Page 66 - Egypt & the Eternal Nile by Private, Classic River-Yacht

President Mubarak’s other major challenge was repairing the national economy. His reforms
largely focused on moving industries away from the public sector and into the private. These
reforms, along with the debt relief that resulted from Egypt’s participation in the Gulf War,
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(GNP) quadrupled.

Yet the reforms were not without controversy, and neither were some of the political measures
put into place during Mubarak’s presidency. Charges of political and police corruption,
censorship, and suppression of other political parties became more and more common.
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enacted in 1967 after the Six-Day War. Citing the assignation of his predecessor and concerns
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Fed up with the stringent emergency laws, and angry over corruption and high unemployment,
tens of thousands of protesters took to the streets on January 25th, 2011. After 18 days,
Mubarak announced that he would step down immediately and that the military would
oversee the interim government while elections were being organized—elections that resulted
in Mohamed Morsi taking the presidency. While the initial transfer of power was peaceful,
Morsi’s subsequent decrees and new constitution were decisive, prompting the military to
intervene in 2013; in July of that year Adly Mansour took over as President. A second, more
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Israel

Facts & Figures

• Area: 8,019 square miles

• Capital: Jerusalem

• Languages: 3PM]Pb T^ _SP ZʯNTLW WLYR`LRP& ,]LMTN LYO 0YRWT^S L]P LW^Z ^[ZVPY

• Ethnicity: 5PbT^S " ZQ bSTNS 4^]LPW MZ]Y " 0`]Z[P ,XP]TNL MZ]Y " ,Q]TNL
born 5.1%, Asia-born 3.1%), non-Jewish 25% (mostly Arab)

• Location: Israel is bordered by Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, Egypt, and the Mediterranean Sea.

• Geography: Israel is home to a variety of geographic features, from the Negev desert in
the south to the mountain ranges and lush plains of the Galilee, Carmel, and the Golan in
the north to the lowest point on earth, the Dead Sea.
• Population: 8,049,314

• Religions: Jewish 75%, Muslim 17.5%, Christian 2%, Druze 1.6%, other 3.9%
• Time Zone: Israel is on Israel Standard Time, seven hours ahead of U.S. EST. When it is
6am in Washington D.C. it is 1pm in Jerusalem.

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