Sherine Tadros

Sherine Tadros's picture
Sherine Tadros
Correspondent | Egypt
Biography

Sherine Tadros is currently based in Cairo and has reported for Al Jazeera from the Middle East, Europe, North Africa and the United States. Highlights include the 2008 US Presidential race and the 2009 War on Gaza, where she was one of only two foreign journalists reporting from inside the territory. She also covered the uprisings in Egypt, Libya and Yemen in 2011 as well as the crisis in Sudan's Abyei that same year. Her work has been nominated for multiple awards, most recently at the Emmy's and Monte Carlo

Sherine holds two degrees in Middle East politics and previously taught undergraduate politics at SOAS, University of London.

Latest posts by Sherine Tadros

By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on May 11th, 2012
Posters for Egyptian presidential candidates Amr Moussa and Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh in Cairo [Reuters]

In an election race that’s increasingly become more about labels than policy, the tactics used by the two front running candidates on Thursday night was no surprise.  

Amr Moussa, who served a decade under former President Hosni Mubarak, was painted by Abol Fotouh as a remnant of the old regime who has nothing new to offer the country.  

Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, once a senior member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was painted by Amr Moussa as an untrustworthy closet hardliner who flip-flops on policies in order to capture the young, secular vote. 

Both men played to the well known fears of the electorate and as a result both will have failed to tap into the others support base. Perhaps this was too much to ask given how wide the gap is between the two candidates. 

In the end, Thursday night came down to a battle of old versus new. 

By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on April 12th, 2012

'Islamist' is one of those words journalists hate to use but can’t live without.

Recently, there's been discussion within media organisations about whether to keep using the term, with some arguing it's come to describe such a wide variety of groups, views and individuals that it really doesn’t mean much anymore. I agree.

Tags:
By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on February 10th, 2012

Last year, on February 11, I was standing next to the main stage in Tahrir Square when the evening call to prayer rang out.  

All you could see was a sea of people in lines, using Egyptian flags as prayer mats. When news filtered through to the crowd that Hosni Mubarak, then Egypt's president, had stepped down, people started shouting, saying that nobody could celebrate until prayers had finished.  

On the final prostration, as they stood up, tens of thousands of people looked up to the sky and shouted in unison “Allahu Akbar”: "God is Great".  It was the single most incredible moment of my career, and I still get goosebumps thinking about it.

That moment wasn’t just about a change of regime, it was about the fact that Egyptians had made it happen. They took on their president and they brought him down. Egyptians, who had gained a reputation in the Arab world as political passive, had done the seemingly impossible in just 18 days.

By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on January 12th, 2012
Fatma, a vegetable vendor with six children, says inflation has hit Egypt's poor [Adam Makary]

It is hard to believe it has almost been a year since Egypt’s uprising began. 

In the last 12 months, the concentration has been on the politics; the governments that have come and gone, the actions of the military rulers and violence on the streets.

But some analysts predict it is the economic, and not the political, situation in Egypt that may end up being the biggest problem and destabilizing factor in years to come.

The Egyptian prime minister, Kamal El Ganzouri, seems to speak about little else these days. He’s described the economy as a disaster and said people don’t realize the scale of the problem.

So, what is the problem and how does Egypt fix it? The data speaks for itself, and bear in mind 40 per cent of Egyptians are already living on $2 a day or less. 

'Ash, horreya, adela'

Fatma is a street vegetable seller.

By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on May 28th, 2011
Photo by Reuters

The image of Palestinians crossing Rafah on Saturday was heart warming. Not only did it signal the release of Gazans from their mental and physical prison, but also Egyptians from a moral responsibility they have evaded for four years.

Israel’s response has been much like a disappointed parent - shaking its head at Egyptian officials and warning of what’s to come from their foolishness.

Israel is worried. Not so much about the opening of Rafah but because in so doing Egypt did what they promised they wouldn’t and Israel feared they would - they went back on a previous agreement. For years, Israel handled former president Hosni Mubarak, now it has to handle 80 million Egyptians.

The Gaza end game

Tags: Israel
By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on January 13th, 2011

This week a female journalist went to attend the Israeli prime minster’s annual speech to the foreign media at a Jerusalem hotel. She was stopped by Israeli security, taken to a room, body searched and told to take her bra off.

Tags:
By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on January 3rd, 2011
picture from AFP

At 10pm local Cairo time on New Years Eve I was arguing with an Egyptian police officer outside a Coptic Church in the capital.

By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on December 26th, 2010
Photo: Getty Images

On Thursday, as I hurried into Gaza, that was the question everyone was asking – from news editors in Doha, to the guy who carries luggage through the Erez terminal, to the Hamas official who took my passport details. 

 If the donkeys in Gaza could talk this is what they would be asking: Is there going to be another war? 

Maybe because I was there during the last assault people see me as a bad omen in Gaza ...

Tags: Hamas
By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on December 21st, 2010
Photo by EPA

If you can’t beat them…try going it alone. 

That seems to be the new motto in the Palestinian camp. The idea is to get the United Nations to recognize a Palestinian state based on 1967 borders. Intense diplomacy is underway to get member states to onboard with the idea - so far a handful of Latin American countries (known to be sympathetic to the Palestinian cause) have lent their support. 

 The Europeans, quelle surprise, are wavering. They’ve gone for the less controversial option of upgrading the Palestinian Authority diplomatic status. 

What does

By Sherine Tadros in Middle East on November 19th, 2010
Photo by EPA

We’ve all been warned to expect postal delays after the recent parcel bomb scare, but I’m not sure we can blame DHL for the delay in the so-called US ‘letter of incentives’ getting to Israel.

The letter is meant to formalise the offer communicated last Thursday by US secretary of state Hillary Clinton to Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel's prime minister.

Israel agrees to a 90-day freeze in settlement building in return for US jets and support at the UN.

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Sherine Tadros
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Sherine Tadros reports from across the Middle East and North Africa

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