Research & Commentary Results

The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome Sarah Margon of Human Rights Watch and Nancy Okail of Freedom House for a timely discussion about the implications of Egypt’s controversial draft NGO law submitted for vote to the Shura Council last week. The law, which seeks to restrict the funding and operation of non-governmental organizations, is being slammed by human rights groups both inside Egypt and around the world as a blow to the free and full expression of Egyptian civil society.

The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome Sarah Margon of Human Rights Watch and Nancy Okail of Freedom House for a timely discussion about the implications of Egypt’s controversial draft NGO law submitted for vote to the Shura Council last week. The law, which seeks to restrict the funding and operation of non-governmental organizations, is being slammed by human rights groups both inside Egypt and around the world as a blow to the free and full expression of Egyptian civil society.

The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome Sarah Margon of Human Rights Watch and Nancy Okail of Freedom House for a timely discussion about the implications of Egypt’s controversial draft NGO law submitted for vote to the Shura Council last week. The law, which seeks to restrict the funding and operation of non-governmental organizations, is being slammed by human rights groups both inside Egypt and around the world as a blow to the free and full expression of Egyptian civil society.

It was with customary gusto that Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi proudly announced that he had submitted his first draft law to the Shura Council under the new constitution that came into effect in December of 2012.

…in any peace agreement, the Palestinian area must be demilitarized. No army, no control of air space. Real effective measures to prevent arms coming in, not what’s going on now in Gaza. Israel must govern its own fate and security. (Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, June 14, 2009)[1]

From Muhammad Ali to Mohamed Morsi, modern Egyptian leaders have understood that any attempt to control the state without the endorsement, if not blatant co-option, of key institutions such as al-Azhar is an ill-fated pursuit. The headache for President Morsi is that these institutions are trying to assert their independence and are presenting a range of direct and indirect challenges to his authority and, more broadly, to the Muslim Brotherhood and its political arm, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP).

Amr Darrag is a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood and a professor of engineering at Cairo University. He served as the head of the foreign relations committee of the Freedom and Justice Party and as secretary general of the constituent assembly that drafted Egypt’s new constitution in 2012. He was recently appointed Minister of Planning and International Cooperation.

In Arabic with English Subtitles: Egyptian satirist Bassem Youssef on the relationship between the Muslim Brotherhood and the United States.

Members of the Egyptian press and media who make it their business to critique high officials know they’ve done a good job when they’re arrested and hauled in for questioning. In January 2013 an Islamist lawyer filed charges against Bassem Youssef, host of the satirical talk show al-Bernameg (The Program), for defaming President Mohamed Morsi, prompting the general prosecutor’s office to launch an investigation.

The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome Amb. Thomas Pickering, Col. Philip Dermer, and Geoffrey Aronson for a discussion of their new report entitled “U.S. Policy in a Time of Transition: Ending Occupation, Enhancing Israel’s Security, Realizing Palestinian Sovereignty.” This report is the product of an independent study group chaired by Ambassador Pickering. Principal authors Geoffrey Aronson and Col.

The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome Amb. Thomas Pickering, Col. Philip Dermer, and Geoffrey Aronson for a discussion of their new report entitled “U.S. Policy in a Time of Transition: Ending Occupation, Enhancing Israel’s Security, Realizing Palestinian Sovereignty.” This report is the product of an independent study group chaired by Ambassador Pickering. Principal authors Geoffrey Aronson and Col.

The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome Amb. Thomas Pickering, Col. Philip Dermer, and Geoffrey Aronson for a discussion of their new report entitled “U.S. Policy in a Time of Transition: Ending Occupation, Enhancing Israel’s Security, Realizing Palestinian Sovereignty.” This report is the product of an independent study group chaired by Ambassador Pickering. Principal authors Geoffrey Aronson and Col.

The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome Amb. Thomas Pickering, Col. Philip Dermer, and Geoffrey Aronson for a discussion of their new report entitled “U.S. Policy in a Time of Transition: Ending Occupation, Enhancing Israel’s Security, Realizing Palestinian Sovereignty.” This report is the product of an independent study group chaired by Ambassador Pickering. Principal authors Geoffrey Aronson and Col.

The Middle East Institute is pleased to welcome Amb. Thomas Pickering, Col. Philip Dermer, and Geoffrey Aronson for a discussion of their new report entitled “U.S. Policy in a Time of Transition: Ending Occupation, Enhancing Israel’s Security, Realizing Palestinian Sovereignty.” This report is the product of an independent study group chaired by Ambassador Pickering. Principal authors Geoffrey Aronson and Col.

The main streets of Manshiyat Abdel Moneim Riad, a choked grid of hastily constructed apartment blocks spreading out from a power station at Cairo’s northern edge, are organized according to a simple principle: shops and cafes on the edge, mounds of waste, animals, and rough teenagers from the narrow tributary streets in the middle. Rickshaws and trucks battle for position and skirt potholes in between. Men in search of a bit of air brush away flies at sidewalk cafes and survey the scene with contempt.