EGYPT

EGYPT

And the Lord said unto Moses, Depart, and go up hence, thou and the people which thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying unto thy seed, I give it. (Exodus 33 verse 1).

2800 BC  – 1160 BC – By around 2800 BC ancient Egypt began to write using papyrus, an aquatic plant found in Egypt, from which a paper like substance could be made . Because of the dryness of the climate, these materials have survived to the present day, in unusually high numbers for manuscripts that are so old. One example is the Harris papyrus, over 30cm long and dates to around 1160 BC. (The Middle East ©2006 C Catherwood).

1900 BC – Abraham had a son, Isaac, who had two sons Esam and Jacob. These scriptures or Tanakh (Hebrew), shows that God loves repentant sinners. Jacob had 12 sons, the 12 tribes of Israel. The youngest one, Joseph, was born around1900 BC. He was rejected and enslaved by his brothers. He ended up in a powerful position in Egypt as a principle advisor to the Pharoah. Joseph saved Egypt from famine. His family came to live in Egypt in which they remained for centuries. (The Middle East ©2006 C Catherwood).

1520 BC – 1350 BC – Moses born around 1520 BC. Akhenaten the pharaoh lived around 1350 BC. Hebrew scripture or old testament records. Archeologists say around 1420 BC for the exodus of the Jewish people out of Egypt. Exodus chapter 20. I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other God before me. The spirit of the Ten Commandments is still with us today in the 21^st century. The prophet Amos, Hebrew scripture and the old testament. ( The Middle East ©2006 C Catherwood).

969-972 – The emergence of the Mamluks in Egypt and Arab power in North Afrcia. The Fatimid dynasty, a Shiite family descended from Muhammads’s daughter Fatima. They took Egypt in 969. They moved the capital to the new city of al-Qahirah or Cairo. The Fatimids built the al-Azhar mosque in 972. (The Middle East ©2006 C Catherwood).

1798 – 1829 – The language was not known or decipherable until the decoding of the Rosetta stone, in the 1820’s by a French scholar, named Champollion. This object can be seen today in the British museum. Originally discovered by French troops in Egypt in 1798. It had a decree in the original Egyptian hieroglyphs (The Middle East ©2006 C Catherwood).

1805 – 1882 – Mehmet Ali, governor of Egypt twice between 1805 and 1849. He was powerful in the Arab world. British military occupation since 1882 and joint French occupation of the Suez canal. (The Middle East ©2006 C Catherwood).

9 June 1840 – British sailors were massing in the eastern Mediterranean, to fight the French and the ruler of Egypt Mohammed Ali. (The opium wars ©2002 WT Hanes & F Sanello).

1906 – 1949 – Hassan al-Banna was born in the Egyptian town of Isma iliyya on the Suez canal. Muslim Brotherhood founder in 1928, al-Banna was assassinated by Egyptian secret police in 1949. In retaliation for the murder of the Egyptian prime minister, by a member of the brotherhood’s secret organisation in 1948. (al-Qaeda ©2004 J Burke).

1928 – The Muslim Brotherhood was formed in Egypt. Founded by Hassan al-Banna. (al-Qaeda ©2003 J Burke).

1928 – 1845 – The Muslim Brotherhood was created as an Islamic revivalist movement following the collapse of the Ottoman empire. The brotherhood became a political group in 1936 as it took up the cause of the Palestinians against the Jews  and British. Al-Banna visited Palestine between 1942 and 1945, establishing several branches of the Muslim Brotherhood in some cities. The Gaza strip was under Egyptian authority. (Inside Hamas ©2007 Zaki Chehab).

28 December 1948 – A Muslim brother assassinated PM Mahmud Fahmi Nokrashi of Egypt.

9 June 1951 – Al-Zawahiri was born. He came from a family in al-Sharqiyyah Egypt. Al-Zawahiri qualified as a physician in 1974 and later married a student from the school of arts in 1979. He joined an Islamist organisation at the age of 15. Over 30 years al-Zawahiri accumnulated expertise in clandestine operations. He built up Egyp[tian Islamic Jihad. Abu Ubadiah al-Banshiri was al-Zawahiti’s closest aide. He was formerly a Cairo police officer. He was dismissed for Islamist activities. He drowned in Lake Victoria Kenya on 21 May 1996 while preparing the east African embassy attack. (Inside al-Qaeda ©2002 R Gunaratna).

1952 – Not until Colonel Nasser and his revolutionaries took power in a coup in 1952 were Egyptians again ruled by their own people. (The Middle East ©2006 C Catherwood).

1952 – Mehmet Ali was an Albanian Muslim who was part of a failed attempt to regain Egypt in 1799. The British left in 1803 and he took power and founded a dynasty, which lasted until its deposition in 1952. (The Middle East ©2006 C Catherwood).

1952 – King Farouk’s regime lost power in a military coup, which brought Nasser to power. He was intent on nationalising the Suez Canal. (Cold war ©1003 M Waller)

January 1952 – Twenty British were killed in anti-British riots in Cairo and Nasser seized power in a coup.

1954 – Bank Al Taqwe (fear of God) was a shell bank whose financial transactions were used mainly to support Islamist groups. Established in Nassau, Bahamas in 1988 with funding from the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood. The bank included among its investors several members of the bin Laden family. One of its two directors was businessman Youssef Mustafa Nada. Youssef Nada was a Tunisian citizen born in Egypt. A member of the Muslim Brotherhood, chairmn of the Nada Management organisation. (aka al-Taqua management organisation), of Luganoi Switzerland. In 1954 he fled from arrest in Egypt to Libya. (Alms for Jihad ©2006 Burr & Collins).

1954 – 1966 – Two years after the coup in Egypt that brought Nasser to power, the Muslim Brotherhood was banned again and  al-Qutb imprisoned. He was released in 1964, arrested again in 1965, and hanged in 1966. (al-Qaeda ©2004 J Burke).

1955 – The Soviet decision to expand military aid, for the first time, to a Third World country, Egypt. Egypt turned to the Soviet Union in anger, at Western support for the new state of Israel, and lack of similar support for Egypt’s economic and military development. Syria and Iraq had Soviet ties and the PLO also had Soviet ties which included military aid.

7 September 1955 – Egypt announced an arms deal, in which Czech would supply Egypt with Soviet arms. Fighters, bombers, tanks, anti-aircraft guns and bazooka in return for cotton and dried dates. The arms clearly marked the Soviet entry into Egypt. It was the first time that Russia had sent major arms outside its own area of influence, the first of many such incursions. (Arms  Bazaar ©1977 Sampson).

1956 – In spring tension between the UK and Egypt was increasing. Nasser began moves  which led to the Suez crisis later that year.

1956 – Nasser nationalised the Suez Canal Company, a new flashpoint, the British joined France and Israel to knock out Nasser. So began the second Arab Israel war. After the war the Russians supplied MIG-17 fighters, bombers and submarines. Then after 1959, MIG-18’s and MIG-21’s were supplied. (Arms  bazaar ©1977 Sampson).

1956-67 – The ill  fated seizure of the Suez canal by the UK and France in 1956 which chilled bilateral relations between them and Arab countries. Egypt’s support for the Algerian revolution and Nasser’s overthrow of King Farouk made the UK and France reject supplying the Nasser regime. So Israel cooperated in the canal seizure and invasion of Egypt and  became the leading recipient of Europe’s weapons until the June1967 war.

26 July 1956 – The Suez canal was nationalised. Egypt blockades the straits of Tiran. France UK and Israel take the canal. The US pressures them to withdraw in November.

26 July 1956 – Dulles decided to stop the planned American loan to help Egypt build the Aswan dam on the river Nile. Nasser was getting too close to the Soviet bloc, buying Czech weapons and seeking to undermine the Baghdad pact. US and British intelligence were preparing contingency plans to bring down Nasser. (Cold  war ©1993 M Walker).

Late 1950’s – Saudi Arabia’s At Abdullah Tariki’s insistence the Arab league economic council convene its first Arab oil Congress in Cairo. Two non-Arab delegations were invited to attend Iran and Venezuela. (Yamani  ©1988  J Robinson).

1959-67 – Raul Castro and Che Guevara visited Cairo. They made contact with African liberation movements, stationed in and supported by Cairo. Both Cuban leaders visited Gaza and showed support for the Palestinians.

1960 – The conflict between Saud al Faisal in Saudi Arabia, created by the Free Princes led by prince Talal, cane to a head, when prince Talal and the others quit and went to live in Egypt. (Yamani  ©1988 J Robinson).

1960’s – Early and mid 1960’s Saudi intelligence Kamal Adham was friendly with Anwar Sadat of Egypt. One way he cultivated Sadat was by giving hundreds of millions in Saudi funds to him and Egypt.

1960-62 – Lev Alexeyevich Bausin was a KGB agent in Cairo. Nikolai Fyodorovich was the KGB resident in the Soviet embassy in Cairo. Foreign posting in 1960 as attache cover. The cold war was underway in 1962. He was also in Iraq 1967-68 in south Yemen 1969-71 and Lebanon 1976-78. (Under cover lives ©1998 H Womack).

1963 – Islamic banking attributed to the Egyptian economist Ahmad al-Najjar, who in 1963 created the Mit cham savings bank in Cairo. (Alms for Jihad  ©2006 Burr & Collins).

January 1964 – The PLO had its origins at the Cairo summit of Arab states. Egyptian President Nasser had the main influence. (Compassionate  peace ©1982 AFSC).

May 1964 – Nikita Khrushchev arrived in Cairo for a two week visit. After docking at Alexandria he travelled with Nasser by train to Cairo. Kremlin leader Khrushchev said he was waiving half of Egypt’s debt, for tanks, planes and anti-aircraft defences from Moscow. The Soviet leader officially opened the Aswan dam and toured an irrigation project on the Nile with Nasser. (Under cover lives (©1998 H Womack).

5 June 1967 – A wave of Israeli Mirages swept low across the Nile valley. below the radar curtain and dropped their bombs on the MIGs, parked on the Egyptian airfields. By the end of the day the Israeli planes had destroyed 300 Egyptian planes and 19 air bases and could occupy the Sinai desert the West bank and Golan heights. The third Arab Israeli war.  (Arms bazaar  ©1977 Sampson).

1970 – Within weeks of Nasser’s death, King Faisal sent Adham to Cairo to see Sadat, asking him to cut ties to the Soviets in exchange for aid.

February 1970 – France’s Pompidou under criticism from Israel sold Mirages to Libya, where Colonels had seized power. Libya loaned some of the Mirages to Egypt. (Arms bazaar ©1977 Sampson).

August – September 1970 – Nasser dies in September and he was followed by Sadat. After the August ceasefire, in the war of attrition. (Arms bazaar ©1977 Sampson).

28 September 1970 – Death of Nasser.

28 November 1971 – PM Wasfi Tal of Jordan was assassinated in Cairo. Four Black September members was arrested then freed in 1973.

1972 – In Egypt Khashoggi planned a $400 million trade centre near the Giza pyramids to include two big hotels, a tourist centre and a new pyramid faced with gold mirrors with an Egyptian exhibition inside. (Arms bazaar ©1977 Sampson).

19 February 1972 – The hijacking of a Jordanian plane was foiled in Cairo with one arrest.

July 1972 – Sadat expelled the Russians from Egypt. The Soviets left behind their arsenal including 1,700 tanks, 620 planes and 130 SAM missile sites. Moscow was still able to strengthen its ties with Syria and Iraq. Ten years of arming Egypt. (Arms bazaar ©1977 Sampson).

13 July 1972 – Sadat gave 15,000 Soviet military advisors one week to leave Egypt. He made all Soviet military bases, built since 1967, Egyptian property.

To Be Continued….