Dear Sir,

  The potential opening of the Rafah border crossing has caught interest in Europe, as it can be seen complimentary to the \"Gaza Flottila\" attempts to break the Israeli blockade. Having spent some of my youth as a UN peacekeeper in Gaza, the fate of the Palestine people has never left my attention.

   As attrocities against them have increased over the 50 years after my service, I have observed a dramatic change in European-Scandinavian support for the rights of the Palestinians. I think it is fair to say that after practically zero support in the early 1960s, the situation today is 60% support (however not very committedly). It is therefore of great significance to understand the feelings and attitudes of the Egyptian people in this context. One could imagine the"co-ordinated" and sustained strategy of repeated blows to the blockade both from the seaside and the land (Rafah) side.

Respectfully yours

Johannes Guddal

Around 18 organisations from 14 Euromed countries will come together for the Phase 3 meeting of the project Peace Bag for Euromed Youth,  a long-term programme of the Anna Lindh Foundation. From 10-16 July, official representatives of organisations from Algeria, Bulgaria, Egypt, Greece, Italy, Jordan, Lebanon, Poland, Palestine, Romania, the Netherlands, Spain, Tunisia and Turkey, will meet in Alexandria to evaluate the Peace Bag toolkit, which is one of the main products of the partnership.

 

 The meeting in Egypt is threefold. "We will tackle different issues, mainly the toolkit that we have elaborated from the first phase of the project held in Barcelona March 2010, an evaluation of the Phase 2, which was the local implementation and pilot testing of the toolkit contents in 14 countries, and lastly, to discuss partnership concerns and hopefully come up with a strategic plan on how to sustain the results of the project,¨says Meghann Villanueva, the co-ordinator of the 18-member large scale project, the sole ALF long-term programme approved from Spain in 2009.

 

Moustafa Makhlouf the Co-ordinator of the project’s phase 3 in Egypt, says that the five-day gathering will have a balance of project evaluation, decision-making meetings, working groups, network planning, and presentation of local youth projects in Egypt, as well interaction with the local community in Alexandria for more involving of the toolkit and the participants in the community and real life out of the meeting rooms. One highlight of the meeting is the July 15 cocktail event for the official launching of the Peace Bag toolkit in Bibliotheca Alexandrina where the results of the  Phase 3 project will be presented, and where important guests from the Anna Lindh Foundation and international consulates of the participating partner countries in Cairo will be invited. DNB is more than happy to invite you to cover that event.

 

The Phase 3 meeting in Egypt is co-organised by Development No Borders (Tanmeya Bela Hodoud), Egypt in co-operation with the Spanish foundation Catalunya Voluntària and supported by the Egyptian network of the Anna Lindh Foundation, For more information please visit the project website www.peacebageuromedeebly.com Or through the Anna Lindh Foundation, http://www.euromedalex.org/fields/education-youth/projects/peace-bag-euromed-youth. Or Contact Mr. Mostafa Gamal the head of international relation committee in DNB Mobile: 0113675755

Dear Editor, In a copy of the print edition of The Gazette dated 21 July 2010, a letter contained an extract taken from the Al Akhbar semi- official newspaper. In this extract, Mohammed Abdel-Moneim is quoted as attributing renewed Egyptian pride to a decisive win by Egypt in the October 1973 War with Israel. I would just like to point out that according to all reputable sources this was far from the case as despite a simultaneous surprise attack by both Syrian and Egyptian forces Israel quickly regrouped and by the end of the war had not only recaptured lost ground but had also succeeded in gaining ground west of the Suez canal and pushed into Syria. On October 22, Egypt accepted the UN imposed ceasefire. I just wonder in what way this was a decisive win for Egypt worthy of renewed national pride.

Yours

Confused foreigner