Doaa El-Bey reviews the start of American redeployment from Iraq and whether swine flu can affect the pilgrimage Whether to allow the public to perform the omra and hajj to avoid the spread of swine flu is turning controversial. Mohamed Mustafa Shordi wrote in the daily Al-Wafd, the mouthpiece of the Wafd Party, about the mysteries surrounding the possible effect of swine flu on the pilgrimage. The Ministry of Health is concerned that performing the omra (the minor pilgrimage) or the pilgrimage itself can lead to the spread of the disease, but it cannot take the decision to ban either of them. Meanwhile, touristic companies are worried about the income it makes from the pilgrimage, but the Ministry of Health sees no reason for a ban on either pilgrimage because the virus is so weak and can easily be treated. The government referred the case to the mufti. Amid the controversy, the public is lost and does not know who is responsible for taking the decision. Shordi pointed to the fact that the government is not ready to face a wider spread of the disease. "If the disease spreads, people will die because our abilities, preparations and will are weak," he said. Sahar El-Gaara wrote that our country is under siege: the plague on the border with Libya, foot and mouth disease on the borders with Sudan and swine flu in our ports and hospitals. Amid the controversy of allowing or banning the omra and hajj, there are many fatwas, or religious decrees, especially with regard to a conflict of interests. Egyptian touristic companies would face the "virus of bankruptcy" if the pilgrimage is banned and the Saudi government would not benefit if no pilgrims venture to the holy lands this year. Saudi touristic companies cannot withstand a season with no omra or pilgrimage. "The country is besieged by plague and epidemics and the state is surrounded by a mafia of fatwas. But the state is too weak to take a decision regarding the pilgrimage that would put it in confrontation with the private sector and strain its relationship with the Saudi government," El-Gaara added in the independent weekly Al-Fagr. However, nobody has the power to enforce a fatwa on us. The Muslim has a mind, a will and an ability to refer to his heart, so why should we wait for a fatwa from the grand sheikh of Al-Azhar or the mufti, El-Gaara asked. The official daily Al-Ahram wrote that this year's pilgrimage season has particular significance because of the health conditions the world is suffering from that could affect any large human gathering. These trips should not be banned but should be controlled to ensure the safety of pilgrims. Most important, all pilgrims should be committed to the rules of hygiene that prevent the spread of the disease, while providing a special quarantine for them upon their return from Saudi Arabia to discover infected cases and treat them immediately. "Warding off harm comes before bringing benefit" -- this is an important Islamic principle which should be applied to all Muslim acts, including the pilgrimage." Thus, the newspaper editorial added, it is necessary to re- organise the hajj proceedings both in the holy places and flights to and from to avoid the huge crowds which lead to increasing infection. It is also necessary that health authorities in Egypt and Saudi Arabia cooperate to achieve a pilgrimage season free of swine flu. In all cases the current situation requires full cooperation among Egyptian institutions to achieve a successful hajj season, the edit advocated. Far from swine flue, hopes for Palestinian reconciliation were raised this week with a new round of talks in Cairo between Hamas and Fatah. Mohamed Hamdi wrote that although there are many pending issues on the table, the most important is that both Hamas and Fatah need to re-establish the geographic bond between Palestinian land and the formation of a national unity government. He pointed to the fact that for the first time we are dealing with a US president who is determined to achieve progress in the Middle East and who knows the dangerous effects of Israeli settlements on the Palestinian problem. As a result, he insists on a cessation to all forms of settlement building before the parties sit at the negotiating table. But, can the Palestinians start negotiations while their arena is divided, Hamdi asked in the daily Rose El-Youssef. "Frankly, the ball is now in the Arab and Palestinian court. A Palestinian state requires from all of us to set aside our personal differences, not to surrender to regional intervention and look in an abstract manner to the important issue: the establishment of a Palestinian state," he added. Hamdi concluded by warning that if the Palestinians and Arabs wasted this chance, they would have to wait for years until the international arena is ready again to resolve the Palestinian issue. Ibrahim Nafie wrote that despite the significant progress made in previous rounds in issues of major differences such as security, elections and the Palestine Liberation Organisation, the issue of imprisonment is a priority. Some commentators considered it as the crossing gate to solving other stalled issues. However, as the writer added, the issue of political arrests is a result of division rather than a cause for it; thus it should not be a priority unless it creates an atmosphere for the success of dialogue. Nafie pointed to the efforts exerted on the part of Egypt to set the stage for a political settlement, namely receiving Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak and the head of the Hamas political bureau Khaled Mashaal. Egypt also made significant progress in the attempt to swap the captured Israeli soldier in return for some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees. Meanwhile, Egypt succeeded in pushing the international parties to call for a cessation of all construction of Jewish settlements in the West Bank. "Because of all that we truly hope that the dialogue between Fatah and Hamas starting this week achieves its goals so that we can tackle the more serious and important issues," Nafie wrote in Al-Ahram.
