From: jake@bony1.bony.com (Jake Livni)
Subject: Islamic Fundamentalism in Egypt Targets Christians as it Did Jews
Followup-To: talk.politics.mideast,misc.headlines,talk.politics.misc,alt.conspiracy,alt.censorship,soc.rights.human,alt.discrimination
Organization: The Department of Redundancy Department
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 92 22:56:13 GMT


Christians in Egypt today are suffering very much the same kind of
discrimination and terror that was used to drive the Jews from Arab
states and take their property.  The use of small arms among Islamic
groups to re-define property ownership is well-known to Jews who
survived similar attacks and fled to Israel.  That the outcry by
Christians about these continuing and increasing atrocities is so weak
is a source of shame. 


In article <11179@crackers.clearpoint.com> martillo@stars.clearpoint.com (Joachim Martillo) writes:

>As I remember, Egyptian Jews worried by the departure of Western
>military forces tried to create an incident which would force the
>Westerners to stay.  

From the New York Times, Monday July 27, 1992

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Sanabu Journal
HEAVIEST CROSS FOR EGYPT'S COPTS: MARCH OF ISLAM
by Chris Hedges

Sanabu, Egypt

Daniel Samaan, a 26-year-old farmer, has not left his mud hovel to
tend his fields for 3 months.

The last time he stood barefoot in the dark, fecund earth where he and
his family have grown wheat and corn for generations, he collected the
bodies of his uncle and five cousins, who had been slain by Islamic
militants. 

His 3 brothers have fled the village, but he remains, holed up in his
hut with his blind 70-year-old father, his mother and eight other
family members who are too afraid to venture out for more than a few
minutes and too poor to find another place to live.

"Life for Christians is over," he said, as his mother stood at the
wooden door to make sure no one was listening.  "Now, we must figure
out how to get out."

Coptic Christians, who number 7 million to 8 million people of Egypt's
56 million people and belong to one of the oldest denominations in
Christendom, have become the victims of an increasingly violent
campaign waged by Islamic militants who want to create a state ruled
according to strict interpretations of Islamic law.

Attacks Occur Daily

In the last four months more than 30 people have been killed in Asyut
Province, which embraces this town, including 13 Christians massacred
by militants one morning in May.  Assaults on Christians and the
burning of their houses and shops are a daily occurrence.

In this farm village Christians say they are forced by militants to
pay monthly protection fees to avoid harrassment and are forbidden to
hold public weddings and funerals.  Many contend they are denied jobs
because of their religion.

The sectarian violence, which is creeping into Christian neighborhoods
in Cairo, eerily resembles the successful drive by Muslim leaders to
drive Jews from the Arab world three and four decades ago.

Tourism Called a Target

The Egyptian government has placed several thousand troops in Upper
Egypt to curb attacks and hunt down militant groups.  Parliament has
passed a tough antiterrorism law, including the introduction of the
death penalty for members of "terrorist" groups.

The new measures follow the assassination of Farag Foda, a leading
intellectual who criticized the militants, and several police and
Government officials.  They also come on the heels of two abortive
attacks on groups of tourists visiting Luxor.

"These extremists want to destroy tourism, a vital source of our
revenue, to impoverish the country," the presidential press secretary,
Mohammed Abdel Moneim, said.  "They want to eliminate our leaders and
intellectuals.  And they want to attack the Christians to make the
Government look weak and to foster a split within the nation between
Muslims and Christians."

Egyptian officials also contend that some 2,500 fundamentalists have
recently infiltrated southern Egypt from the Sudan.

Many Coptic leaders, who say that the Muslim militants now control
several small villages and towns in Upper Egypt, wonder if it is
already too late.

"If the government had acted earlier then we would not be facing the
crisis we have today," said a Christian member of Parliament, who
asked to remain unidentified.  "But they let it go and now we have a
real war with armed rebels."

The town of 25,000 people has suffered some of the worst violence,
including the burning of 64 Christian shops and houses after the
shooting by security forces of the town's militant leader in June.

Basic Services Lacking

The grinding poverty and lack of basic services mean that most people
are unable to school their children or find adequate health care.

Even the police have little part to play in the village.  Local elders
mediate disputes, as they have for generations, and most men in Sanabu
have old bolt-lock rifles to settle their own quarrels and protect
their property.

The lack of gevernment involvement has left a vacuum the
fundamentalists, most allied with an organization know as the Islamic
Group, have rushed to fill.  Bearded militants dole out small
quantities of food and money to poor Muslims.

Younis Zaki Ashamalla, 35, a farmer, slowly picked through his gutted
home at the edge of the village.  A dozen fundamentalists broke into
his house last month when he was in the fields.  They beat his wife
with  sticks and poured gasoline over the furnishings before setting
the house ablaze.

"They screamed that there is no God but God, and that the Jews and
Christians were infidels," his wife said.  "Before they left, they
slashed me with a knife.  We lost everything, even our chickens.  Now
we are living with a neighbor while we try to get money to leave."

In the Abnoub al-Hamam hospital outside Asyut, where two Coptic
priests were killed last year, Kamel Azmi was recovering from a
beating that left his right arm broken.

He limped painfully to the hallway to speak.

"I did not tell the doctors what really happened," he said softly.  "I
am afraid the fundamentalists will come and get me here.  Even the 
children report what you say these days."

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-- 
Jake Livni  jake@bony1.bony.com               Pat Paulsen for President
American-Occupied New York                    This year he has a real chance!
My opinions only - employer has no opinions.
Newsgroups: talk.politics.mideast