CAIRO: The final scene in Al Ayyat sectarian clashes ended last Tuesday, May 18, with a joint reconciliation session attended by some 50 Azhar Sheikhs and Coptic priests. According to Al-Ahram daily newspaper, representatives of Al Ayyat district in both the People Assembly and Shoura councils attended the meeting, along with security forces and thousands of citizens from Bamha village, where the fight has taken place. Sheikh Mahmoud Ashour, former deputy for Al Azhar and member of the Islamic Research Center, who also attended the reconciliation session, told The Daily Star Egypt that the session marked an end to the clash and both Muslims and Christians in the village have reconciled. We managed to reach a form of an agreement between both parties by stressing that Islam promotes the concept of forgiveness and denounces violence and aggression, Ashour said. Ashour also stated that a committee from both the village s residents and religious preachers was formed to solve any misconceptions or problems between followers of both faiths in there. The committee also issued resolutions concerning the compensations for those who got harmed and their families, Ashour confirmed. Al Ahram daily newspaper has also reported that the church s representative who attended the meeting, blamed the Ministry of Social Solidarity for not aiding the victims that needed help and compensations, as it usually does with other similar incidents. We are partners in the same country, so we should always communicate in order to live peacefully together. We should never forget that. Some insane youngsters actions shouldn't make us disregard this reality, Ashour added. On the other hand, the Christian community wasn t excited about a truce they regard impotent and vague. I don t, and can t, accept such truce, Father Mina Ezzat, the patron of the Coptic Orthodox church Abu Sefeen of Hadayek El Qubba, said to The Daily Star Egypt. It will not change anything and it s not an efficient solution. The truce is just a mean to calm Copts down. Father Ezzat believes that the actual reasons behind the attack haven t been addressed yet. Neither the attackers nor the Muslim community has given any believable justifications to what might have incited these kids to do what they ve done. Father Ezzat believes that the Muslim religious discourse might be one of the main causes behind the incident. Simillar attacks are very likely to happen unless the religious discourse is altered and an actual investigation is conducted to justify this animosity, he added. Ordinary Christians weren t satisfied as well with this truce. Why hasn t any substantial compensations been given to the victims? Albert Mashraky, an automobile engineer told The Daily Star Egypt. The end-result of this so-called truce confirms that the extremist wishes will be implemented at the end, he said. No church is to be built now and Christians are obliged to pray in a house some other fellow Christian donated. Do you think that s fair? Mina El Naggar, a medical student was equally devastated. If you analyze this incident thoroughly, you ll realize that the cause of incident is a deep, inborn hatred in the hearts of those who carried out the assault, he said to The Daily Star Egypt. The main crisis isn t truly about the government or certain laws; it s simply an issue of a group of people who can t accept the fact that a church can be established in their vicinity; that Christians can have more rights and more freedom to perform something as simple as praying. Al Ayyat sectarian clashes, that took place last Friday after the prayer, left 11 Christians injured and 35 Muslims arrested. Security forces are still seeking over 25 other suspects. The clashes are considered the worst in Egypt since the bloody events in the Upper Egyptian village of El Kosheh seven years ago when 20 Copts were murdered in a riot that erupted following an argument between a Muslim woman and a Coptic shopkeeper . According to Al-Masry Al-Youm newspaper, Bamha is home to 400 Christians out of a population of 6,000.
