From Egypt's street demonstrations to Israel's nuclear arsenal Doaa El-Bey and Rasha Saad had the week covered Writers still differ on the significance of the spread of demonstrations and protests in Egypt: is it a sign of growing problems among people or is a bigger margin of democracy showing? Mohamed El-Shabba quoted the New York Times as saying that the worst slip-up of the present government is the painful scenes of poor families protesting in front of the cabinet. The newspaper described them as the victims of an economic programme that failed to improve their conditions. El-Shabba added that these sad scenes, which have been continuing for the last three months, had failed to move any minister or member of parliament. He said the government feels no shame and does not worry about what is written about it in the Western press, claiming that the opposition is providing the press with incorrect information on the internal situation in Egypt. However, El-Shabba added the language of numbers in recent years proved that the government is not right. "One-third of Egyptians live below the poverty line, not a single day passes without a protest or a demonstration here or there, protesters carry placards that talk about heartbreaking issues hunger, starvation, unemployment, poverty, sickness ..." he wrote in the independent daily Nahdet Masr. But what El-Shabba found really annoying is that the government believes that there is nothing wrong with its policies and that it is the problem of the people who have failed to recognise the achievements of the government or reap the fruits of reform. Abdel-Nabi Abdel-Bari who writes a brief, daily comment on the back page of the daily Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the opposition Wafd Party, wrote that many commentators talks about the growing phenomenon of demonstrations and protest marches as a sign of democracy. But he questioned whether the government had looked into the possible aftermath or was too busy to see anything except the glory of their seats of authority. Abdel-Fatah Ibrahim wrote that protests and demonstrations were on the increase, adding that some consider it a positive sign of democracy while others regard is as a fashion that is new to Egyptians. He wondered how the government had managed to ignore the causes of these protests up till now. At the beginning, the prime minister would go to the protesters, talk to them and try to resolve their grievances. But by time, the protests became a piece of news in the press or a clip in the satellite channels. In quest of a way to resolve these demonstrations, the writer suggested in the official daily Al-Ahram the establishment of a grievances office inside the People's Assembly in order to listen to people's complaints, study them and promise to resolve them within a set time frame. The start of the indirect Palestinian-Israeli negotiations was not hailed in most newspapers. Amin Mohamed Amin wrote that although the start of the talks was initially welcomed, most parties rushed after that to predict that the negotiations would fail and would never lead to direct negotiations or to the international peace conference supposed to be held by US President Barack Obama. Arab foreign ministers also confirmed in their meeting in Cairo that they were not convinced Israel was serious in its quest for peace. The Palestinians agreed. Israel in fact declared its intention to build some 200,000 housing units in East Jerusalem, which is a blow to the negotiations, as Amin added. He questioned in Al-Ahram why Arab civil society organisations did not move to support our legal rights and appeal to the international community to press Israel to stop its aggressive practices in order to save what is left of the occupied territories. Eman Anwar expressed pessimism regarding the indirect negotiations. She ascribed this feeling to the present extremist rightist Israeli government headed by Binyamin Netanyahu which is not genuinely interested in peace. It aims to use the negotiations to get out of the present crisis. "The indirect Palestinian-Israeli negotiations is like the Trojan horse which the Israelis will use to impose new facts on the ground. That should prompt Washington to set aside warm diplomacy and take effective steps to force Tel Aviv to bow to the conditions for peace," Anwar wrote in the official daily Al-Akhbar. However, she did not have the faintest hope that Washington would take such a step. The front pages showed interest in the sale of the famous luxury department store Harrods in the heart of London and owned by the Egyptian billionaire Mohamed El-Fayed. Al-Ahram read, "El-Fayed sells Harrods to enjoy a quiet life with his grandchildren". Al-Masry Al-Yom wrote, "El-Fayed sells Harrods to Qatari company and declares he cannot live in Egypt" and Al-Wafd blared, "El-Fayed sells Harrods to the royal family in Qatar for �1.5 billion". Lamis El-Hadidi wondered whether this was a mere mega deal or related to politics. She asked in the independent daily Al-Masry Al-Yom if the Egyptian flag would be substituted by the Qatari flag and whether Luxor Hall -- one of the most famous departments in Harrods -- would be changed to Doha Hall. The answer came to her in a phone interview with El-Fayed who affirmed that nothing would change inside the store, including the Pharaonic statues which will remain where they are. El-Fayed told El-Hadidi that he was happy with the deal. But given that he managed to buy Harrods 25 years ago after a ferocious fight with competitors, he was not previously willing to sell it. Perhaps, El-Hadidi said, he is happy because he wants to rest and perhaps it is a good deal, but there are other reasons. The death of his son in an accident, then the death of his brother and life-long partner a few months ago were reasons enough for him to sell the store that he loved and spent most of his time in. Is it just coincidence that Egyptian ownership was substituted by Qatari ownership? Was it a mere trade-off? Will the new owners remove the Egyptian flag? Will they change the name of Luxor Hall? El-Hadidi acknowledged she did not have answers.
