Dr. Abdel Wahab El Messiri, the general coordinator of Kifaya Movement, returned to Egypt on Monday midnight after a brief treatment journey. Islamic intellectual Dr. Abdel Wahab El Messiri, author of the Encyclopedia on Jews, Judaism and Zionism, and general coordinator of Kifaya Movement, returned to Egypt on Monday midnight after a brief treatment journey abroad. A huge number of friends, fans and students of Dr. El Messiri gathered to receive him at the airport, raising placards and signs expressing their love and many wishes for a speedy recovery to the renowned intellectual. When Dr. El Messiri entered the exit hall, his fans and students chanted slogans for him and for Egypt and gave him roses. El Messiri, prevented by physicians from kissing or touching any one because his immune systems is weak, delivered, in a seemingly frail condition, a brief speech in which he thanked those receiving him and thanked Kifaya Movement which he described as a union among Egyptians. He then chanted slogans with them. The reception that lacked any media coverage or official presence, included leaders of the political and popular powers, like Magdi Ahmed Hussein, Dr. Magdi Qorqor of the Labour Party, Gamal Asaad, Dr. Yahya Al Gazzaz and Abdul Halim Kandeel from Kifaya Movement and others. Add t o this the huge number of youth including young men from the Muslim Brotherhood group, Labour Party and Kifaya Movement. It is worth mentioning that the Egyptian government rejected several requests for funding the treatment costs of Dr. El Messiri who suffers from cancer under the pretext that the request was under study and that “state funded treatment” means that the state pays costs of treating citizens who can”t afford money for this, although the treatment costs of Dr. El Messiri reached about 500000 pounds. After the government circumlocution, an Egyptian businessmen living in America paid the treatment costs. Dr. Mohamed Sharaf, a member of Kifaya Movement, and one of those receiving Dr. El Messiri said:” This huge number of young men who came to receive Dr. Abdel Wahab El Messiri clearly reflects their big love and respect to a valuable figure like Dr. El Messiri while we notice a full neglect from the state and regime that refused to pay the treatment costs of Dr. Abdel Wahab El Messiri. This popular appreciation to him is greater and more valuable than any official appreciation.” Renowned Coptic politician Gamal Asaad Abdul Malak said:” This huge popular reception confirms that Dr. El Messiri is an Egyptian national value not only for Egypt but for the Arab world. This huge reception proves that the value of patriotism still estimated and appreciated in Dr. El Messiri. This confirms also that Kifaya Movement will remain an Egyptian political phenomenon despite all obstacles. At the end of the warm reception, Dr. Abdel Wahab El Messiri was taken home, along with his wife who accompanied him in the treatment journey, in the car of Dr. Magdi Qorqor. Brief Profile of Dr. El Messiri Abdel Wahab El Messiri was born in the city of Damanhur in 1938, graduated in the Faculty of Arts in 1959. He got MA in English and Comparative Literature from the University of Colombia, New York, USA, in 1964 and PhD from University of Rutgers, New Jersey in 1969. He wrote dozens of studies and articles about Israel and the Zionist movement. He is considered one of the most prominent international historians specialized in Zionism. In January 2007, Dr. El Messiri was elected general coordinator of the Egyptian Movement For Change kefaya (Enough), a movement that opposes the rule of president Hosni Mubarak and seeks to topple him through peaceful means. It opposes also any possible transfer of rule from President Mubarak to his son Gamal Mubarak. |