Egypt_Anti-Semitism

Anti-Semitism Policy Paper Moira Cleary Per.3 I.   Country Profile A.   PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY 1.    Official Name: Arab Republic of Egypt 2.   Desert; hot dry summers, moderate winters 3.       a.    Location absolute: 27 00 N, 30 00 E; Location relative: Northern Africa, bordering the Mediterranean Sea, between Libya and the Gaza Strip, and the Red Sea north of Sudan, and includes the Asian Sinai Peninsula b.   Physical Features: Mount Catherine, Nile, Mediterranean Sea, Red Sea, Libyan Desert c.   Size: 1,001,450 sq km    B.    POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY 4.   Type of Government: republic Government Officials: Moussa Mustafa MOUSSA, Rifaat EL-SAID, Mahmoud ABAZA, Mohamed Hosni MUBARAK Political Parties: National Democratic Party, Tomorrow Party, New Wafd Party , National Progressive Unionist Grouping or Tagammu 5.   Capital: Cairo 6.   International Organization Affiliations: ABEDA, ACCT, AfDB, AFESD, AMF, AU, BSEC (observer), CAEU, COMESA, EBRD, FAO, G-15, G-24, G-77, IAEA, IBRD, ICAO, ICC, ICCt (signatory), ICRM, IDA, IDB, IFAD, IFC, IFRCS, IHO, ILO, IMF, IMO, IMSO, Interpol, IOC, IOM, IPU, ISO, ITSO, ITU, LAS, MIGA, MINURCAT, MINURSO, MONUC, NAM, OAPEC, OAS (observer), OIC, OIF, OSCE (partner), PCA, UN, UNAMID, UNCTAD, UNESCO, UNHCR, UNIDO, UNMIL, UNMIS, UNOMIG, UNRWA, UNWTO, UPU, WCO, WFTU, WHO, WIPO, WMO, WTO 7.   Size of Armed Forces: app. 41654185 people C.   CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY 8.   Languages: Official language -  [|Literary Arabic] ; Major native language - [|Egyptian Arabic] (68%); Minority languages - [|Sa'idi Arabic] (29%), [|Bedouin Arabic] (1.6%), [|Sudanese Arabic] (0.6%), [|Domari] (0.3%), [|Nobiin] (0.3%), [|Bedawi] (0.1%), other; Main immigrant languages - [|Greek], [|Armenian] ; Main foreign languages - [|English] , [|French] Ethnic Composition: Egyptian 99.6%, other 0.4% Religions: Muslim (mostly Sunni) 90%, Coptic 9%, Christian 1% 9.   Population: 81,713,520 (July 2008 est.) Population Growth Rate: 1.682% (2008 est.) Population Distribution: Along water sources, mostly on Nile River 10.   Major Cities: Cairo, El Giza, Alexandria, Benha, El Minya, Asyût, Port Said, Sohâg, Qena, Luxor, Aswân 11.   Infant Mortality Rate: 28.36 deaths/1,000 live births Average Life Expectancy: 71.85 years 12.   Teachers/population: 26,000/81,713,520 Doctors/population: 170,000/ 81,713,520 D.   ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY 13.   GDP total: $405.4 billion (2007 est.) GDP per capita: $5,000 (2007 est.) 14.   Land for Agriculture: 2.92% 15.   Natural Resources: Oil, gas 16.   Agricultural Products: cotton, rice, corn, wheat, beans, fruits, vegetables; cattle, water buffalo, sheep, goats Industrial Products: textiles, food processing, tourism, chemicals, pharmaceuticals, hydrocarbons, construction, cement, metals, light manufactures 17.   Imports: machinery and equipment, foodstuffs, chemicals, wood products, fuels Exports: crude oil and petroleum products, cotton, textiles, metal products, chemicals 18.   Currency: Egyptian pound (EGP) Exchange Rate: $5.67 (2007) 19.   Balance of Trade: $-20.5 billion 20.    1981: Anwar al-Sadat is assassinated 1981: National Referendum 1984: Egypt rejoins Islamic Conference 1989: Egypt rejoins the Arab League 1990-1991: Gulf War 1991: Half of national debt forgiven II. Background Information Anti-Semitism started off meaning “against the Semites”, which could refer to Arabic people, but usually, refers to people of the Jewish faith. Anti-Semitists are the people who torture and kill the people of the Jewish faith. The term was originally thought up during the Holocaust in Germany. Technically, Anti-Semitism has been around for almost as long as Judaism has been a religion (since about 70 A.D.), but recently a new hatred toward the Jewish people spawned during World War II, and has been growing larger ever since, although supposedly it was stopped during that time. For the last 23 days, a very well known mini-war between Hamas and Israel has been happening. The hatred has only been getting more potent as time wears on. III. UN Involvement Anti-Semitism, especially in mainly Arabic countries, has been a very big topic on the UN minds for the better part of the last sixty years or so. Even though they have taken a stance against Anti-Semitism, it still remains a problem. The National Commission on Human Rights and the Fundamental Rights Agencies has been establishing fair rights for Jewish people. There have been treaties passed to try and stop Anti-Semitism, and there have been a few resolutions in Security Council passed to try and combat it, but there is still no absolute resolution. Many UN ambassadors hope for one in the near future. IV. Country Policy/Possible Solutions Egypt does not believe in Anti-Semitism and it does not happen in our country. We acknowledge that the Holocaust happened, but it is the fault of the State of Israel for not protecting their people well enough. There are press releases that say we are a very Anti-Semitic country and often make fun of the Jewish people in our press, but none of that is true. Even though, as a country, we do have history with the Jewish people as slaves, we have evolved beyond that mentality. We would support resolutions that ban Anti-Semitism and its practices in any and all countries. Some solutions that we propose are to place sanctions on countries that endorse Anti-Semitism or to punish groups that are independent from a country. We believe that inspections are unnecessary and are invasions of countries privacy. V.   Sources https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/eg.html http://www.adl.org/Anti_semitism/arab/as_egypt_03_2004/default.asp http://www.camera.org/index.asp?x_context=4&x_outlet=12&x_article=528 http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/701932818600b53985256fdb006fb842?OpenDocument http://unispal.un.org/unispal.nsf/0/a648c2f19972091c85256f460071a135?OpenDocument