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Palestinian women crying the loss of a father, a brother, a husband or a son, daily routine
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CAIRO,
November 7 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An Egyptian government
newspaper told Israel Thursday, November 7, to stop the "series of
massacres" of the Palestinians, in a growing war words over demands
to stop Egypt from airing a television series considered anti-Semitic.
"Stop
the series of massacres that you commit against an unarmed people ...
before talking of 'Knight Without a Horse," Salah Montasser, an
editorial writer at Al-Ahram wrote.
Jewish
groups, the U.S. government and Israel objected to the television series
"Knight Without a Horse" on the grounds that it incorporates
ideas from "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a
19th-century anti-Semitic tract.
The
Protocols, which the State Department called "racist" and
"untrue", describe a Jewish plot for world domination and
Israelis claim were used in Nazi Germany and other parts of Europe as a
pretext to persecute Jews.
"It
is strange how the Israeli Foreign Ministry accuses the series of
increasing hatred between Arabs and Israelis, while ignoring the main
reason for such hatred, which is the 'real series' that has been running
for 14 months in Palestine," Montasser added.
"Arab
scholars doubt the authenticity of the Protocols of Zion, but it is
certain that Zionism, since its first conference at the end of the 19th
century, (hatched) a plot to seize the Palestinian territories through
terrorism, murder and terror," Montasser said.
The
United States said Wednesday it would not drop concerns about the
series, which started airing that same day at the beginning of the
Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
The
State Department said diplomats from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo would be
watching the program to see if it contained anti-Semitic material and
would raise objections with Egyptian authorities if it does.
"At
a time when the Egyptian government is working to promote peace in the
region, a program that promotes hatred would be extremely unfortunate
and counterproductive," State Department spokeswoman Lynn Cassell
said.
She
said the matter had been raised by U.S. officials in Cairo and
Washington, and that U.S. Ambassador to Egypt David Welch had met with
Egyptian Information Minister Safwat al-Sherif to express the concerns.
In
addition to the State Department's complaints, 46 Congress members wrote
to Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak this week urging him to take the
series off the air.
In
the run up to the broadcast in Egypt and other Arab countries, the
Israeli Foreign Ministry said it was "deeply concerned" about
the program, especially since Egypt and Israel have signed a peace
treaty that prohibits "incitement".
"Israel
believes that a series such as this has no place on the television waves
of a country which is committed to peace and that it is incumbent upon
the relevant authorities to prevent its broadcast," it said.
On
Sunday, November 3, another state-run Egyptian daily denounced the
U.S.-Israeli campaign against the series as an attack on freedom of
expression amounting to "intellectual terrorism".
"Freedom
of expression and artistic creation is a pillar of democracy which the
United States and Western countries boast of and to submit an artistic
or literary production to intellectual terrorism is a violation of the
basic rules of democracy," Al-Akhbar editor-in-chief Jalal Dweidar
wrote.
"We
reject this savage campaign ... led by the spokesmen of Zionist
propaganda in Israel and in countries that support it, against a
television series," the editorial said.
The
campaign "seeks to remove our right to express our opinions,"
it added.
The
series tells the story of an Egyptian who leads the struggle against the
British until he finds a book written in Russian that turns out to be
the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion," which provides proof
that the true enemy is not the British, but the "Elders of
Zion," the screenwriters said.
"This
campaign orchestrated by Israeli newspapers and the American media which
are close to them is part of Israel's and its allies provocative
practices against the world and against the Arabs," Dweidar wrote.
"They
are trying to camouflage the crimes against humanity which are committed
in the occupied Palestinian territories, whose daily victims are women,
children and old people."
