's political detainees. They are blindfolded. They say that they are tortured. They are begging Morsi to release the detainees especially Sheikh Hamda Abu Sheita. "Updated : The video has been removed because it violates YouTube's policy regarding violence"

We are not less than Gilad Shilat whom Israel traded for 1000 Palestinian prisoners

Said the soldier Sobhi who directed his talk to both Morsi and El Sisi.
Hamda Abu Sheita was the one who was allegedly tortured till he lost his sight in Tora prison last week. Abu Sheita was one of the leading figures in the Salafist Jihadists trend in North Sinai. He was arrested last year.
It is just sad video. The average age of the poor soldiers is 20 years.
The video is uploaded by "SSAS SSAS" channel in YouTube. The user has joined the video uploading service only today. It was uploaded from 7 hours ago and strangely only now people are paying attention.There is no official reaction about it so far.
More to come.
Ok an official reaction :

Can We Save Mohamed Ali Palace in Shubra El Kheima ??

Culture activist Sally Soliman spoke on her twitter account about what happening and is happening to Mohamed Ali Palace in Shubra El Kheima and it is not good.
First of all Mohamed Ali Palace in Shubra is one of the most oldest and beautiful palaces remaining from Mohamed Ali Era itself. Mohamed Ali Pasha ordered its construction in 1808. The construction of that palace finished in 1812.

A painting showing the palace during the day of the Pasha

The Palace is built like the Palaces in Istanbul , extremely beautiful. 
It was neglected for years yet in 2000 the minister of culture then Farouk Hosni suddenly remembered. Not less than LE50 millions were allocated then for the restoration works in the neglect palace. About 14 experts in the restorations of palaces from Italy and France were brought in to help in its restoration.
In 2005 it was re-inaugurated by Mubarak in a very big celebration. Of course since then we knew that the palace was being rented for big galas , parties and weddings especially for the VIPs like former NDP leading member and policy maker Mohammed Kamel "He is still in the scene and last thing I know about him was being an adviser to Ahmed Shafik."
Now Soliman shocked us and told us online that part of the palace is collapsing.

After the Jews of Egypt , Watch The Italians of Egypt

Just like Jewish community in Egypt , there was big Italian community in Egypt prior 1952. The community found a place in Egypt since 19th century.Spot 1 and Al Jazeera Documentary decide to explore the history of this community.

The Italians of Egypt_trailer from SPOT1.TV on Vimeo.

When I think about it Egypt was much tolerant and open to the other with its cosmopolitan nature past more than today despite in the past we did not have many educated people like now.

I know that we are paying the price of the wrong nationalism policies adopted in 1960s and have been used since then by our presidents. These nationalism policies turned in to ugly chauvinism.

The documentary was already screened earlier this year and according to its official Facebook page its DVD in Italian is available in Europe. I would like to see the documentary so I will search if there are other versions translated in to English or Arabic.