Intern Visiting with Villagers from Izbet Bushra

Izbet Bushra is a small village in the governorate of Beni Suef, approximately 140 kilometers south of Cairo. The village has Muslim majority of about 60%; while it has had a mosque for the past fifteen years, Christians had until recent been content to conduct prayer services in local homes. As Christians elsewhere often have difficulty in receiving a permit to build a church, Christians in Izbet Bushra decided to mislead area officials and Muslim neighbors in constructing a building declared to be a factory. Upon discovery of its true purposes tensions began to rise, leading to a violent conflict. The ZIVIC project has produced a comprehensive report of this issue, culling information from multiple sources. It has also studied area religious relations through a survey of priests, conducted site visits, and produced media analysis of Egyptian reporting, both domestic and foreign. Links to these reports are presented below:

Osama al-Ghazoly Interviewing Muslim and Christian Leaders in Izbet Bushra

Papers:
Izbet Bushra: Recording the Sources and Suggesting Reconciliation following a Conflict over Church Building (November 2009)

Social Harmony and Christian Community Participation: Evaluation of a Survey Distributed to Priest of Beba and el-Fashn (February 2010)

Site Visits:
First Attempt to Visit the Village: Meeting with a Deputy of the Bishop (July 2009)

Second Attempt to Visit the Village: Meeting the Bishop and Three Christian Villagers (July 2009)

Exploring Izbet Bushra: Discussion with Village Leaders (January 2010)

Media Critique Reports:
Newspaper Coverage of Izbet Bushra: Survey and Evaluation (January 2010)

Coptic Website Coverage of Izbet Bushra: Survey and Evaluation (January 2010)