Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
08CAIRO1228
2008-06-15 11:23:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Cairo
Cable title:
MUFTI'S VIEWS ON RECENT SECTARIAN INCIDENTS
how-toVZCZCXYZ0003 RR RUEHWEB DE RUEHEG #1228 1671123 ZNY CCCCC ZZH R 151123Z JUN 08 FM AMEMBASSY CAIRO TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 9552 INFO RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC
C O N F I D E N T I A L CAIRO 001228
SIPDIS
NSC FOR PASCUAL, DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA AND DRL
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/12/2018
TAGS: SOCI KIRF PHUM KISL EG
SUBJECT: MUFTI'S VIEWS ON RECENT SECTARIAN INCIDENTS
REF: A. CAIRO 1111
B. CAIRO 1193
Classified By: Ambassador Margaret Scobey, for reason 1.4 (d).
(C) In a June 10 introductory call, Mufti of the Republic Ali
Goma'a told the Ambassador that in the wake of some recent
sectarian incidents (reftels),he is working hard to focus
Egyptians on the concept of citizenship. "In meetings,
articles, TV interviews, and my Friday sermons, my staff and
I are working to focus Egyptians on the notion that, Muslim
or Christian, we are all Egyptians, living together under the
same constitution and the same laws." Comparing Egypt's
inter-religious friction with 1960's racial tensions in the
U.S., the Mufti commented that, "this is a tense period now
that we will pass through, just as the U.S. passed through a
similar experience." With regard to the land dispute
surrounding the Abu Sana monastery that sparked recent
violence (reftels),the Mufti asserted that the land the
monastery is attempting to build a wall around belongs
neither to the monastery nor the Muslim villagers, but to the
Egyptian state. He faulted both the Copts and Muslims for
trying to claim the land for their own use, and opined that
the state should have stepped in to assert its ownership and
calm tensions. (Note: Coptic contacts have confirmed that
the land belongs to the state, and that no court has ever
ruled that it should belong either to the monastery or to
villagers. End note).
SCOBEY
SIPDIS
NSC FOR PASCUAL, DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA AND DRL
E.O. 12958: DECL: 06/12/2018
TAGS: SOCI KIRF PHUM KISL EG
SUBJECT: MUFTI'S VIEWS ON RECENT SECTARIAN INCIDENTS
REF: A. CAIRO 1111
B. CAIRO 1193
Classified By: Ambassador Margaret Scobey, for reason 1.4 (d).
(C) In a June 10 introductory call, Mufti of the Republic Ali
Goma'a told the Ambassador that in the wake of some recent
sectarian incidents (reftels),he is working hard to focus
Egyptians on the concept of citizenship. "In meetings,
articles, TV interviews, and my Friday sermons, my staff and
I are working to focus Egyptians on the notion that, Muslim
or Christian, we are all Egyptians, living together under the
same constitution and the same laws." Comparing Egypt's
inter-religious friction with 1960's racial tensions in the
U.S., the Mufti commented that, "this is a tense period now
that we will pass through, just as the U.S. passed through a
similar experience." With regard to the land dispute
surrounding the Abu Sana monastery that sparked recent
violence (reftels),the Mufti asserted that the land the
monastery is attempting to build a wall around belongs
neither to the monastery nor the Muslim villagers, but to the
Egyptian state. He faulted both the Copts and Muslims for
trying to claim the land for their own use, and opined that
the state should have stepped in to assert its ownership and
calm tensions. (Note: Coptic contacts have confirmed that
the land belongs to the state, and that no court has ever
ruled that it should belong either to the monastery or to
villagers. End note).
SCOBEY