LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN

LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
June 26/12

Bible Quotation for today/I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves.
Matthew 10/16-20: “Behold, I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves. Therefore be wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to councils, and in their synagogues they will scourge you. Yes, and you will be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony to them and to the nations. But when they deliver you up, don’t be anxious how or what you will say, for it will be given you in that hour what you will say. For it is not you who speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you".

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
Despite win, Egypt's new president will have his hands tied/By Zvi Bar'el/Haaretz/June 25/12

Lebanon's Crucial 2nd Round of Dialogue Convenes amid Optimism of Top Leaders
Naharnet/ 25 June 2012/ The country’s top three leaders are optimistic that the national dialogue would succeed despite severe divisions between the March 8 and 14 coalitions on Lebanon’s defense strategy that will be tackled on Monday.“The discussion of the defense strategy is everyone’s request even if each side has a different approach,” Suleiman told al-Liwaa daily after he held behind-the-scene consultations with all dialogue members in the past week with the aim of reconciling their viewpoints. His sources said in remarks to As Safir newspaper that the president would seek to achieve tangible results during the all-party talks at Baabda palace. Speaker Nabih Berri, who is among 15 leaders who attended the second dialogue session since its resumption on June 11, said: “Everything is allowed in the dialogue except for failure.”“Each side has the right to propose what it’s got or what it thinks of,” he added.
Premier Najib Miqati was also optimistic, saying “there is a possibility to find an opening in the wall.”During the last session, 16 out of the 17 leaders attended the talks after Finance Minister Mohammed Safadi was hospitalized. The Lebanese Forces had already announced their boycott. Monday’s session will bring together 15 politicians after Safadi failed again to attend the meeting and deputy Speaker Farid Makari travelled on Sunday. The second round of all-party talks would come amid sharp differences between the Hizbullah-led March 8 alliance and the opposition March 14 coalition that considers the discussion of the defense strategy as part of attempts to integrate Hizbullah’s arms into the Lebanese army.
But the party considers its weapons necessary to defend Lebanon against Israel. Another topic of discussion during Monday’s session is the proliferation of arms in Lebanese cities and towns and the weapons of Palestinian refugee camps.

March 14 Attends National Dialogue Armed with Request to Discuss Hizbullah Arsenal
Naharnet/ June 2012, 05:29
March 14 opposition sources expected the country’s top leaders to “buy time” during a national dialogue session on Monday as the coalition seeks to integrate Hizbullah’s arms into the Lebanese army.
The sources told An Nahar daily that the leaders who met at Baabda palace under President Michel Suleiman are not expected to achieve tangible results.
However, they said, the top officials will agree to “buying time” pending the collapse of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad that is allied with Hizbullah or its change to democracy.
While Hizbullah says it is out of the question to discuss the possibility of handing its arms to state authorities, sources close to al-Mustaqbal bloc leader Fouad Saniora said the March 14 forces headed to Monday’s national dialogue adamant to discussing the integration of the arsenal with the army.
The opposition leaders will also stress during Monday’s session the activation of the Baabda Declaration made during the first round of all-party talks on June 11, the sources told As Safir. During that session, the bickering leaders agreed on the need to control the Lebanese-Syrian border following a series of deadly incidents and rejected the formation of a buffer zone between the two countries.
The March 8 majority and March 14 opposition officials also agreed to back the Lebanese army as the guarantor of national unity. They further struck a deal to keep Lebanon away from the policy of regional and international conflicts. Progressive Socialist Party leader Walid Jumblat, who is a major component of the dialogue, told As Safir that the all-party talks should be productive and criticized March 14 for exaggerating in its demands. Both sides should reach common points, Jumblat, who is a centrist, said.
Hizbullah parliamentary bloc leader MP Mohammed Raad stressed that the party is open to any objective discussion on the defense strategy that should protect Lebanon and consolidate its sovereignty against the Israeli attacks. But Hizbullah rejected the opposition’s demand to surrender its arms.“We will not engage in dialogue on the resistance’s arms,” said Hizbullah MP Hassan Fadlallah. “These arms are part of a national equation that includes the army, the people and the resistance,” he added.

Several wounded in N. Lebanon clash
June 25, 2012/The Daily Star /TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Four people were wounded when a quarrel late Sunday developed into an armed clash between supporters of rival families in Minyeh, north Lebanon. The fight began after an attack on Abdel Wahed al-Kheir’s family, which supports Future MP Kazem al-Kheir, security sources said. An armed clash soon ensued between members of Abdel Wahed's family and others supporting Kamal al-Kheir, a losing March 8 candidate who ran in the 2009 parliamentary elections. Three of the four wounded were identified as Omar Khodr al-Kheir, Ali Khodr al-Kheir and Hussein Mohammad al-Kheir.They were taken to the local Kheir Hospital.The Lebanese Army intervened and launched a search for the attackers, said the sources, who spoke to The Daily Star on condition of anonymity.

Suleiman Seeks to Highlight Common Points on Defense Strategy
Naharnet 24/06/12/The latest consultations held between President Michel Suleiman and members of the national dialogue will likely lead to a second Baabda Declaration that is set to highlight what the March 8 forces and the opposition have in common on the country’s defense strategy, An Nahar daily reported Sunday. The seventeen March 8 and 14 leaders are scheduled to meet at Baabda palace on Monday in the second round of all-party talks since their resumption on June 11 after a 19-month standstill. They are set to discuss the defense strategy and the proliferation of arms in Lebanese cities and towns. In the first Baabda Declaration, the bickering leaders agreed on the need to control the Lebanese-Syrian border following a series of deadly incidents and rejected the formation of a buffer zone between the two countries. The March 8 majority and March 14 opposition officials also agreed to back the Lebanese army as the guarantor of national unity. They further struck a deal to keep Lebanon away from the policy of regional and international conflicts. But the defense strategy or Hizbullah’s arsenal is a source of contention between the two sides. March 8 sees it as necessary to confront the Israeli enemy while the opposition says that the party’s arms should be integrated in the state. Since the last session was held on June 11, Suleiman launched secret consultations with the seventeen leaders to guarantee the success of the second dialogue. Presidential sources told An Nahar that Suleiman worked with his teamwork on Saturday to prepare a draft declaration that would set the light on what both teams agree on the defense strategy.His efforts come amid reports that the opposition would boycott the session if “the possession of arms outside the authority of the state” is not discussed.
Also Saturday, Suleiman discussed the preparations for the all-party talks with Premier Najib Miqati.

Defense strategy turned into Hezbollah demilitarization issue, says Aoun
June 24, 2012 /Change and Reform bloc leader MP Michel Aoun commented on the issue of national dialogue and defense strategy during a gathering organized by a committee affiliated with the Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) in Zahle. “The Future [Movement] and its allies have turned the issue of national-defense strategy into one related to Hezbollah’s demilitarization,” the National News Agency quoted Aoun as saying. “[Hezbollah’s disarmament] cannot happen before agreeing on a defense strategy to [protect] the country,” Aoun said. Lebanon’s national dialogue committee, chaired by President Michel Sleiman, convened on June 11 at the Baabda Presidential Palace after 18 months of suspension. The upcoming session set for June 25 is expected to discuss the national-defense strategy. The FPM leader also defended Hezbollah saying that it was accused of making war and peace decisions, “but [the March 14 alliance] forgot that this choice is in the hands of America and Israel.”
The Future Movement is a main pillar in the Western-backed March 14 alliance while Aoun’s FPM is associated with the pro-Syrian regime March 8 coalition, spearheaded by Hezbollah.
-NOW Lebanon

Putin-Netanyahu talks to focus on rising Islamist power: Cairo then Damascus
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis June 25, 2012/The Muslim Brotherhood’s rise to power in Egypt – and soon, possibly, in Syria - will have pushed to the sidelines such obvious topics as Iran and gas when Monday, June 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin on a short visit to Israel meets Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. On this subject at least, the Russian and Israeli leaders will find common ground: Both are concerned, to put it mildly, by the chain of Muslim Brotherhood governments rolling out along Middle East shores – Libya, last year; Egypt, yesterday; and Syria, tomorrow. In their view, this process is a menace to regional stability which rivals even that of a nuclear-armed Iran. Putin counts US President Barack Obama’s sponsorship of Muslim Brotherhood power as a strategic threat to Russian national security because of it could be the match which lights the flame of radical Islam in the Caucasus and among the Russian Muslim populations of the Volga River valleys.
As for Netanyahu, his calm-sounding congratulations for the new, democratically-elected Egyptian president, disguise trepidation. After one domino fell in Cairo, he fears another will fall in Damascus leaving Jordan vulnerable to having its king pushed over by the kingdom’s powerful Muslim Brotherhood.
Israel would then be under siege from three Islamist-ruled neighbors - “moderate” in Obama’s eyes, alarmingly “extremist and expansionist” in the view of Putin and Netanyahu.
In contrast to the Israeli prime minister, the Russian president makes no bones about his utter disapproval of the US President’s “pro-Islamic” policies. His blunt words in support of Syria’s Bashar Assad at the G20 in Mexico Sunday, June 18, were meant as a monkey wrench for US plans to continue to install Muslim power in Arab lands.
Not surprisingly, their conversation on the summit sidelines was described as “candid” – a euphemism for “difficult” – and must have raised a stop sign against the “reset” of ties heralded last year by Washington. The Israeli Prime Minister keeps on smiling to Obama while grinding his teeth over the security avalanche set in motion at Israel’s front and back doors and wracking his brains for a plan of cooperation with Moscow to arrest the slide. Israel has already had a foretaste of the trouble to come from Cairo. It bounced all the way from Libya’s Islamist regime to land this month with a sinister bang across Egyptian Sinai’s border with southern Israel.In the past year, since a new regime took power in Tripoli, the strategic peninsula has been transformed into a major smuggling eden for the distribution of contraband arms and infiltrating Islamist terrorists, including Muslim Brotherhood adherents, into the Hamas-ruled the Gaza Strip and onward to other countries in the region.
For Putin the math is simple: If Libyan Islamists can travel 1,360 kilometers to reach Israel’s borders without anyone stopping them, why not 2,558 kilometers to the Russian Caucasian?
Ironically, the victim of the first suicide attack the Libyan terrorists mounted inside Israel from Sinai was an Israeli Muslim from Haifa, Said Fashasha, who died in a bombing-shooting ambush on Route 10 to Eilat Sunday, June 18. On the same day, the “candid” Obama-Putin conversation also took place at Los Cabos.
Now as then, President Obama continues to push the Russian leader to accept the compromise of Syria’s Vice President Farouk al-Sharaa, a Sunni Muslim, replacing Bashar Assad, with Assad’s brother-in-law, deputy chief of staff Gen. Shawqat Asif, serving alongside him. With those chips in place, Washington believes Assad might be persuaded to go into exile in Moscow.
What Putin hears is that Obama is so eager to have a Sunni Muslim installed in Damascus that he is willing to put up with retaining the Assad clan in power, even Gen. Asif, a chief instigator of the regime’s bloody savagery. So both Putin and Netanyahu, when they talk in Jerusalem Monday, know they are stumped for a strategy to hold back the Islamist tide washing across this region and potentially farther afield – any more than a diplomatic solution has been found to stall Iran’s nuclear plans.

Putin in Israel, West Bank for talks on Syria, Iran
June 25, 2012/By Anna Smolchenko/Daily Star
NETANYA: Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Israel on Monday for talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders against the backdrop of sustained violence in Syria and concern on Iran's nuclear programme. Putin arrived around midday (0900 GMT) for a first stop in the northern Israeli town of Netanya, where he was to participate in the unveiling of a memorial honouring the role of the Red Army in World War II. Later on Monday, he was to hold talks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres.
On Tuesday, Putin heads to the West Bank, and will meet Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, before travelling on to Jordan for talks with King Abdullah II.
On the eve of the trip, Putin's top foreign policy aide, Yury Ushakov, said it would highlight "the importance of this region for us and is designed to further strengthen Russia's position here."
"Of course, the Syrian topic and the situation around Iran will be discussed in detail," he said. Moscow and the West have been at loggerheads over the Syrian conflict, with the Kremlin refusing to support sanctions against its Soviet-era ally and resisting outside intervention. An estimated 15,000 people have been killed in the country since the March 2011 uprising to overthrow President Bashar al-Assad began. Russia is pushing for an international Syria conference and has already discussed the plan with Jordan as well as the European Union, Iran and Iraq.
And it has shown little enthusiasm for regime change, despite multiple international calls for Assad to step down.
Also high on Putin's agenda will be the issue of Iran's nuclear programme, which is a key concern for the Jewish state.
Israel and much of the international community believe Iran's nuclear programme masks a weapons drive, and the United States has led a push for tough sanctions against Tehran.
Israel, which is widely believed to have the Middle East's sole if undeclared nuclear arsenal, has said the programme poses an existential threat and warned it reserves the right to use all means necessary to respond, including military force. The international community has been pursuing talks with Tehran in recent months, but three high-level meetings -- the most recent held in Moscow -- have failed to produce any breakthroughs. The P5+1 group (Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States, plus Germany) has agreed to another round of discussions in Istanbul on July 3, but Israel has warned that lengthy talks give Iran time to continue uranium enrichment. Putin is also expected to discuss the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace process in his talks with Netanyahu and Abbas.
The process is in a deep freeze, with direct negotiations on hold since late September 2010. The Quartet grouping -- which brings together the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States -- has sought to nudge the sides back to the table. But the Palestinians say they will not hold new talks without an Israeli settlement freeze and an agreement on the parameters for discussions on final borders.Putin last travelled to Israel in 2005. His predecessor at the Kremlin, Dmitry Medvedev, visited the West Bank and Jordan last year.

Despite win, Egypt's new president will have his hands tied
By Zvi Bar'el | Jun.25, 2012/Haaretz
The Muslim Brotherhood has won the presidency and nearly half the seats in the Egyptian parliament, but it will still have to tread lightly with its domestic and foreign policies. The commotion was expected. As soon as Farouk Sultan, the chairman of Egypt’s election committee, began reading out loud on live television the number of votes received by Mohammed Morsi, the country’s first Islamist president ‏(more than 13 million‏), the crowd stopped him with their loud shouts − some of them happy and some angry.
Only then, in that electrifying moment, after more than an hour of hearing tiresome details of the appeals filed with the committee, did it become clear that Morsi won with a lead of slightly under 1 million votes, in a country of 85 million.
Thus unfolded the second part of the democratic saga begun on January 25, 2011, the first day of the Egyptian revolution. The first part was over last December, when the first parliament of the post-Mubarak second Egyptian republic was elected.
Morsi’s victory illustrates the nature of the Egyptian revolution on several levels. After nearly six decades in which the Muslim Brotherhood was banned by law, after three presidents’ frightful struggles against the movement, its representatives have won the presidency and control nearly half the seats in parliament.
The movement’s victory symbolizes the goal of those behind the revolution, many of them secular liberals, to rid themselves of Hosni Mubarak’s oppressive regime. Voting for Muslim Brotherhood candidates is a way of voting against the old regime.
It’s worth remembering that it wasn’t the Muslim Brotherhood that started the revolution; though it did join in, it had previously seen some of the young people involved as threatening its status. This is a revolution that was able to translate rallies in Cairo’s Tahrir Square into democratic political action in which the law and the courts had starring roles, in contrast to their role as distorted tools for carrying out the will of the ruler under the old regime. For the first time, Egyptians could say what they wanted without fear.
But the result of the presidential election shows that Egyptians are split. Morsi’s slim margin of victory − just over three percentage points − shows that the Muslim Brotherhood is not all-powerful, even if it does hold key positions. That’s also the reason why Morsi began as early as Sunday to meet with the leaders of other political movements − non-religious ones − in an effort to reach an agreement on what the next government will look like.
One possibility under discussion is appointing as prime minister someone perceived as being neutral − a candidate who does not belong to any of the movements represented in parliament. One of the names raised is that of the former head of the United Nations nuclear watchdog agency, Mohamed ElBaradei.
Morsi will likely appoint deputies, both for himself and the prime minister, who belong to the movements for young people and secularists that were behind the revolution.
In the face of the natural anxiety over the possibility that Egypt will become a theocracy, Morsi’s small margin of victory shows that he and his movement will have to tread lightly in their political and diplomatic conduct.
Tahrir Square, where the revolution began and where, 18 months later, hundreds of thousands of people waited to find out who their next president would be, has become a kind of popular parliament that can force its will on any Egyptian government. Not for nothing did the religious slogans and green flags from Morsi’s election campaign disappear from view just before the election.
Morsi will not be able to ignore the army’s strong standing or the need to have a good relationship with Washington − not just because of the financial aid Egypt gets but also because any Egyptian president who wants to improve his country’s geopolitical standing needs American − and Saudi − assistance.
The regional agenda of both Cairo and Washington will force Morsi, who knows America well from his studies there and the frequent meetings he had with U.S. representatives in the past year, to adopt new language − a statesmanlike language that differs from the kind that prevails in a movement.
Yes, Morsi was a founding member of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Committee to Fight the Zionist Project and has called Israel “the Zionist entity.” But in the strategic decision by the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party to recognize all agreements that Egypt has signed with other countries, the movement’s representatives are showing that they are sticking with the Camp David Accords.
Even if there is a hidden plan to reexamine or change the Camp David Accords, it certainly won’t be discussed any time soon. One possible outcome, as several have speculated, is that Morsi will appoint a heavyweight foreign minister who is not associated with the Muslim Brotherhood to conduct foreign policy with Israel and other countries.
The Muslim Brotherhood’s victory celebrations, and the so-called mourners’ tents of their rivals, will be replaced in the coming days with a new, risky political system. Egypt’s government institutions, supreme military council, new president and political movements must decide immediately on the country’s new constitution, parliamentary elections for the remaining 166 seats and the interim rights of the president. According to a timetable set by the military council, the yet-to-be-selected constitution committee will be the one to come up with a constitution within three months. A month after that process is completed, Egyptians will be asked to vote on the constitution in a national referendum, and only later will it become clear what powers the president gets.
During the steaming summer months, the country will be run amid fights between the president and his supporters on the one hand and the army on the other.
On Monday, the administrative court is supposed to start debating the constitutional issues related to the change of government.

President-elect Morsi: Egypt should expand ties with Iran
Egypt's first Islamist president says in interview with Iran's Fars news that he was interested in better relations with Tehran in order to create a strategic 'balance' in the region.
By Reuters | Jun 25, 2012 | Egypt's first Islamist president says in interview with Iran's Fars news that he was interested in better relations with Tehran in order to create a strategic 'balance' in the region.
By Reuters | Jun.25, 2012/Egypt's Islamist President-elect Mohammed Morsi said in an interview with Iran's Fars news agency published on Monday that he wanted to expand ties with Tehran to create a strategic "balance" in the region. Diplomatic relations between the two countries have been severed for more than 30 years, but both sides have signaled a shift in policy since former president Hosni Mubarak was overthrown last year in a popular uprising. Fars quoted Morsi as saying better relations with Tehran "will create a balance of pressure in the region, and this is part of my program".
Morsi's comments may unsettle Western powers as they seek to isolate Iran over its disputed nuclear program, which they suspect Tehran is using to build atomic bombs. They cautiously welcomed the democratic process that led to Morsi's election, but made clear Egypt's stability was their main priority.
Egyptian presidential candidate Mohammed Morsi waves after casting his vote at a polling station northeast of Cairo on June 16, 2012.APFars said he was speaking a few hours before the result of the Egyptian election was announced on Sunday, and that a full version of the interview would be published later.
Asked to comment on reports that, if elected, his first state visit would be to Iran's regional arch-rival Saudi Arabia, Morsi said: "I didn't say such a thing and until now my first international visits following my victory in the elections have not been determined".
Morsi's victory over former general Ahmed Shafiq in Egypt's first free presidential election was subsequently hailed by Iran as a "splendid vision of democracy" that marked the final phase of an "Islamic Awakening". Mainly Sunni Muslim Egypt and predominantly Shi'ite Iran are among the biggest and most influential countries in the Middle East, but they have had no formal ties since 1980, following Iran's Islamic Revolution and Egypt's recognition of Israel. Egypt's foreign minister said last year that Cairo was ready to re-establish diplomatic relations with Iran, which has championed most Arab Spring uprisings as anti-Western rebellions inspired by its own Islamic Revolution in 1979. But it has steadfastly supported Syrian President Bashar Assad, Tehran's closest Arab ally, who is grappling with a revolt against his rule, and at home it has continued to nullify demands for reform, which spilled into the street following the disputed re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in 2009.

Morsi Vows to Honor Int'l Treaties, Says 'Revolution Continues'
Naharnet/24 June 2012/Egypt's president-elect Mohammed Morsi on Sunday insisted that the revolution that ousted Hosni Mubarak would continue until its goals were met and vowed to honor Egypt’s international treaties, in his first address after being declared the country's next leader. "The revolution continues, until all its demands are met," he said in a speech broadcast live on state television, hours after the election commission declared him the winner of this month's run-off vote. "We will preserve all international treaties and charters ... we come in peace," Morsi said, in a veiled reference to Egypt’s peace treaty with Israel. Egypt was the first Arab country to sign such a treaty with the Jewish state. Morsi also vowed he will be a leader "for all Egyptians" and called for national unity after a polarizing race.
"I will be a president for all Egyptians," Morsi said just hours after he was declared president following a deeply divisive race against Ahmed Shafiq, the last premier to serve under ousted president Mubarak.
"I call on you, great people of Egypt ... to strengthen our national unity," he said, adding that national unity "is the only way out of these difficult times."
Morsi won 51.73 percent of the vote, with 13,230,131 ballots. The election has polarized the nation, dividing those who feared a return to the old regime under Shafiq from others who wanted to keep religion out of politics and who fear the Brotherhood would stifle personal freedoms. Morsi, who resigned from the Muslim Brotherhood to take the top job, thanked the "martyrs" of the uprising for the victory. “Today, the people have become the source of authority,” added the president-elect. “We will not allow ourselves to interfere in the domestic affairs of any nation and we will not allow anyone to interfere in our affairs and let everyone know that Egypt makes its own decisions although it calls for peace with the entire world,” Morsi went on to say. Earlier on Sunday, Morsi saluted the judiciary and the army for overseeing the democratic process. "Respectful salutation to Egypt's honorable and just judiciary and to the brave men of the army and police who protected the democratic process with all honor. Congratulations to Egypt," Morsi said on his website.
Agence France Presse.

PROFILE / Egypt's Mohammed Morsi goes from prisoner to president
By Reuters | Jun.24, 2012/Morsi's victory is historic. But questions remain over the extent of his power, as the military maintains a strong hold on the state. In a reversal of fortunes unthinkable a year and a half ago, an Islamist jailed by Hosni Mubarak has succeeded him as president of the biggest Arab nation in a victory at the ballot box which has historic consequences for Egypt and the Middle East. The Muslim Brotherhood's Mohammed Morsi will not enjoy the extent of modern, pharaonic powers exercised by Mubarak: those have been curtailed by a military establishment which will decide just how much he will be able to do in government.
Still, the U.S.-trained engineer's victory in the country's first free presidential election breaks a tradition of domination by men from the armed forces, which have provided every Egyptian leader since the overthrow of the monarchy 60 years ago, and installs in office a group that drew on 84 years of grassroots activism to catapult Morsi into the presidency.
He has promised a moderate, modern Islamist agenda to steer Egypt into a new democratic era where autocracy will be replaced by transparent government that respects human rights and revives the fortunes of a powerful Arab state long in decline. Morsi is promising an "Egyptian renaissance with an Islamic foundation". Yet the stocky, bespectacled 60-year old, appears something of an accidental president: he was only flung into the race at the last moment by the disqualification on a technicality of Khairat al-Shater, by far the group's preferred choice. With a stiff and formal style, Morsi, who has a doctorate from the University of Southern California, cast himself as a reluctant late comer to the race, who cited religious fear of judgment day as one of his reasons for running. He struggled to shake off his label as the Brotherhood's "spare tire".
Questions remain over the extent to which Morsi will operate independently of other Brotherhood leaders once in office: his manifesto was drawn up by the group's policymakers. The role Shater might play has been one focus of debate in Egypt.
"I will treat everyone equally and be a servant of the Egyptian people," Morsi said at his campaign headquarters in Cairo shortly after polling ended, a week before his victory was confirmed by the Mubarak-era body overseeing the vote. But many Egyptians, not least the Christian minority, remain suspicious of Morsi and even more so of the group he represents. Anti-Brotherhood sentiment, fuelled by both a hostile media and some of the group's policies, has soared in recent weeks. On Israel, Morsi's views reflect those of the Brotherhood. He has called for a review of Cairo's 1979 peace treaty with its Jewish neighbor, saying Egypt's neighbor has not respected the accord. But the group has said it will not renege on the deal.
Divided Nation
Ahmed Shafiq, the former general he defeated, won nearly as many votes as Morsy, signaling that Egypt is a nation that is anything but united around the idea of Brotherhood rule. Morsi won a little less than a quarter of the first-round vote in May. That a man who served as Mubarak's last prime minister was so close to victory has been seen as one sign of failure by the Brotherhood - which has described itself as the victim of a vicious campaign orchestrated by its enemies. At first, Morsi pitched himself as a conservative Islamist - the only one in the field, he said. He repeatedly promised to implement Islamic law in speeches peppered with references to God, the Prophet Mohammad and the Koran. "It was for the sake of the Islamic sharia that men were ... thrown into prison. Their blood and existence rests on our shoulders now," Morsi said in one of his early campaign rallies. Though not one of those jailed for years, he was held on more than one occasion by Mubarak's feared state security men.
But he has seldom spelled out what precisely his call to implement sharia, or Islamic law, would mean for Egypt, where piety runs deep and the constitution already defines the principles of the sharia as the main source of legislation.
Morsi has said Brotherhood rule would not mean that Egypt will be a theocracy, adding that there is little difference between the phrase "the principles of the sharia" - the term found in the current constitution - and the sharia itself. Pushed by one TV interviewer to clarify what Islamist rule might mean for bikinis on Red Sea beaches - and so for Egypt's vital tourist industry - Morsi did not give a clear answer.
He described such issues as "very marginal, very superficial and affecting a very limited number of places", adding that sector specialists must be consulted on all draft laws.
It was typical of the vagueness that has fuelled concerns among those Egyptians whose fears were also exacerbated by other elements of the Morsi campaign, including his early efforts to court the ultraorthodox Salafi Islamist movement. In a gesture to Gama'a al-Islamiya, one such group, Morsi pledged to work for the release of Sheikh Omar Abdel-Rahman, a militant preacher imprisoned in the United States for planning the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.
Another cleric, the independent Safwat el-Hegazi, added a radical flavour to Morsi's early campaign, taking to the stage at his events to call for a Muslim super-state across the Middle
East with Jerusalem as its capital - a direct challenge to Israel with whom Mubarak maintained a 33-year-old peace treaty.
Morsi subsequently distanced himself from such statements, but not before the Shafiq campaign had used them to great effect to paint the Brotherhood's man as a dangerous radical.
Asked about Hegazy's remarks, Morsi later spoke of European Union-style integration for the Arab world and an Arab common market. "Jerusalem is in our hearts and vision," he said. "But Cairo is Egypt's capital."
Switch
As he readied himself for the run-off against Shafik, Morsi switched to a more inclusive message and portrayed himself as defender of the "Jan. 25 revolution" that toppled Mubarak - an uprising initially led not by the wary Brotherhood but by mainly secular, liberal groups among Egypt's urban youth. The Brotherhood has long been at the heart of the movement for democratic reform in Egypt, but he was a hard sell to many of those youth activists, who said his group was slow to join the anti-Mubarak uprising and who subsequently accused the Brotherhood of cozying up to the generals who then took over.
Morsi won few open endorsements from politicians and parties beyond the various Islamist factions, though the "April 6 movement" - one of the protest groups that ignited the anti-Mubarak revolt - was a notable exception. "We face a decisive moment in our history, we must halt the farce of the former regime," Morsi said in one of his last television interviews before the run-off. "We face a new era and we cannot allow the return of the former regime."
Morsi worked to address some of the criticisms faced by his group. In the last week of his campaign, he put in writing his promises of an inclusive administration, to protect media freedoms and those of minorities, including Christians whose fear of the Islamists drove many of them to vote for Shafiq. He also sought to reassure the generals about his group's intentions. In a June 14 interview, he said the Brotherhood would seek agreement with the military over the next defense minister. The army, he said, would also remain "protector of the interior" for up to two years while the Interior Ministry - a largely unreformed vestige of Mubarak's rule - was restructured. In any case, the army enacted a court order that same day to dissolve the Brotherhood-led parliament and, as polling ended, issued a decree taking legislative power for itself, among measures that will sharply constrain the presidency. Morsi travelled across the country, promoting the Brotherhood's "renaissance project" - an 80-page manifesto based on what it terms its "centrist understanding" of Islam.
The son of a peasant farmer, Morsi has spoken of a simple childhood in a village in the Nile Delta province of Sharqia, recalling how his mother taught him prayer and the Koran. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Southern California in 1982 after earlier studying at Cairo University. Following his studies in the United States, he returned to Egypt in 1985. Two of his five children hold U.S. citizenship. Head of the Freedom and Justice Party, which the Brotherhood established last year to promote its aims in the new party political system, Morsi has been described as an apparatchik.
His daughter is married to the son of another Brotherhood leader and he has described his wife, who wears a long, cape-like headscarf, as a Brotherhood activist.
The Brotherhood's "renaissance" program sketches out the group's vision on everything from fighting inflation to remaking ties with the United States as a partnership of equals. It envisions deeper ties with Turkey - a Muslim state which Brotherhood leaders often cite as a model of success. Morsi has cited fear of judgment day as one reason for seeking the top office. He said: "We are worried that God will ask us, on the day of reckoning: 'What did you do when you saw that the nation was in need of sacrifice and effort?'"

Mixed messages from Israel as Islamist Morsi wins Egypt presidency
By Reuters, Natasha Mozgovaya and The Associated Press | Jun.24, 2012/
Netanyahu says he respects result and urges cooperation; senior official says Israel's prediction that Arab Spring would become 'Islamic Winter' was correct; Morsi promises to respect Egypt's international accords.Israel voiced respect on Sunday for the Muslim Brotherhood's victory in Egypt's presidential election, calling on the new administration in Cairo to maintain the countries' landmark peace accord. "Israel appreciates the democratic process in Egypt and respects its outcome," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement after the Brotherhood's candidate, Mohammed Morsi, was declared successor to the U.S.-aligned Hosni Mubarak, who was toppled last year. "Israel expects continued cooperation with the Egyptian administration on the basis of the peace accord between the two countries, which is in the interest of the two peoples and contributes to regional stability," the statement said.
In his victory speech, Morsi said he carries "a message of peace" to the world and pledged to preserve Egypt's international accords, a reference to the peace deal with Israel.
Israel's appeal to mutual expediency has been its refrain since Mubarak's ouster, which made way for the rise of Islamist movements repressed under his three-decade rule and hostile to the Jewish state, with which Egypt made peace in 1979.
An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Netanyahu government hoped Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood's parliamentary bloc would put the need to tend to Egypt's ailing economy ahead of any revision of bilateral ties. U.S. aid to Cairo hinges on keeping the peace with Israel.
"Looks like we were right when we said the Arab Spring would become an 'Islamic Winter,' even though Western nations laughed us off at the time," the Israeli official said. But he added that he hoped the Egyptian government would "try to be more statesmanly, by working in the interests of the country."
Eli Shaked, a former Israeli ambassador to Cairo, told Israel's Army Radio that Morsi's authority would likely be diluted by the powerful Egyptian army, which relies on Washington's defense grants.
Israel Hasson, a lawmaker with the centrist Kadima party who has served as a Netanyahu government envoy to Cairo, said the possibility of already chilly bilateral relations going into a deeper freeze meant Israel had to revive its peace partnership with the Palestinians after months of diplomatic stalemate.
Morsy's win was hailed by Hamas, the Islamist group governing Gaza, which is locked in a power struggle with the West Bank-based, U.S.-backed Palestinian Authority of President Mahmoud Abbas.
"The immediate conclusion to be drawn from this [election] is that the State of Israel and the Palestinian Authority have a common interest in quickly, quickly building a regional coalition," Hasson said.
Meanwhile, one Palestinian was killed on Sunday by celebratory gunfire in the Gaza Strip, as Hamas welcomed Morsi's win, hoping it would advance the Palestinian cause.
'Milestone' victory
The United States congratulated Morsi for his "milestone" victory and urged the Muslim Brotherhood leader to form his government carefully and respect the rights of all Egyptians as he takes power.
"We congratulate the Egyptian people for this milestone in their transition to democracy," White House spokesman Jay Carney said in a statement, calling on the new leader to ensure that Egypt remains "a pillar of regional peace, security and stability."
"We believe that it is important for President-elect Morsi to take steps at this historic time to advance national unity by reaching out to all parties and constituencies in consultations about the formation of a new government," Carney said.
He stressed the need to respect the rights of all Egyptians, including women and religious minorities like Coptic Christians.

World congratulates Egypt's Morsi; Iran: Final stages of Islamic awakening
News agencies Published: 06.25.12, 00:06 / Ynetnews
Egypt's president-elect receives congratulatory messages from leaders across globe after narrowly defeating Shafik. Iran: Final stages of Islamic awakening . Mohamed Morsi, Egypt's Islamist president received on Sunday welcoming congratulatory messages from leaders and nations across the globe after being declared the winner of the freest elections in the Arab country's history.
After narrowly defeating Hosni Mubarak's last Prime Minister Ahmed Shafif in a race that raised political tensions in Egypt to a fever pitch, one by one, nations worldwide wished the president-elect their congratulations, each one emphasizing a different issue. The revolutionary movement of the Egyptian people... is in its final stages of the Islamic awakening and a new era of change in the Middle East," said Iran's Foreign Ministry in a statement.
Shortly after, the White House spokesman Jay Carney commended the Egyptian people "for this milestone in their transition to democracy."
Thousands celebrate Morsi's election win
"We look forward to working together with President-elect Morsi and the government he forms, on the basis of mutual respect, to advance the many shared interests between Egypt and the United States," Carney added.
Morsi, the 60-year old US-trained engineer, narrowly defeated Shafik with 51.7% of the vote versus 48.3, by a margin of only 800,000 votes, the election commission said. Turnout was 51%.
Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi, head of Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, also congratulated Morsi on his victory. Following the anouncement, thousands of Egyptians packed into Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square to celebrate Morsi’s victory, waving flags and posters of the Islamist leader.
"God is greatest" and "down with military rule" they chanted as some set off fire crackers minutes after the election commission formally declared the result.
British Foreign Secretary William Hague, who was one of Morsi's many congratulators, called the Islamic leader's victory a "historic" one."I congratulate the Egyptian people for their commitment to the democratic process and electing a new president," Hague said in a statement issued by the Foreign Office.
Left on the sidelines of the political drama are the liberal and secular youth groups that drove the uprising against Mubarak, wondering whether Egypt has taken a step towards becoming an Islamist state.
Some grudgingly supported Morsi over Shafik, who was Mubarak's last prime minister, while others boycotted the vote.
Morsi will now have to reassure them that he represents the whole country, not just Islamists, and will face enormous challenges after security and the economy badly deteriorated in the transition period.
Khaled Abdel-Hamid, a leading leftist politician, said Morsi must fight to get his powers back or he will lose any popular support he may have garnered.
"If he fights to get his power back, we will support him. But if he doesn't fight back, then he is settling for siding with the military," he said.

Canada Condemns Syria’s Downing of Turkish Aircraft
June 24, 2010 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:
“Canada condemns in the strongest terms the aggressive and unjustified attack against a clearly marked Turkish aircraft by the Syrian military.
“This deplorable incident, targeting a routine training mission, threatens to inflame already-heightened tensions.
“Today I spoke with Turkey’s chargé d’affaires to Canada and relayed our praise for the Turkish government’s resolve and restraint in the face of such a provocative attack.
“As a NATO ally, we stand with the Turkish people and their government. We also reserve special thoughts for the missing Turkish pilots and their loved ones.”

Canada Welcomes Conclusion of Presidential Elections and Urges More Reform in Egypt
June 24, 2012 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:
“The conclusion of the presidential elections in Egypt constitutes an important step in the country’s transition toward democracy.
“Canada wishes President-elect Dr. Mohammed Morsi well in working to fulfill the aspirations of all Egyptians.
“Egypt must remain on a path toward freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law, and work to protect the rights of women and religious minorities, including Egypt’s significant Coptic community.
“Canada urges all parties to work expeditiously toward the completion of a new constitution that will enshrine democratic principles and protect the fundamental rights of all Egyptians.
“We will continue to support Egypt’s transition to democracy and the Egyptian people’s calls for a better, brighter future.”