* The headline from Reuters,”Love rumour sparks Muslim-Christian clash in Egypt,” gives the impression of equal participation in the violence, which the article itself does not indicate.
Muslims set fire to Christian-owned shops in Egypt amid rumors of romance between Muslim woman, Christian man
Source: Reuters / Dhimmi watch
CAIRO, Feb 13 (Reuters) – Groups of Egyptian Muslims set fire to Christian-owned shops in southern Egypt after hearing rumours of a love affair between a Muslim woman and a Coptic Christian man, security sources and a witness said on Tuesday.
Eight Muslim men were arrested in the town of Armant, around 600 km (375 miles) south of Cairo, on suspicion of taking part in arson attacks on four stores and a mini-van owned by Coptic Christians, the security sources said.
The rumours began on Saturday and calm was restored by Tuesday, with security forces deployed in the town as a precaution, one security official said.
Traditional Islamic law allows Muslim men to marry Christian women but not Christian men to marry Muslim women. Romances across the divide are one of the main sources of tension between Egypt’s two main religious communities.
Hala Botros, a Christian blogger from the region, said Copts in Armant were still scared to leave their homes.
“The situation has improved slightly but people go out only if they really have to,” Botros, who regularly reports attacks on Christians on her blog under the name Hala el-Masry, told Reuters by telephone.
Coptic Christians make up to 10 percent of the about 75 million Egyptians, most of whom are Sunni Muslims.
Relations between the two communities are usually peaceful but there are sporadic outbreaks of violence. In 1999, 22 people were killed in communal strife in southern Egypt.
In April, a 45-year old Muslim man stabbed a Coptic Christian in the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, sparking three days of sectarian clashes. Egypt ruled in June the man was mentally ill after a medical evaluation without a trial.
The face in the above picture says it all!
Something is going down,and soon, by the look of it.
http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/015325.php#comments
February 18, 2007
Gulf News: US ‘ready to strike’ Iran
Following a report in The Guardian. It would be irresponsible of the Bush Administration not to have made such preparations, given the repeated bellicose statements coming out of Iran, but whether it will ever actually put such a plan into action is another matter.
“US ‘ready to strike’ Iran,” from Gulf News, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
Dubai: The Bush administration is in the “advanced stages” of preparing for a military strike against Iranian nuclear sites, according to a report quoting US officials and analysts.
Washington’s current military build-up in the Gulf would allow it to mount an attack by spring, the Guardian reported yesterday. The report comes a day after Defence Secretary Robert Gates reiterated that the US was not planning a strike against Iran.
In Abu Dhabi, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defence for the Middle East, Mark Kimmitt, told a Gulf security conference yesterday that the US is not seeking a military confrontation with Tehran over its controversial nuclear programme.
But the Guardian quoted Vincent Cannistraro, a US intelligence analyst and former CIA official, as saying: “Planning is going on, in spite of public disavowals … Targets have been selected.”