An end to military rule in Egypt? Morsi cancels the military order stripping him of presidential powers, and Defense Minister Hussein Tantawi and Chief of Staff Sami Enan step down to become “presidential advisers”:
- Egypt President Mohamed Morsi Forces Top Generals to Retire (Guardian)
- Egypt’s President Morsi Removes Defense Minister Tantawi, Chief of Staff (Haaretz)
Anonymous security officials report that “raids by troops and police backed by armored vehicles targeted the villages near El-Arish of al-Ghora and al-Mahdiyah. They seized landmines, an anti-aircraft missile, heavy machine-guns and grenades”:
- Egyptian Forces Kill Several Militants near Gaza Strip (Christian Science Monitor)
As frustration and apprehension over the Syrian civil war grow …
- Syria: U.N. Says No One Will Win (Christian Science Monitor)
- Syria Crisis: US and Turkey Consider No-fly Zones (Guardian)
… a Palestinian Christian warns, “The protracted conflict in Syria, and the involvement of various regional players made it unbearable for the neoconservatives to hide behind their new brand and slowly plot a comeback. For them, it was now or never”:
- Neocons vs. the ‘Arab Spring’: Back on the Warpath (Palestine Chronicles)
By deleting the word “principles” of Sharia in the constitution or replacing it with “rulings,” the so-called “Salafists” hope to transform “the constitution from a general text that guides to one that deals with narrow details” and “make any further discussion or interpretation moot”:
- The Islamists and the Writing of Arab Constitutions (Al-Hayat / Al-Monitor)
“[S]ummer violence that has both international and Afghan forces questioning who is friend or foe”:
- Afghan Policeman Guns 10 of His Fellow Officers, a Day After Afghan Gunmen Kill 6 US Soldiers (AP / Washington Post)
“Matt Miller had just converted to Islam and begun worshiping at the mosque when the controversy erupted. He said all of his friends, whom he describes as ‘regular American bar-hopping citizens,’ support the new mosque and are happy for the congregation”:
- Islamic Center of Murfreesboro: After Long Fight, Opening Day For Tennessee Mosque (Huffington Post)
Deploring the violence that erupted at a “rally to protest the killing of Muslims in Assam and Myanmar,” Mumbai Muslims have issued a statement that “[u]sing violence in a protest against violence is an insult to the suffering victims in whose support the protest was purportedly called”:
- Raza Academy, Muslim Groups Apologize for Violence (Twocircles.net)
“Thomas Jefferson once held a sunset dinner here … — perhaps the first Iftar at the White House, more than 200 years ago. And some of you … may have seen our special display … — the Koran that belonged to Thomas Jefferson[,] …a reminder, along with the generations of patriotic Muslims in America, that Islam … is part of our national story”:
- President Obama’s Remarks at Iftar Dinner (examiner)
“Romney might be duped into thinking that oranges, falafel and hummus — staples of Palestinian cuisine for generations — are Israeli products. But how dare he claim that a state built at the expense of another people’s history and accomplishments is guided by ‘the hand of providence’â€?
- The Palestine Romney Doesn’t Know (Washington Post)
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