The Grapes of Wrath
The continuing discrimination, oppression and violence against the Christian population of Egypt
by Ed Rizkalla
The early days of 2010 witnessed another bloody episode of the continuing discrimination, oppression, and violence directed against the indigenous Christian population of Egypt, the Copts.
On the night of January 6th, 2010 as worshipers were exiting from a local Coptic Church celebrating midnight Christmas mass at Nagaa Hamadi - a town located at the province of Qena in southern-Egypt - they were attacked by a group of militant Islamic thugs driving a car, who sprayed them with a machinegun(s), killing 6 Copts and a Muslim guard. This is the latest of a long string of violence and attacks against the Copts; however unlike other attacks it seems to have garnered a much wider attention by international news media.
The reason of the international news media for this particular attack as contrasted with many others is not clear; however it may have been motivated in part by apparent similarities to those carried out by militant Islamic terrorists against Christian churches at some countries suffering from political instability. The Copts form the largest indigenous non-Muslim population in the Middle East. For decades, the Egyptian government has covered the census data of the Copts in Egypt with a cloak of secrecy.The Coptic population however is estimated to be about 15% of the total population of Egypt or 12 millions. The vast majority of the Coptic population tends to be peaceful, law-abiding and loyal citizens. However over the past 50 years or so, the Copts in Egypt have borne the brunt of covert and overt policies and actions pursued by government institutions, and suffered from a hostile environment which maligns and marginalizes them which was created by the public education system and the media, and recurring episodes of human and civil rights violations, more often than not neglected and disregarded by the criminal justice system and courts of law.
Furthermore, the Copts have been the target of more frequent episodes of violence. Some of these episodes of violence are perpetrated by members of militant Islamic groups; however some are also carried out at the instigation of fanatic preachers by mobs of Muslims.
These violent episodes against the Copts are numerous to enumerate, however a listing of the atrocities committed against the Copts has been compiled by the United Copts of Great Britain’s web site
(1). Last year has witnessed more than its share of violent attacks against the Copts. Several violent attacks were carried out against the Copts, their churches, and their property at several locations in Egypt in a relatively short period of time in summer 2009, e.g. at the villages of Ezbet Bassilious, Ezbet Bushra-East, Ezbet Girgis Bey and Al-Hawasiliya
(2). Attacks at several locations in Egypt continued throughout the months of the fall and early winter months of 2009. Other violent attacks against the Copts at the province of Qena took place as recent as November 2009
(3) (4) (5). However no serious action was taken by the local criminal justice system against the perpetrators of these attacks. Like the vast majority of the attacks against the Copts by militant Islamic groups or mobs, the local authorities reacted with a mixture of indifference and neglect to the plight of the Copts.
Worse still they did not react to a string of phone threats of violence made by Islamic militants against the Copts prior to the most recent attack on January 6th, 2010. Several Middle Eastern countries, such as Iraq, Lebanon, and most recently Yemen, have been witnessing increased levels of threat and internal subversion, which political observers tend to believe are fomented by Iran and its proxies.Even Saudi Arabia has suffered most recently from incursions on its soil by insurgents with connections to Iran. For decades, the animosity and violence perpetrated against the Copts have originated with Egyptian home-grown militant Islamic groups. However the prospect of Iranian inspired action against the state of Egypt already has some precedence as evidenced by an attack carried out by a cell of militant Islamic terrorists believed to have been connected to an Iranian-backed group last year against a jewelry store owned by a Copt
(6). Whether the violence against the Copts is inspired by indifference and incompetence of the local authorities or the animosity of Egyptian militant Islamic group(s) or instigated by proxies of Iran to destabilize the Egyptian state, it behooves Egypt to face up to these threats and address the long-standing and oft neglected legitimate grievances of its Coptic population.
It is time to put an end to the continuing discrimination, oppression, and violence against the Coptic population of Egypt. The peace of the Lord be with you all.Irene Passe.
References:
(1) List of Atrocities committed against the Copts of Egypt (1972 through early 2010), compiled by United Copts of Great Britain http://www.unitedcopts.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=18&Itemid=33
(2) Muslims set church ablaze but Egyptian security implicates a Christian Copt, by Mary Abedelmassih, AINA http://freecopts.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1056&Itemid=9http://freecopts.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1056&Itemid=9http://freecopts.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1056&Itemid=9http://freecopts.net/english/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1056&Itemid=93)
Anba Cyril (Arabic) http://copts-united.com/article.php?I=270&A=10366http://copts-united.com/article.php?I=270&A=10366http://copts-united.com/article.php?I=270&A=10366http://copts-united.com/article.php?I=270&A=103664)
Anba Cyril (Arabic) http://www.copts-united.com/article.php?I=293&A=11370
5) Egyptian Government Policy of Forced Collective Deportation of Christians, by Mary Abelmassih http://www.copts.com/english/?p=3760#more-3760http://www.copts.com/english/?p=3760#more-3760http://www.copts.com/english/?p=3760#more-3760http://www.copts.com/english/?p=3760#more-37606)
(4) Egyptian Prosecution conducts a photographic review for al-Zeitoun Accident, by Mohamed Ahmed, Asharq Alawsat Newspaper online (Arabic article),http://www.aawsat.com/details.asp?section=4&article=530850&issueno=11210
Ed Riakalla is a management consultant and freelance writer. He is the founder of Pharos on the Potomac Group (POPG), a non-profit organization at Annandale, VA.