Re: in response to Jochen

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Posted by Jochen Katz on February 12, 1998 at 20:34:57:

In Reply to: Re: in response to Jochen posted by Mohamed Ghounem on February 11, 1998 at 03:03:00:

Mohamed, you wrote:

: For example, we should not say "A black man stold" because we would be
: labeling all black males as thieves. The proper way to give media news
: is "an individual murdered", any thing else is labeling innocent groups.

We should not say that because is it is grammatically false. It must
be "A black man stole." But for the rest, I don't know why you seem
to confuse "a" with "all". "A" means some individual. It does not
mean "all". It does not mean all white men when I say "a white man
raped a 16-year old" and it does not mean all black business men when
I say "a black business man donated $150,000 to a charity". Show me
ONE dictionary that states that "a" means "all". Then I will apologize.
Until then, you only show a lack of comprehension of the English language.
But your lack is not my fault, as much as you try to accuse of me of it.

I said before, that I can bring reports and evidence that
Christians are persecuted in Egypt and not all is peace and
harmony for them.

: {It is not. Beginning of January a friend of mine, a convert was arrested
: in Egypt and held for a whole week, and beaten, just because he was a
: convert to Christianity.}

Mohamed responds:

: Yeah right,

and otherwise calls me a liar many times. Well, just a few minutes ago,
an article reached my mailbox. Let me copy it into this message.

The purpose is to bring to the attention of the International community
the ongoing persecution of the Copts (Christians of Egypt), and to
commemorate the annivesary of Abu Qurqas massacre. Please send it to
everybody you can:The Egyptian or American Officials, Egyptian or
American Media, Egyptian or American or International human rights
organizations...etc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

A message to President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt:

THE LUXOR MASSACRE:
NOT THE PROBLEM, JUST A SYMPTOM…

Mr. President:

One year ago, on February 12, 1997, Muslim extremists murdered 10 young
Egyptian Christians (Copts), while they were praying in St. George's church
in Abu Qurqas, Egypt. Nine months later, on November 17, 1997, violence in
Egypt gave birth to another horrible massacre when a band of the same
terrorist group, using some of the same weapons, savagely killed 58 tourists
in Egypt's Valley of the Queens in Luxor.

The Abu Qurqas massacre attracted very little attention from you or from your
Egyptian Government. On the other hand, the Luxor massacre shocked Egypt,
alarmed by the prospect of loosing over 2 billion dollars in revenues from
tourism. The Luxor massacre also shocked the world taking place in a country
that many in the West deem to be "safe" from this kind of fanatic barbarism.
Not too long ago, Egypt had been a tolerant nation, where Muslims, Christians,
Jews as well as Greeks and Italians lived together peacefully.

But Luxor shouldn't have been such a surprise, Mr. President.

For more than two decades, these same murderers have been killing Egyptian
Christians (the Copts) in their own country: attacking them in their fields,
shops and clinics, burning their properties and executing worshippers in cold
blood inside their churches. All these atrocities have been going on while
your government was turning a blind eye, considering your Christian subjects
as dispensable second class citizens.

In the past five years Muslim fanatics have killed 106 Christians in Egypt
with, not more than one or two of the killers being arrested, tried and
convicted.

In the past two decades 711 of Egypt's Coptic Christians ( members of a
cultured, proud minority who have lived in Egypt for centuries, well before
the dawn of Islam ) have been wounded in attacks. According to the National
Unity Center of Human Rights in Cairo, 561 properties and businesses of
Christians were targets of attacks by Muslims; 117 churches were burned or
ransacked, and 56 homes destroyed.

Mr. President, this persecution has been happening under your watch.

It has aroused little outcry in Egypt because your government never condemned
such acts. Indeed, your government enshrines the abrogation of basic human
and religious rights of Christians as part of its policy.

Mr. President, the over 10 million Christian citizens of Egypt don't have the
right to build or repair churches. They are denied top positions in your
government, your army, your police, and Egypt's universities, simply because
of their faith. They have no elected representatives in your parliament. And
when victimized, their attackers are let off by the courts with little or no
punishment. The government has set up a parallel Islamic education system
from which Egyptian Christians are banned.

Members of the Muslim religious establishment in the employ of your government
spread anti-Christian propaganda in broadcasts over government owned radio and
television.

Mr. President: how can you expect to keep further massacres, like Luxor, from
happening when you give fanatics the green light to persecute a segment of
your own people? How long do you think it will be before extremists call for
the murder of all non-Muslims; and then of "bad Muslims" and, then, of
everyone except themselves? Extremism, Mr. President, has no limits, just
look at Afghanistan and Algeria.


Mr. President the lesson of Luxor is this: If you legitimize assault against
one segment of your people, you legitimize it against all.

Your silence makes you an accomplice to these crimes.

WE APPEAL TO YOU, Mr. President, to denounce and put an end to these practices
and to pull up violence by its roots in the Egyptian media and educational
system. Egyptian Christians should not be treated as second class citizens or
as "cheap prey" to feed fanatics. Let Egyptian Christians practice their
faith and have their rights as full citizens of the country. Egypt has always
thrived when it was a tolerant and open society for all.

This message is sponsored by Coptic organizations worldwide.
For more information contact:


In the United States In the United Kingdom In Canada
Mr. Alphonse Kelada Dr. Helmy Guirguis Dr. Selim Naguib
Phone: (864) 968-0326 Phone: 44-01564-782546 Phone: (514) 485-4550
Fax: (864) 574-2270 Fax: 44-01564-784181 Fax: (514) 485-1533

Please contact these gentlemen if you have doubt. They will be able
to say it to you in Arabic if you have trouble understanding English.



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