Market stall in the Arab Quarter of Jerusalem.

Two Palestinian women stand in Jerusalem 

[Full Segment] Jon Stewart defends Bassem Youssef (Egypt’s Jon Stewart); Destroys Pres. Morsi - Daily show - 4/1/13 (by VidNightNews)

הפגנה לזכר הרוגי עמוד ענן בעזה (by SocialTV)

Demonstration in Yaffa commemorating those killed by Israel’s assault on Gaza in November 2012.

unaphotographer:

Free Syrian Army rebel strikes a pose in Aleppo.

Proportionate self-defense, CLEARLY.

Source: http://blogs.reuters.com/fullfocus/files/2012/11/RTR3AIH7.jpg

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2012/11/2012112091248733420.html

Children in the Shate’e camp in the southern part of Gaza wave victory signs. 

Source: http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/inpictures/2012/11/2012112091248733420.html

President issues declaration sacking prosecutor general and giving himself judicial powers on top of legislative ones.

Egypt’s President Mohamed Morsi has issued a declaration giving himself sweeping powers that cannot be challenged by  any authority.

The decree, which also dismissed Egypt’s prosecutor general, prompted  opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei to accuse Morsi of usurping authority and becoming a “new pharoah”.

“The president can issue any decision or measure to protect the revolution,” according to a decree read out on television by presidential spokesman Yasser Ali.

Thursday’s development came one month after a deal was struck that saw Abdel-Meguid Mahmoud continue in office after a failed attempt by Morsi to have him replaced.

The agreement, sealed after a meeting between Morsi and Mahmoud, stipulated that the prosecutor general would remain in office until retirement age.

Al Jazeera’s Peter Greste, reporting from Cairo on Thursday, said the new declaration means that Mahmoud is now retroactively dismissed as he has already been in office for six years.

“What they’ve done is to make an administrative change. The prosecutor general, under the old law, was appointed for life. What the president has done is change the tenure to a four-year term,” he said.

“This is important because here’s a man that a lot of people, including the president, held responsible for the failure of prosecution of the people who were charged with the attempted murder of protesters who were behind the revolution that overthrew [former President] Hosni Mubarak.”

Morsi’s statement also indicated that there would be a re-trial of all who were acquitted of the murder and attempted of protesters, because, according to Morsi’s spokesman, they were acquitted based on flawed evidence.

Morsi as ‘absolute monarch’

Our correspondent said the decision to replace Mahmoud “would be welcomed by a lot of people who believe that the prosecutor general, in particular, was protecting some of the cronies” of Mubarak.

“But at the same time, there are those who are very concerned that this means that the president is overreaching his authority,” Al Jazeera’s Greste said.

“Remember that the parliament has been dissolved and that Morsi effectively made these decisions unilaterally. There can be no debate about this. This is now the law.”

Al Jazeera’s Sherine Tadros, also reporting from Cairo, said that rights groups in Egypt are concerned to see that Morsi “has given himself extraordinary powers”.

“Remember, he already had presidential powers, but also legislative powers … and now he’s given himself judicial powers. Also, another provision says that until there’s a new parliament elected, his decisions will  be final and can’t be challenged by any authority,” she said.

Morsi  had originally ordered Mahmoud to step down in an apparent bid to appease public anger over the acquittals of Mubarak-era officials accused of orchestrating violence against protesters last year.

But Mahmoud and a powerful judges’ club said the move infringed on the judiciary’s independence, as Egyptian law protects the judicial officials such as the prosecutor-general from be fired by the president.

To overcome the constraints on removing him, Morsi’s decision asked Mahmoud to become ambassador to the Vatican. Mahmoud, however, refused to be re-appointed.

Hassan Nafaa, professor of political science at Cairo University told Al Jazeera that Morsi “is erecting himself as an absolute monarch.”

“He didn’t consult with anybody from the opposition, so he has taken all these decisions alone, without any consultation. The problem is not about the content of the decisions itself, but about the way it was taken,” said Nafaa, who added that Morsi’s decisions are raising many legal issues with “total disregard of the judicial power.”

“This is a dangerous situation for the whole country…it is very confusing, because we don’t know if we are in the presence of a constitutional declaration, or of a law, or of just administrative degrees. We have all of this together in the same statement.” said Nafaa.

Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi assumed sweeping powers on Thursday, prompting prominent opposition figure Mohamed ElBaradei to accuse him of usurping authority and becoming a “new pharoah”.

“The president can issue any decision or measure to protect the revolution,” according to a decree read out on television by presidential spokesman Yasser Ali.

“The constitutional declarations, decisions and laws issued by the president are final and not subject to appeal.”

Morsi also sacked prosecutor general Abdel Meguid Mahmud, whom he failed to oust last month, appointing Talaat Ibrahim Abdallah to replace him.

That set him on another collision course with the country’s judiciary after he last month promised to bring back to court ex-regime officials acquitted of organising an attack on protesters during last year’s uprising against ousted leader Hosni Mubarak.

The president in his pronouncements on Thursday ordered “new investigations and retrials” in the cases dealing with the deaths of protesters, a decision that could net senior military officials.

He also said no judicial body can dissolve the the upper house of parliament or the Islamist-dominated constituent assembly that is writing a new constitution and which has been criticised by the secular-minded opposition for failing to represent all segments of society.

He has also given the body — which was due to issue a draft consitution in December — two extra months to come up with a charter, that will then be put to a referendum.

The declaration is aimed at “cleansing state institutions” and “destroying the infrastructure of the old regime.”

Nobel laureate and former UN atomic energy agency chief Mohamed ElBaradei lashed out at the declaration, which effectively puts the president above judicial oversight.

“Morsi today usurped all state powers and appointed himself Egypt’s new pharaoh. A major blow to the revolution that could have dire consequences,” ElBaradei wrote on his Twitter account.

Even before the announcement was read out, Islamists had gathered outside the High Court in central Cairo demanding the “cleansing of the judiciary.”

Morsi, who belongs to the powerful Muslim Brotherhood, is the first elected president after the popular uprising that toppled Mubarak last year.

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“And now, Ikhwan are interpreting dictatorship as a means to end corruption, what a sick mind.” - Wael Eskandar 

Rabbis at Rally for Gaza - Montreal, Canada

dynamicafrica:

Portraits from a series of photographs taken in Cairo by French photographer Denis Dailleux.

(via realfakescientist)

allthingsarabic:

ART: Arabic Calligraffiti artist El Seed opens exhibition in Paris!!

Congratulations to @elseedart on his month long exhibition in Paris which opened last night at Galerie Itinerrance Should you be very lucky to be in Paris, go take a look!! The gallery is open from 2-7pm Wednesday to Saturday and the exhibition runs until November 10th and the nearest Metro is Bibliothèque François Mitterrand.

The images above are a sneak preview of the show and are courtesy of El Seed.

(via arabstateofmind)

(Source: thecouscousqueen, via royalxtwist)