In brief
Fooled by the weather
(cairolive.com, March 30, 2002) It became clear this week that spring had not yet arrived, as temperatures dropped and those who had chosen -- inspired by the sunny days of early March -- to switch into summer mode -- were certainly jumping the gun.
The wind at night has been especially biting, causing many to ruminate that the weather may not really stabilize with warmth till past Sham El-Nessim.
That traditional holiday -- which takes place later next month -- is the signifier of the real start of spring. 

Politics/headline news
War -- Sharon's response to peace
(cairolive.com, March 30, 2002) As the Arab Summit in Beirut ended with a call for a normalization of relations with Israel, Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon chose to reject the initiative and instead escalate his campaign against Yasser Arafat and the Palestinian Authority.
"What (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon is doing is a foolish, illegal action and a message of war and aggression against Arabs in response to a message of peace from the Arabs," said Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, upon his return from the Beirut summit.
The Egyptian presidency called on Israel to "stop its aggression against the Palestinians immediately and warned it that the new, repeated attacks on the Palestinian territories would have fatal consequences and lead to a vicious circle of violence."
Maher said that Sharon had "declared war, but it is a war he cannot win because the will of the people is stronger than Israeli tanks."
On Friday, Maher spoke to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and called in the ambassadors of the US, Russia and the EU to discuss the seriousness of the current situation. Al-Ahram reports that Maher also sent a message to the French foreign minister urging Europe to take action because at this stage, every minute counts.
Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa said the league would hold a meeting in Cairo on Saturday, Reuters reports, to discuss possible steps to be taken by Arab states after the latest developments.

Television
Arafat and Israeli opposition on midnight news
(cairolive.com, March 30, 2002) The culmination of Friday's change in programming on Egyptian TV from the regular entertaining fare to extended news coverage of the escalation in Palestine, as well as a flurry of songs supporting the Palestinian cause, came at midnight, on the news.
Friday night's midnight broadcast was focused, of course, on the dire events going on in Palestine, and Arafat was interviewed live by phone by Egyptian TV. It was not his first interview of the day, and much of what he said reflected the anger, resilience and frustration of his other statements.
"They want me under arrest or in exile or dead, but I am telling them, I prefer to be martyred," Arafat had said earlier in the day in a telephone interview with Al-Jazeera. "May God make us martyrs."
Sympathy for the Palestinian cause was at a fever pitch on Friday, as demonstrations took place after Friday prayer at Al-Azhar mosque in Cairo. 
As the midnight news continued, Cairo's coffee shops were amongst the places filled with people watching the goings on on TV -- the grisly coverage of the carnage -- both from Palestinian suicide bombings and Israeli incursions.
The reporters themselves were not immune. A Nile News cameraman had been shot earlier in the day by Israeli fire.
The midnight channel 1 broadcast also featured an interview with a prominent member of the Israeli opposition, who spoke of a significant number of Israelis who did not agree with Sharon's campaign against the Palestinians, and called on the United States to intervene, and for the international community to install monitors to help quell the escalating situation. 

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