But none of the officials seem to know the answer, a situation that has caused a state of con-fusion.” Yunis, however, referred to the statement of the People's Assembly (PA) Speaker Fathi Sorour in which he clarified that the President is entitled to dissolving the Parliament in two cases: disagreement between the Government and the Parliament and the President's wish to adopt a new political project or usher in a fresh political stage.“To say that the regime intends to dissolve the parliament to get rid of some opposition trouble-makers and members of the Muslim Brotherhood would mean that the regime would disrespect the will of voters by interfering in the coming elections,” he wrote.The columnist urged independent deputies and opposition parties to take a unified stand by boycotting the elections should the dissolution of the Parliament take place in order to 'expose the falsity of democratic practice'.Meanwhile, Mohamed Ali Ibrahim,the edi-tor of Al-Gomhuria writing on the same issue, said that President Mubarak is the only decision-maker in this respect. He argued that as long as nobody knows what he has in mind at the moment, there is no need to publish news about the dissolution with insinuations about the inten-tion of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) to nominate Gamal Mubarak, the Secretary-General of the ruling party's Policies Committee for the next presidential elections. Observing that the rumours might be or might not be true, Ibrahim finds that the 'sick fan-tasies' associated with them aim only at shaking the stability of the country.Dealings in the darkMeanwhile, writing in Al-Ahram semi-offi-cial daily, Fathi Mahmoud opted to highlight secret Arab-Israel relations.“While official statements and meetings affirm that any kind of normal ties with Israel is related to its (Israel's) response to peace require-ments, we find certain Arab countries extending bridges of cooperation secretively with Israel. They have gone as far as encouraging compa-nies to launch joint projects with Israeli compa-nies,” said Mahmoud. Mahmoud wrote that it is no secret, however, that one Arab minister owns a palace in an Israeli settlement. “Moreover, Israeli commer-cial representation offices are still operating in some Arab capitals despite affirmations that they had been closed in the wake of the Israeli attacks on Gaza early this year.”He wondered why some Arabs enjoy secret dealings with Israel. “Why do they not bring them out to the light if they really believe that such relations serve national Arab interests?” Scientific skirmishes Mohamed Amin of Al-Wafd dealt yesterday with 'the media war' between the Minister of Higher Education Hani Helal and Chairman of the State-run National Research Centre Hani el-Nazer following the announcement of the pres-tigious state prizes.Although the Higher Prizes Committee chose the latter for one of the State Merit Prizes in science, he was surprised that the award was with-held under the pretext that his research is not up to standard.Amin claimed that the exclusion of el-Nazer was a kind of settling of accounts because el-Nazer was nominated for the higher educationportfolio before Helal. “Why did the Minister of Higher Education not accept the arbitration of the Higher Committee whereby el-Nazer got 22 out of 28 votes?” Amin argued that the real cause is quite obvi-ous, 'as the minister imagined that the prize would raise the stakes and enhance the status of Chairman of the National Research centre, such that he might replace him as the next higher edu-cation minister'. Meanwhile Mohamed Fouda writing in Al- Messa evening daily commented: “Assuming that Dr Hani el-Nazer was not qualified for the prize, this does not underestimate his adminis-trative capabilities as one of the best professors to have run the prestigious think-tank since its establishment”.However, he asked if the committee that nom-inated him for the prize was not duly qualified to make such nominations why establish it in the first place? “What is the value of its work if the Minister of Higher Education refutes the results?”Fouda concluded that it is such skirmishes and underhand conflicts that are preventing sci-entific research in this country from progressing. Politicking on campusAl-Masry Al-Youm independent newspaper yesterday highlighted the criticism of some party leaders of Gamal Mubarak's rejection of political party activities on the campus. Gamal was quoted at an open meeting with participants of the Future Generation Society programme earlier in the week as saying that allowing par-ties to work on the campus would destroy the educational process. According to the Secretary-General of the opposition Progressive Party Sayed Abdel-Aal, history has 'taught us' that the practice of poli-tics on the campus has always enhanced awareness of democracy and human right issues in general.Aymen Nour, the founder of opposition Al-Ghad Party, believed that Gamal's statements were aimed at absenting public opinion and lim-iting the role of university to an 'instructive' one.A luxurious but long waitLamis el-Hadidi of Al-Masry Al-Youm, meanwhile, related a personal experience at the new Cairo Airport. “Despite the luxury and cleanliness of the new terminal, the capacity of the conveyer belts is below the high pressure made on it by luggage, especially that all flights of the national flag carrier [EgyptAir] have been diverted to this airport.” Lamis related how she had to wait two hours for the arrival of her bags upon her return home to Egypt, not to mention how her bags had arrived one day later after she had reached her destination in London.“Something is wrong with the luggage sys-tem.” She called for a reorganisation of work at the airport so that the huge and splendid premis-es would not turn into a nightmare for passengers.Streets at a standstillGalal Doweidar of Al-Akhbar semi-official newspaper predicted yesterday that the current congestion of Cairo traffic would cause a stale-mate within a few years.The new Traffic Bill, effective as of last August, was claimed to redress the situation.“But nothing of the sort happened.” Doweidar observed that the intricate and complicated problem of the traffic needs creative and non-tradi-tional solutions.In his view the agencies concerned have so far ignored the main issue of overpopulation. They simply believed that constructing a few bridges and tunnels here and there would solve the problem.“But they did not because the streets that were designed to absorb two or three million people are now receiving some l5 million.”He pinpointed that cars running in the streets of the Egyptian capital have increased 300 per cent compared to 2002, which indicates 'a dim future for this once-beautiful city'. The size of sycamore trees Writing in the same paper, Ilham Abou el- Fath highlighted the results of the 2008 popula-tion survey, which revealed that 68 per cent of Egyptian women between the age of l5 and 59 suffer from obesity.The columnist observed that the lack of affordable gymnasiums prevents a large sector of women from exercising. “They relax at home in front of the TV devouring whatever food they find.”On the other hand, she blamed Egyptian women themselves for not taking enough care of their bodies, especially after having children. So they end up the size of a sycamore [fig] tree.