The New York Times Egypt moves to eradicate town near Gaza Strip Egypt began evacuating hundreds of families from a town bordering the Gaza Strip on Thursday after a senior official acknowledged that the military was eradicating the town in order to complete a security zone abutting the Palestinian territory. The military began bulldozing the border town, Rafah, several months ago as part of a sweeping response to repeated military attacks on Egyptian security personnel in the Sinai Peninsula. After evacuating hundreds of families and clearing an area stretching 500 yards from the border, the authorities announced in November that they were doubling the size of the security zone. Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Abdel Fattah Harhoor, the governor of North Sinai, said the zone would include "the entire city of Rafah," according to a video of his remarks carried by the BBC. "So the city of Rafah that we know will cease to exist?" a journalist asked him. "No, the new Rafah city will exist," the governor replied, referring to plans to start new construction in the area. Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/09/world/middleeast/egypt-moves-to-eradicate-town-near-gaza-strip.html?_r=0 Euro News Journalists in Egypt condemn Charlie Hebdo attack Egyptian journalists were shocked. But some also said the satirical magazine had insulted Islam. "We condemn this attack, and we are against it, but at the same time we reject the insulting of the Prophet Mohammed and the Islamic religion, as other religions are proud of their prophets like Moses for the Jews and Jesus for the Christians," said journalist Khaled Hussein. "This attack shocked all of us, regardless of whether the victim was a journalist or a civilian or any person belonging to any religion, and this attack damaged Islam far more so than the newspaper's offensive cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed," added another journalist, Mohammed Aljebali. At least one Egyptian newspaper cast the blame on Charlie Hebdo itself. Read more: http://www.euronews.com/2015/01/09/journalists-in-egypt-condemn-charlie-hebdo-attack/ World Bulletin 'Certain parties' trying to spoil Egypt ties: Morocco A Moroccan government spokesman said Thursday that "certain parties" were trying to ruin the country's relations with Egypt by offending the Moroccan people. He did not, however, say who these parties were or whether they were Moroccan or Egyptian. "It is unacceptable for us not to preserve the two countries' shared heritage," government spokesman Mustapha Khalfi told reporters. He said contacts were ongoing between Rabat and Cairo with the aim of resolving a recent diplomatic row between the two Arab capitals and promoting bilateral relations to the level of "strategic partnership." Khalfi lauded Morocco's strong ties with Egypt in a range of fields. Read more: http://www.worldbulletin.net/news/152549/certain-parties-trying-to-spoil-egypt-ties-morocco Turkish Press Moroccan envoy concludes 'vacation', returns to Egypt Moroccan ambassador to Egypt Mohamed Saad el-Alami returned to Cairo Thursday after a 6-day vacation, two diplomats have confirmed. "Ambassador el-Alami returned to Cairo today," a Moroccan diplomat, requesting anonymity, told The Anadolu Agency. He said that the ambassador had left for Rabat on Saturday to celebrate the birthday of Islam's prophet Muhammad. "[His departure] was not linked to tension between the two countries," he said. Read more: http://www.turkishpress.com/news/417813/ Al Monitor Al Jazeera's Egypt closure deals blow to MB The suspension of Mubasher Misr, which started broadcasting from Qatar after its offices were raided by the Egyptian authorities on July 3, 2013, is seen as a media setback for the Muslim Brotherhood. Fouad Saeed, a media expert at the National Center for Social Criminological Research, told Al-Monitor, "The suspension of Mubasher Misr is a severe blow to the Muslim Brotherhood. The group has lost the most-watched media platform in the Arab world, which would be difficult to compensate for, especially since other alternatives are poorly funded, hold mediocre professional standards and have low viewership compared to Mubasher Misr." Mohammed Shuman, the dean of the Faculty of Communication and Mass Media at the British University in Egypt, shared this view. He told Al-Monitor, "The suspension of Mubasher Misr is seen as a great loss that cannot be compensated for the Muslim Brotherhood. The station has been highly professional in covering Egypt's news, but biased in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood, something a lot of the other stations broadcasting from Turkey, and that are affiliated with the group, lack." Shuman said although the professionalism of these stations has declined, "They will be accepted by the group's members and sympathizers of its ideology, but they will lose the general public, which is the focus of political and media polarization." The Muslim Brotherhood has lost more than an important and popular media platform in the Arab world, as the suspension of Mubasher Misr is "seen as a decision with political implications," Saeed said. "Shutting down the station is a political defeat for the Muslim Brotherhood at the hands of one of its regional allies and indicates a decline in its regional support. This could pave the way for a decline in Turkey's support for the group, but nothing is certain so far." Read more: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2015/01/al-jazeera-egypt-suspension.html#ixzz3OJjgxwe2
