- 24 aug 2011
Ambassador: Israeli-Egyptian relations still tense
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) -- Yasser Othman, the Egyptian ambassador to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, said Wednesday that there is still tension in Egyptian-Israeli relations after the killing of five Egyptian soldiers last week.
“We want a clear, strong apology and a pledge to not to repeat such acts in the future,” he said.
It was not enough that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak and President Shimon Peres expressed regret for the incident, Egypt's cabinet said.
The Eilat attacks had nothing to do with Egypt, Othman said, and investigations are ongoing on both sides.
Egypt had "forbidden" Israel from launching a large-scale operation in the Gaza Strip, he added.
“The Egyptian side has felt after the Eilat operation that Israel intends to [get] revenge,” so Egypt has sent a strong message to Israel saying it won’t allow an operation to take place.
Israel did not launch a large-scale operation because they fear the Egyptian people’s reaction, Othman added.
Meanwhile, an Egyptian-brokered halt to recent violence appeared to be holding despite sporadic rocket fire from Gaza and an airstrike that killed a member of Islamic Jihad's military wing late Tuesday.
The truce was announced Sunday evening following four days of violence sparked by a series of shooting ambushes near Eilat in southern Israel on Thursday in which eight Israelis died.
Israeli airstrikes have killed 15 Palestinians, 12 of whom have been identified as militants, and more than 50 people were wounded since Thursday. Among those killed was PRC chief Kamal al-Nayrab.
During this time Palestinians fired more than 100 rockets and mortar shells at Israeli towns and cities in the south, killing one man and injuring more than 20, one critically.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415881
Egyptian paper: Protestors planning anti-Israel million man protest
Egyptians have created groups on Facebook and other social networks calling for "a million man protest" in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo this Friday. The protestors are seeking to have the ambassador banished and the embassy closed, Egyptian daily al-Youm al-Saba'a reported Wednesday.
http://fwd4.me/09o5
US threatens to cut Egypt aid over Israel
US Congresswoman Kay Granger
US Congresswoman Kay Granger has threatened that if Egypt withdraws from its peace treaty with Israel, Washington would cut its USD 2-billion annual aid to Cairo.
“The United States aid to Egypt is predicated on the peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, and so the relationship between Egypt and Israel is extremely important,” Granger said in an interview with Jerusalem Post on Monday.
The remark came as tension between Cairo and Tel Aviv increased after Israeli forces killed five Egyptian border guards on Thursday at Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Minister for military Affairs Ehud Barak on Saturday said “Israel deeply regrets the deaths of the Egyptian officers” after Egypt announced it would withdraw its ambassador the Tel Aviv if no official apology was made.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but the situation has changed drastically since the overthrow of Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak in February; and a number of Egyptian political parties have been calling for changes in the peace treaty.
The United States' annual aid has been provided to Egypt since the Cairo-Tel Aviv peace treaty was signed.
Granger also warned that the US would cut the USD 500-million aid it provides to the Palestinian Authority if it would seek to win a UN recognition for a statehood at the UN General Assembly meeting in September.
Granger is the chairwoman of the US House appropriations foreign operations subcommittee, which is the institution in charge if setting the US foreign aid bill.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195408.html
Egyptians urge freeze of Israel ties
Egyptian protesters gather in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo, Egypt
Egyptian protesters continue demonstrating in front of the Israeli embassy in the capital Cairo, calling for an end to Egypt's diplomatic ties with Israel.
The demonstrators insisted that they would press ahead with the protests outside the embassy until Tel Aviv's envoy to Cairo, Yitzhak Levanon, is expelled from the country, a Press TV correspondent reported on Wednesday.
The protesters also demanded efforts by Egyptian authorities to halt natural gas exports from Egypt to Israel and revoke the Camp David Accords -- a US-sponsored treaty that was signed in 1978 to establish 'peace' between Cairo and Tel Aviv.
Tensions between Egypt and Israel has climbed since Israeli forces killed five Egyptian border guards on Thursday at Egypt's border with the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Minister for military Affairs Ehud Barak on Saturday said “Israel deeply regrets the deaths of the Egyptian officers” after Egypt announced that it would withdraw its ambassador the Tel Aviv if no official apology was made.
Egyptian demonstrators, however, played down Barak's expression of “regret” over the death of Egyptian officers.
The US government earlier dispatched an envoy to Cairo to try to defuse the surging tensions in Egyptian-Israeli relations, which have further deteriorated in the wake of the killings.
Meanwhile, activists across Egypt have called for a huge protest rally on Friday to press the country's ruling military council into meeting their demands.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195470.html
4 mar 2012, 21:11 , Respect -
Maria 25 aug 2011
'Egyptian who tore down Israeli flag rewarded'
Protester who yanked off flag from Israeli embassy in Cairo receives job, new home, honorary shield from provincial governor, local paper says.
An Egyptian provincial governor has rewarded a protester who tore down the flag from the Israeli embassy in Cairo with a job, new home and honorary shield, newspapers reported on Thursday.
Ahmad al-Shahat shot to fame after scaling the tall building, removing the Israeli flag and replacing it with Egypt's national colors as hundreds demonstrated outside the embassy on Saturday night.
Thousands cheered and encouraged Shahat as he climbed and jubilation broke out as he ripped the flag from the pole.
Video images of Shahat clambering up the building swept the Internet and set off a flurry of "Flagman" postings on social network Twitter.
The protest erupted on Friday over the killing of five Egyptian border guards during an Israeli operation against gunmen who had killed eight Israelis.
At a special gathering, the governor in Shahat's home town of Sharqiya awarded the jobbing painter with a home and a job at a local quarry, newspaper Al Akhbar reported.
A photo in the newspaper showed Shahat proudly receiving the shield from the governor in a red case.
The honoring of Shahat underlines a change in the official stance towards Israel since an uprising toppled Egypt's President Hosni Mubarak and the army took control.
The killing of the Egyptians led to a diplomatic row with Tel Aviv, with Cairo threatening to withdraw its ambassador and demanding an apology.
Israel has stopped short of apologizing, saying it is still investigating how the Egyptian troops were killed.
Egyptian activists, including civil society groups that led the protests to remove Mubarak, said a new demonstration was planned outside the Israeli embassy on Friday to press for the expulsion of Israel's ambassador and closure of the embassy.
http://fwd4.me/09tY
Israel moves to ease strains with Egypt
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel offered on Thursday to investigate jointly with Egypt the killing of five Egyptian security personnel during an Israeli operation against cross-border raiders a week ago, violence that has strained relations with Cairo's new rulers.
"Israel is ready to hold a joint investigation with the Egyptians into the difficult event," a statement issued by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office quoted his national security adviser, Yaakov Amidror, as saying.
Amidror said the terms of such a probe "would be set by the armies of both sides," going a step beyond Defense Minister Ehud Barak's earlier pledge to hold an investigation and share its findings with Egypt, which signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.
While Israel moved to ease tensions with Egypt, it mounted further attacks against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, where more than 20 rockets have been launched at southern Israel since Wednesday despite a truce announced on Monday.
Five Palestinians, including a local commander of the Islamic Jihad group in the Gaza Strip, have been killed in the latest bloodshed.
The surge of violence began on Aug. 18 when gunmen who Israel said had infiltrated from the Gaza Strip via Egypt's neighboring Sinai desert killed eight Israelis on a desert border road.
Seven of the attackers were killed by Israeli forces and Egypt said five of its men died in the crossfire. The incident triggered the most serious diplomatic row with Egypt since a popular revolt overthrew Hosni Mubarak in February.
The violence between Israel and militants in the Gaza Strip threatens to unravel the shaky truce mediated by Egypt and the United Nations.
U.N. Middle East envoy Robert Serry, in a written statement, expressed his "deep concern" and called on all sides "to immediately take steps to prevent any further escalation."
Taher Al-Nono, a Hamas spokesman, said any "understanding for calm must be mutual and we will not accept that Israel continues its killing of our people."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=416106
Egyptian flag still flying over Israel's embassy in Cairo
CAIRO, (PIC)-- The Egyptian flag that was raised by young man Ahmed Al-Shahhat on the roof of Israel's embassy in Cairo is still seen flying alone, according to eyewitnesses on Tuesday morning.
Earlier rumor had it that the Israeli flag was raised once again over the embassy next to the Egyptian flag.
For his part, governor of Asharqiya province Azzazi Azzazi decided to honor Egyptian young man Ahmed Al-Shahhat who removed Israel's flag from its embassy in Cairo and replaced it with the Egyptian flag.
Azzazi said he would honor Shahhat in a ceremony held at the province headquarters, and pledged to give him a government job worthy of his stature as a national hero and an apartment for his intended marriage, according to news reports from Cairo.
In another context, grand imam of Al-Azhar mosque and university Ahmed Al-Tayeb warned Israel of the Egyptian people's wrath, stressing they can no longer tolerate its criminal actions and its constant disrespect of all agreements and international resolutions.
Tayeb hailed the Egyptian youth for their revolutionary spirit and their rejection of Israel's aggression against Egypt and demanded the Arab leaders to respond to the will of their peoples and help them to get their legitimate rights.
http://fwd4.me/09sJ
4 mar 2012, 21:11 , Respect -
Maria 26 aug 2011
Egyptians hold massive anti-Israel rally
Egyptians hold a massive anti-Israel rally in Cairo, August 26, 2011.
Tens of thousands of Egyptians have staged a massive anti-Israel protest, demanding an end to the peace-accord between Cairo and Tel Aviv.
Following the Friday Prayers, protesters and activists gathered in several cities and Cairo's Liberation Square to stage a million-man demonstration.
Egyptians called for the expulsion of the Israeli envoy and chanted anti-Israeli slogans.
Since last Thursday when the Israeli military killed five Egyptian security personnel on the Rafah border crossing, anti-Israeli protests have escalated outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but the situation has drastically changed since the Egyptian revolution which toppled former dictator Hosni Mubarak. A number of Egyptian political parties are now calling for changes to the peace treaty.
Under the US-backed Mubarak regime, Egypt consistently served Israeli interests and objectives by helping to impose the crippling blockade on the impoverished Gaza strip after the democratically elected Hamas government took control of the territory in 2007.
The crippling blockade on the territory has triggered a humanitarian crisis. The siege has left nearly one and a half million Gazans in dire need of basic supplies.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195906.html
Arab League: Israel-Egypt peace treaty isn't sacred
Nabil Elaraby endorses amendments to 1979 Camp David Agreement, says it can be annulled if one side violates accord. 'It's not the Koran or the New Testament,' Arab League chief says.
Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby said Friday that all peace treaties are subject to the Vienna Convention which stipulates that if one side violates the agreement, the other can reserve the option to amend or annul the agreement.
In an interview with Al-Arabiya TV, Elaraby said that the 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt can be amended, noting that the accords are "not sacred - they are not the Koran or the New Testament." In a jab addressed at ousted President Hosni Mubarak he noted that no one ever told Israel off under the old regime. "There were violations and they were ignored," he said.
Meanwhile, Egypt gears for a mass anti-Israel demonstration scheduled to be held outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo later on Friday. It is estimated that only several thousands will show up for the protest rather than the one million declared on Facebook. The protesters will demand that the Israeli ambassador be expelled from Egypt.
The Muslim Brotherhood announced it will take part in the rally. Egyptian newspaper Al-Youm Al-Sabe'a reported that several political movements are opposed to the demonstration.
http://fwd4.me/09ww
Egypt to hold massive anti-Israel rally
Egyptians are set to stage a million-man demonstration at Cairo's Liberation Square to call for an end to the country's peace accord with Israel, following a week of escalating tensions between the neighbors.
Demonstrators will also gather outside the Israeli embassy to demand the expulsion of Tel Aviv's ambassador to Egypt Yitzhak Levanon.
Scores of protesters have been demonstrating in front of the Israel embassy in Cairo for the seventh day in a row, Egyptian newspaper Al-Masry Al- Youm reported on Friday.
Anti-Israel protests erupted at Tel Aviv embassy in Cairo last week after five Egyptian policemen were killed in an attack by Israeli military on the Rafah border crossing.
On Thursday, Egypt's security forces clashed with protesters who had staged a sit-in outside the Israel embassy in Cairo.
The peace agreement between Israel and Egypt was signed in 1979 to end the state of war between the neighbors.
Under the pressure of anti-Israel protests, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday announced readiness to carry out a joint investigation with Cairo into the killing of the Egyptian security personnel.
"Israel is ready to hold a joint investigation with the Egyptians into the difficult event," a statement issued by Netanyahu's office quoted his national security adviser, Yaakov Amidror, as saying.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195825.html
4 mar 2012, 21:11 , Respect -
Maria 28 aug 2011
Massive anti-Israel rally held in Egypt
Thousands of Egyptians have once again staged a massive protest outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo, demanding the termination of all ties with Tel Aviv.
Protesters chanted anti-Israeli slogans and repeated calls for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador.
Since last Thursday when the Israeli military killed five Egyptian security personnel on the Rafah border crossing, anti-Israeli protests have escalated outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo
However, heavily equipped Egyptian security forces also prevented the crowds from reaching inside the embassy compound.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but the situation has drastically changed since the Egyptian revolution toppled former dictator Hosni Mubarak. A number of Egyptian political parties are now calling for changes to the peace treaty.
Under the US-backed Mubarak regime, Egypt consistently served Israeli interests and objectives by helping to impose the crippling blockade on the impoverished Gaza Strip after the democratically elected Hamas government took control of the territory in 2007.
The crippling blockade on the territory has triggered a humanitarian crisis. The siege has left nearly one and a half million Gazans in dire need of basic supplies.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196250.html
4 mar 2012, 21:12 , Respect -
Maria 30 aug 2011
Egypt should let in more Palestinians
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDbdRqtsdyU
A political analyst says Egypt should further facilitate visits by Palestinians to the country, amid the currently eased border restrictions at the Rafah border with the impoverished Gaza Strip.
Border control has become less restrictive at Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt -- the sliver's only entry that bypasses Israel - ever since the February's revolution and the fall of the pro-Tel Aviv regime of former Egyptian dictator, Hosni Mubarak.
However, Mkhaimar Abusada, political commentator and professor at Cairo's prestigious al-Azhar University, insisted during a Press TV interview that “still, there are a lot of restrictions. The Egyptians are allowing only 400 to 450 Palestinians to cross from Gaza into Egypt. Yet, that is not enough.”
“There are hundreds of sick people who would like to get medical treatment. We have long lines of people waiting for their day to be able to cross from Gaza into Egypt,” he noted.
The Israeli regime has blockaded Gaza since 2007, preventing the entry of food, medicine, and other direly-needed supplies to the sliver.
The siege has caused a decline in the standard of living, unprecedented levels of unemployment, and unrelenting poverty.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/196483.html
Report: Egyptian forces raid Jihad cells in Sinai
Minister Matan Vilnai says Israel received warning that a cell comprised of more than 10 terrorists may carry out attack on Eid al-Fitr as some 1,500 Egyptian troops reportedly mount large-scale operation in Sinai against Jihad operatives.
Large Egyptian army forces are battling Jihad operatives in the Sinai Peninsula Tuesday as Israel maintains its heightened alert on the tense southern border with Egypt.
Israel upped its military presence along the border, including the deployment of two navy war ships, following a terror warning that had been received indicating that a cell comprising of 10 operatives was in Sinai and was planning to attack Israeli targets. Earlier this month, terrorists killed eight Israelis after infiltrating the border from Sinai.
Egyptian daily al-Masry al-Youm quoted Egyptian security sources as saying that forces continue to raid terrorist strongholds in Sinai as part of a special operation on the event of the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan. The operation includes some 1,500 soldiers as well as tanks and armored vehicles.
The newspaper noted that Egyptian security forces have raised the level of alert for fear of acts of violence during the holiday. They are scanning the border areas of Rafah, El-Arish and Sheikh Zweid, working alongside Bedouin tribal leaders who are trying to convince the Jihad operatives to abandon violence.
Meanwhile, Home Front Defense Minister Matan Vilnai warned that terrorists might take the opportunity of Eid al-Fitr to carry out attacks on Israel. "The Defense establishment has received a warning that a terror cell in Sinai, comprised of more than 10 terrorists, will try to carry out an attack," he said. "The Defense establishment is taking action to thwart this attempt."
On Monday, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen Benny Gantz ordered a reinforcement of military presence in the Israel-Egypt border and the southern Gaza Strip following information suggesting an Islamic Jihad cell posed an imminent threat in the area.
Also on Monday, it was reported that Egypt and Israel have agreed to increase the number of Egyptian soldiers in the peninsula's areas B and C. The report also suggested that the sides were negotiating additional deployments in the region.
Meanwhile, a high ranking official at Egypt's Higher Military Council said Cairo was considering amending clauses in the 1979 peace treaty which concern the deployment and scope of forces in Sinai in an effort to boost security and as part of Egypt's post-revolution foreign policy.
http://fwd4.me/0AGU
Egyptians demonstrate outside the Israeli embassy on Eid day
CAIRO, (PIC)-- Dozens of Egyptians demonstrated on the first day of Eid outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo to protest the flying of the Israeli flag on the embassy after it was removed by a protester a few days ago.
The demonstrators reiterated their demands to expel the Israeli ambassador, close the embassy and retaliate to the killing of Egyptian soldiers by the IOF.
They said that the fact that it was Eid day did not stop them from demonstrating for the lives of the soldiers who were killed and chanted to this effect. They chanted against the Israeli occupation and in support of Palestinians.
The demonstration took place under heavy presence of Egyptian security forces who closed the protest square outside the embassy and prevented demonstrators from entering it.
Children on a day out to visit the zoo passed on the Jame’a Bridge opposite the embassy saw the demonstrators and started chanting with the demonstrators: “the flag must come down”, “down down Israel” and “we will not leave, he should leave.”
http://fwd4.me/0AGN
4 mar 2012, 21:12 , Respect -
Maria 31 aug 2011
Thousands Protest In Front Of Israel’s Embassy In Cairo
Marking the first day of the Al- Fitr Muslim Feast on Tuesday, thousands of Egyptians held a massive protest in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo carrying Egyptian flags and demanding Cairo to shut down the Israeli embassy, and to expel the ambassador.
They also demanded the prosecution of Israeli soldiers behind the deadly shooting of Egyptian border policemen, near the border in Eilat on Thursday august 18. Eight Israelis, including three soldiers, were killed in the attack.
Following the Eilat shooting that was initiated by gunmen, and not Egyptian border policemen, Israeli soldiers opened fire at Egyptian border policemen, stationed on the Egyptian side of the border, while military helicopters also violated Egyptian airspace. Three Egyptian border policemen were killed in Israeli attack.
The protesters, who held several massive protests after the shooting, and one of them even managed to climb up the walls out of the Israeli embassy in Cairo and removed the Israeli flag, are demanding revenge, and are calling on the Prime Minister of the Hamas-led government in Gaza, Ismail Haniyya, to “remain steadfast, and keep his rifle ready”, referring to ongoing resistance.
Egypt’s security forces were heavily deployed around the Israeli embassy, and closed the area after some protesters managed to cross through police barricades, and reached the yard of the embassy.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61917
4 mar 2012, 21:12 , Respect -
Maria 3 sept 2011
Egypt begins destroying border tunnels
Smuggling tunnels at the border with Gaza are likely being destroyed, eye witnesses have said.
Eyewitnesses added that even though there are around 1400 tunnels, only 300 are used. Many of these tunnels have not been affected by machines used to destroy them since they are internally lined with wood. Other tunnels have been dug in a way to resist attempts at destroying them.
Some sources have said that the destruction is being carried out in conformance with a deal between Egypt and Gaza to destroy all tunnels which Palestinians have failed to control
An official source said that tunnels accessed from houses in Rafah will be destroyed. These tunnels, he said, have been the hardest to shut due to their location in residential areas.
In mid August, Israel killed 5 Egyptian soldiers while pursuing Palestinian militants who had killed 8 Israelis after infiltrating Israel from Sinai. The inflitrators, according to reports, were not sent by Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip, but rather by a rival Palestinian faction. Egypt has vowed to tighten its control of the border area, and has launched a campaign in recent weeks to root out terrorists suspected of residing in the peninsula.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/491879
4 mar 2012, 21:12 , Respect -
Maria 4 sept 2011
Waqf minister: Palestinian Sheik arrested in Cairo released
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian sheik detained in Cairo International Airport was released on Sunday, the Palestinian Authority Waqf minister told Ma'an.
Abdul Aziz Odeh was detained at Cairo's international airport on Saturday after returning from a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, his family told Ma'an.
Mahmoud Habbash, the PA minister of Waqf and religious affairs, told Ma'an that he was released on Sunday.
The reason for his arrest is unknown.
Odeh was one of the first Palestinians to be deported to the Gaza Strip during the first intifada, or uprising, in 1987.
He lectures at the department of Islamic studies in Al-Azhar University and preaches at the Izz al-Din al-Qassam mosque in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417584
Barrier erected to secure Israeli embassy in Cairo
CAIRO, (PIC)-- A barrier was erected in Cairo’s University Bridge area designed to protect the Israeli embassy against massive protests demanding the embassy’s removal.
An official, who declined to be named, said the 3 meter-high by 70 meter-long wall was built under instructions from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces.
The Supreme Council further secured the embassy by placing barbed wire around the premises amid fears of possible protests as the area has currently seen a calm after demonstrations erupted in the area.
Those demonstrations were the result of a cross-border operation by the Israeli occupation forces that killed five Egyptian security men.
The Egyptian flag still flutters above the building, but the Egyptian flag that was placed there by a local hero, who climbed the building and removed the Israeli flag, was replaced by another Egyptian flag of the same size of the Israeli flag that was torn down. An Israeli flag has now been placed on one of the embassy’s balconies.
http://fwd4.me/0AeW
Family says Palestinian sheik detained at Cairo airport
GAZA CITY (Ma'an) -- Egyptian authorities detained a Palestinian sheik on Saturday at Cairo International Airport, his family told Ma'an.
Abdul Aziz Odeh was detained at the airport as he returned from a pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia, relatives said.
The Palestinian ambassador to Egypt was unable to secure his release.
Odeh was one of the first Palestinians to be deported to the Gaza Strip during the first intifada, or uprising, in 1987.
He lectures at the department of Islamic studies in Al-Azhar University and preaches at the Izz al-Din al-Qassam mosque in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417516
Egypt releases 2 Palestinian brothers from Rafah
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) -- Egyptian authorities on Saturday released two Palestinian brothers after two years in detention, relatives told Ma'an.
Ammar and Arafat Abu Nima, from Rafah on the border of Egypt and Gaza, were detained with their father on the Egyptian side of the city two years ago.
They were sentenced to three years on charges of smuggling and entering Egypt illegally.
Their father was released earlier this year.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=417511
Officials: Egyptian military closing Gaza tunnels
Three mechanized censors activated to identify tunnel locations, mark them for destruction, security officials say.
Egypt's military has began an operation to close a network of smuggling tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border following tension with Israel, security officials said Saturday.
Hundreds of tunnels snake under the 9-mile (14-kilometer) border, where smugglers bring Gaza supplies and fuel limited by an Israeli blockade. Israel charges Gaza's Hamas rulers get weapons, ammunition and rockets through the tunnels and smuggle militants out.
Officials said that this week, three mechanized sensors were activated to identify tunnel locations and mark them for destruction. Earlier efforts were confined to trying to close tunnel openings, as well as one failed effort to drive a steel wall deep into the sand.
The officials were speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to reporters.
Israel and Egypt are increasingly concerned about the tunnel threat following an attack last month near Israel's southern city of Eilat, near the Egyptian border and a rising presence of Islamic militants in Egypt's Sinai desert alongside Israel.
Israel says Gaza militants entered Sinai through the tunnels and crossed back into Israel, attacking vehicles and killing eight Israelis.
Israel-Egypt relations took a hit when five Egyptian police were killed during a firefight between Israeli forces and fleeing militants. Egypt was outraged, and Israel apologized.
Previous attempts to close the tunnels before have failed to curb illicit trade and people trafficking under the border, following the blockade imposed on the seaside territory in 2007, when Hamas seized control.
The officials said the operation, which began Wednesday, is closely coordinated by the military leadership. So far, three main arteries have been detected, and one was destroyed, they said.
The officials said the tunnels will not be blown up. Instead, they will be filled with cement and water.
http://fwd4.me/0AdI
4 mar 2012, 21:12 , Respect -
Maria 5 sept 2011
Egypt denies conducting operations to destroy Gaza tunnels
Previous media reports said that Egypt had begun operations to close smuggling tunnels under its border with the Gaza Strip.
Egypt denied on Monday that it was undertaking drilling operations along the Gaza-Egypt border to destroy and seal a number of smuggling tunnels delivering supplies to Gaza.
The governor of North Sinai, General Abdel Wahab Mabrouk, said there was no campaign intended to destroy the tunnels, adding that, if there were a plan, "residents in Gaza would be informed in order to protect the lives of Palestinians that work in the tunnels."
He told the German Press Agency dpa: "The two large loading trucks which arrived on the border are property of a contractor and not the province."
Media reports said that Egypt had launched a campaign to close the tunnels. One Palestinian newspaper, al-Ayyam, described it as the largest operation since the revolution that ousted president Hosni Mubarak in February.
The newspaper reported that Egyptian security forces were using modern equipment and machines in drilling operations at the southern point of the border, near Yebna camp, and the Salaheddin Gate, at the Rafah border.
The majority of Gaza's population depends on items smuggled through tunnels to have their basic needs met, since Israel imposed a land and sea blockade on the Gaza Strip in 2007. This has also become a lucrative business.
Israel has accused Egypt in the past of not doing enough to stop the smuggling of arms across its border, especially since the revolution.
After Israel's offensive in Gaza in December 2008, Egyptian border guards began using modern equipment and machinery provided by the United States to prevent smuggling along the tunnels.
The military presence has been beefed up in the Sinai peninsula, after Israel killed five Egyptian policemen on August 19 in airstrikes targeting Palestinian militants it had accused of infiltrating Egypt's borders and carrying out attacks on southern Israel.
http://fwd4.me/0Aj5
Egypt junta to destroy Gaza tunnels
The Egyptian military has launched an operation to destroy a series of tunnels running under the country's border with the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip.
The operation started on Sunday after mechanized sensors were activated to identify tunnel locations and mark them for destruction.
The Palestinian population of Gaza, under an Israeli siege since 2007, uses the tunnels as a lifeline to acquire basic living supplies and fuel to the besieged coastal strip.
Egyptian officials say three major underground supply routes have been found and one of them has been destroyed. Witnesses say the military used stones and concrete to fill the tunnels.
Cairo claims the measure is part of a campaign to restore order in the Sinai desert, without elaborating on the linkage between the two.
The blockade has had a disastrous impact on the humanitarian and economic situation in the impoverished territory.
Some 1.5 million people are being denied their basic rights, including the freedom of movement and their rights to appropriate living conditions, work, health and education.
A humanitarian aid convoy, Gaza Freedom Flotilla, that was heading to the coastal strip on May 31, 2010, came under a military attack by Israeli navy commandos in international waters. Nine Turkish nationals were killed on the Mavi Marmara, one of the six vessels of the convoy.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197461.html
Something fishy about Eilat terror attack
When terrorists infiltrated southern Israel and killed eight people in a three-pronged assault near the resort town of Eilat, it was presumed that Palestinian militants from Gaza were responsible. And likely they were, at least in part.
But the political proceedings following the attack have raised serious questions about Egyptian military involvement in the brutal murder of Israeli civilians.
Immediately following the attack, Israeli lawmaker and retired army general Aryeh Eldad questioned why Defense Minister Ehud Barak was ignoring the testimony of civilian eyewitnesses. Many of those eyewitnesses told Israeli media that part of the Eilat attack was perpetrated by uniformed soldiers firing from within or next to Egyptian army installations along the border.
"I would like to know why the IDF has refrained from questioning the civilians, and whether it is possible that the investigation is being whitewashed and the public is being denied the truth, because of concern over exposing the truth about Egyptian involvement," Eldad wrote in an official parliamentary query.
While the eyewitnesses could not know if the gunmen they saw were Egyptian soldiers or terrorists wearing army fatigues, the fact they were able to operate so near to Egyptian bases suggests that Egyptian soldiers at best turned a blind eye.
The plot thickened on Sunday when Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak ordered IDF officials to not divulge intelligence regarding the Eilat attack during a routine appearance before the Knesset Subcommittee for Intelligence and Secret Services.
MK Shaul Mofaz, head of the powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, accused Netanyahu and Barak of a cover-up.
"It is clear that the decision is not professional and involves foreign interests," Mofaz said in an angry statement released to the press.
What is clear is that whatever the government is trying to keep hidden is not an operational mishap on Israel's part. There was such a mishap - the failure to close the roads leading to Eilat after the initial attack - and it was immediately made public and loudly criticized by Barak himself. The only thing most Israelis can imagine the government wanting to cover up is Egyptian involvement in the attack.
Netanyahu and Barak have both stated that they are satisfied the temporary military regime in Egypt had no knowledge of or part in the attack. And that is almost certainly true.
But it is also likely that the largest political force in Egypt contesting the upcoming election - the Muslim Brotherhood - did have knowledge of the planned attack, as it is closely affiliated with Hamas and its allied terror groups in Gaza.
There have been increasing reports, both in Israel and Egypt, that Islamic terror groups from Hamas to Hizballah to Al Qaeda are active in the Sinai Peninsula, and are successfully recruiting from the local population. It would not be unreasonable to think that one of those groups managed to get a few Egyptian soldiers doing border patrol duty to take part in an attack on Israel.
http://fwd4.me/0AhN
'Israeli PM meets with Tantawi in secret'
Egypt's head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces Mohamed Hussein Tantawi
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has secretly met with Egypt's head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, a report says.
Israeli newspaper Maariv reported that the two sides met in secret because of the angry public opinions of Egyptian people toward Israel.
Thousands of Egyptians protested against Tel Aviv outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo over the killing of five Egyptian policemen in an Israel attack near the border last month.
Cairo had decided to recall its envoy from Tel Aviv to protest the incident. During the secret session, Tantawi intervened and withdrew the decision to recall the Egyptian ambassador from Israel, according to the report. The paper said Tantawi ended the crisis in the last moments.
The two sides also discussed border security and anti-terrorism operations, the report added.
Egypt's revolution in February has put in danger the relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197528.html
4 mar 2012, 21:12 , Respect -
Maria 6 sept 2011
Egypt walls in Israel Embassy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2eWBETPUx5Q
A wall has been constructed around Israel's embassy in Cairo after it became the site of violent demonstrations in recent weeks.
Work on the wall began several days ago.
Egyptian officials said the 2 and a half meter high wall was erected to protect the residents of the high rise embassy building but not the Israel Embassy.
Officials said it was to protect the lower floors of the building and prevent tensions between protesters and residents.
A diplomatic row erupted between Jerusalem and Cairo last month after five Egyptian security personnel were shot dead on the border with Israel by Israeli soldiers pursuing the terrorists who killed 8 Israelis near Eilat.
Egypt at the time threatened to withdraw its ambassador from Tel Avivand some called to end the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.
4 mar 2012, 21:12 , Respect -
Maria 8 sept 2011
Israeli embassy wall angers Egyptians
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V5aPp9-HS4k
Egyptians have gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo to protest against the construction of a wall in front of it, Press TV reported.
The protest rally was held on Wednesday and protesters wrote sentences like “the people want the fall of the wall,” on the newly-built construction.
Protesters likened the building of the wall in front of Israeli embassy to the Apartheid -- a system of domination and separation in place in South Africa from 1948 to 1990 under Dutch and British colonial rule.
“It is very provoking because it only means one thing and that is the government is still taking orders from Israel because building Apartheid walls like the ones in Palestine is Israel's strategy to protect itself but the fact is walls never protect anyone as history shows,” one protester said.
“It is very much similar to the Apartheid even if it is just a mineralized version of it,” another protester said.
The Egyptians were angry at the country's ruling military council which had made the wall, saying this is not what they had a revolution for.
The demonstrators also called for the expulsion of Tel Aviv ambassador from Cairo and urged Egypt's military rulers to stop economic ties as well as the Camp David peace accords with Israel.
The protesters said they were motivated by Turkey's recent measure to expel Israeli envoy from Ankara.
Relations between Israel and Egypt have been going through major changes since the historic revolution in the North African country in mid-February.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/197983.html
4 mar 2012, 21:12 , Respect -
Maria 9 sept 2011
Israeli flag torn down at Cairo embassy
An Egyptian protester has torn down the Israeli flag at its embassy in Cairo, to the cheers of thousands of demonstrators on the scene.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/198306.html
Egyptians demolish Israel embassy wall at protest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjK6J8X9ogE
CAIRO (Reuters) -- Egyptian activists demolished a wall around the Israeli embassy in Cairo on Friday after thousands demonstrated at Tahrir Square to push for a timetable for transition to democracy and an end to military trials for civilians.
Activists who spearheaded an uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February have been piling pressure on the ruling military council to fix a date for parliamentary and presidential elections and to get rid of officials who served under Mubarak.
After Friday prayers, thousands had converged on Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the protests that toppled Mubarak, for what was billed as "Correcting the Path" protests.
Some of the demonstrators later marched to the other side of the Nile in Giza, where they used hammers and large metal rods to destroy the wall, erected this month by Egyptian authorities after daily protests over the killing of five Egyptian border guards in Sinai.
"This action shows the state of anger and frustration the young Egyptian revolutionaries feel against Israel especially after the recent Israeli attacks on the Egyptian borders that led to the killing of Egyptian soldiers," Egyptian political analyst Nabil Abdel Fattah told Reuters.
Egyptian police stood aside as activists tore down the concrete wall to the cheers of hundreds of demonstrators.
"It is great that Egyptians say they will do something and actually do it," Egyptian film director and activist Khaled Youssef said, standing among the protesters outside the embassy.
"They said they will demolish the wall and they did ... the military council has to abide by the demands of the Egyptian people," he said.
Israel Radio cut into its Sabbath programming with bulletins about the Cairo demonstrations. Citing Foreign Ministry sources, it said the ambassador was safely at his official residence and that Israel was in contact with Egypt, the United States and European powers about the incident.
"Police will not do anything to the protesters and they will be left unharmed to continue demolishing the wall," one security source said.
Tensions between the two countries sparked a series of angry protests that reached a climax last month when a demonstrator scaled the building and removed the Israeli flag.
The five security men died during an Israeli operation against gunmen who had killed eight Israelis. Egypt threatened to withdraw its ambassador from Tel Aviv. Israel has stopped short of apologising, saying it is still investigating how the Egyptian troops were killed.
Protesters also demonstrated outside the Interior Ministry, near Tahrir Square, where some hurled stones at the building.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418836
4 mar 2012, 21:12 , Respect -
Maria 10 sept 2011
Report: Egyptian soldier hit by IDF fire during border incident dies of wounds
An Egyptian soldier who was hit by IDF fire on the border between Israel and Egypt three weeks ago died of his wounds in a military hospital, bringing the death toll from the incident up to six, Egyptian newspaper al-Ahram reported on Saturday.
The Egyptian soldiers were injured when an IDF force tried to target a group of suspected terrorists near Eilat, shortly after they perpetrated an attack in southern Israel that killed eight Israelis.
http://fwd4.me/0BAi
Tantawi didn’t respond to Netanyahu, Barak during crisis
Egyptian officials claimed head of Supreme Military Council 'could not be located'. Stranded Israeli security guards evacuated from embassy while wearing keffiyehs and Muslim garments.
What really transpired behind the scenes of the dramatic rescue of six Israelis who were stranded in the Israeli Embassy in Cairo? Although Israel praised the action undertaken by Egyptian forces and its commandoes for rescuing the stranded Israelis from a fanatical mob, it turns out that there had been a severe lack of coordination even amongst the highest ranks.
Both Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Ehud Barak tried to reach the head of the ruling Supreme Military Council Mohammed Tantawi over the phone overnight, but the Egyptians said they were "unable to locate him".
It appears that only the swift intervention of US President Barack Obama prevented a catastrophe from unfolding. "I would say it was a decisive moment – fateful, I would even say," Netanyahu said on Saturday evening.
"He said, 'I will do all that I can,' and he did; he applied all of the means and influence of the United States of America, which are certainly substantial. And I think we owe him special thanks."
On Saturday evening, a senior Israeli official said, "Such things are not supposed to take place in the circumstances that had evolved."
Military sources, meanwhile, revealed that the stranded Israeli security guards had been evacuated from the embassy while wearing the traditional Arab headdress keffiyeh and Muslim garments knows as Jalabiyas.
After the evacuation, Egyptian officials drove the six to the Cairo airport, where they boarded an IAF plane to Israel.
The defense establishment, including IDF Chief of Staff Benny Gantz, monitored the situation closely while the operations and intelligence branches also prepared to take action in light of the developments in Egypt.
Air force chief Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan managed the aerial operations from the underground army headquarters in Tel Aviv. Two air force jets, "Re'em" and "Tzofit" took off for Egypt at 4:30 am and returned the embassy staff to Israel.
During the crisis, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had also called Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr to urge Egypt to meet its Vienna Convention obligations to protect diplomatic property, a senior State Department official said.
Barak spoke to US Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta and with Dennis Ross, President Obama's emissary to the Middle East. Barak, who discussed the situation in Cairo with Netanyahu and heads of the defense establishment, asked the American officials to help defend the Israeli Embassy against the protesters.
http://fwd4.me/0BAd
Israel faces worst crisis with Egypt for 30 years as diplomats flee
Attack on embassy is latest storm to engulf Jewish state as relations with Turkey also deteriorate.
Israel is facing its worst crisis with Egypt for 30 years after being forced to airlift diplomats and their families to safety during the storming of its embassy in Cairo by a violent mob.
The siege of the embassy ended, with the 86 Israelis fleeing, only after intervention from the White House following phone calls between the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, and US President Barack Obama.
The attack was the latest diplomatic storm to engulf the Jewish state, whose relations with another ally, Turkey, have worsened over the past nine days. Israel is also facing a "diplomatic tsunami" at the UN later this month when a majority of countries are expected to back recognition of a Palestinian state.
The embassy attack, in which a security wall was demolished and a group of protesters reached the door of the embassy's secure area, threatened to cause "serious damage in peaceful relations between our two countries", the prime minister said.
He added that it was a "grave violation of accepted diplomatic practice".
He spent the night with senior officials in a foreign ministry operation room dealing with the crisis. Eighty diplomats and their families were airlifted on an Israeli military plane at 4.40am, but six personnel were trapped inside the building.
"There was one door separating them from the mob," said the official, who described the night as "very dramatic and tense". Eventually the six were rescued by Egyptian commandos following behind-the-scenes intervention by the US.
Obama spoke to Netanyahu during the night, the White House said. He also appealed to Egypt to "honour its international obligations".
David Cameron condemned the attack and urged Egypt to meet its responsibilities under the Vienna Convention to protect diplomatic property and personnel.
Three people died during the overnight protests in Cairo and at least 1,093 were injured, according to Egypt's deputy health minister.
Anti-Israel sentiment in Egypt has been vociferous since the killing of five Egyptian soldiers by Israeli forces in the aftermath of a militant attack last month near the border between the two countries in which eight Israelis died. Thousands of people mobbed the Israeli embassy in Cairo, and Israel was forced to issue a statement regretting the deaths in the hope that it would contain the anti-Israel mood.
Israel has been nervous about the future of its peace treaty with Egypt, signed 30 years ago, since its staunch ally, former president Hosni Mubarak, was forced out of office in an uprising earlier this year. It fears the temporary military government is more attuned to anti-Israel sentiment on the street.
Israel is also deeply alarmed by its rapidly deteriorating relationship with Turkey, whose prime minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, is to visit Cairo amid fears that he will attempt to forge an anti-Israel alliance with the new Egyptian government.
"The situation with Turkey is not good, and the situation with Egypt is not good," said the Israeli official. "We hope this is not a sign of things to come."
Both Turkey and Egypt are supporting the bid to have a Palestinian state recognised at the UN general assembly. Israel is braced for what its defence minister, Ehud Barak, described as a "diplomatic tsunami".
The US – which has pledged to veto Palestinian statehood – is frantically trying to find a way of averting a vote, fearing further alienation within the Arab world. The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said US efforts to encourage the parties to return to negotiations had come "too late".
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/10/israel-egypt-embassy-crisis
Egyptians: Cut ties with Israel
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjY9qw-Pe-c
Egyptian people, who had gathered in front of the Israeli embassy in the capital city of Cairo, have once again urged the severance of ties with Israel,Press TV reports.
People demolished a cement wall around the embassy with hammers and large metal rods on Friday. The wall was built this month by Egyptian authorities after daily protests were held over the killing of five Egyptian border guards by Israeli gunmen in August.
Police stood aside as people tore down the wall to the cheers of hundreds of demonstrators.
"Each and every person in Egypt has an uncle, a father or a neighbor who lost his life or injured during the war with Israel," Egypt's revolutionary activist Shirin Zein el-Deen told Press TV.
"All people in Egypt do not want Israel. We need to finish this [the embassy]," one angry protester shouted.
"We are going to get our freedom by our hand," another protester yelled.
Police fired teargas on protesters after one floor of a building in Cairo that houses the Israeli embassy was breached.
One protester outside the Israeli embassy died of suffocation from the teargas and 235 others were injured.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/198453.html
'Egypt to fully enforce emergency law'
Egypt's Information Minister Osama Heikal says Cairo will apply "all articles of the emergency law to ensure safety," after three people were killed outside Israel's embassy in the Egyptian capital, Cairo.
"Egypt affirms its total commitment to respecting international conventions, including the protection of all (diplomatic) missions," Heikal said in a televised address on Saturday, AFP reported.
The remarks come after Egyptian protesters stormed the Israeli embassy premises and tore down the flag from the building for the second time in less than a month.
According to medical sources, three people were killed and more than 1,000 people, including 300 policemen, were injured in what seems to be the worst outburst of Egyptian people's anger against Israel.
Egyptian demonstrators gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo after Friday Prayers calling for the expulsion of Israel's ambassador.
The angry protesters then destroyed parts of the protective wall around the embassy and broke into the building despite the presence of heavily armed Egyptian security forces.
They threw hundreds of documents out of the embassy's windows and also torched a police car.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but the situation has drastically changed since the Egyptian revolution which toppled former dictator Hosni Mubarak. A number of Egyptian political parties are now calling for changes to the peace treaty.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/198436.html
'Israel envoy not to return to Egypt'
Israel has announced that its ambassador to Egypt, who earlier fled amid anti-Israel protests in the African country, will not be returning as long as the Israeli embassy in Cairo remains “unsafe”.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/198434.html
Israel lauds Obama's role in Cairo crisis
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel thanked US President Barack Obama on Saturday for his "fateful" role in helping evacuate its besieged Cairo embassy, saying all his influence in Egypt had been brought to bear.
"I would say it was a decisive moment -- fateful, I would even say," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, whose relationship with Obama has long been soured by the stalled Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, told reporters.
"He said, 'I will do all that I can.' He did that. He applied all of the means and influence of the United States of America, which are certainly substantial. And I think we owe him special thanks."
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=419069
US 'deeply concerned' by anti-Israel violence in Egypt
WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States is "deeply concerned" about violence in Cairo where protesters stormed the Israeli embassy, and is doing all it can to keep vital Egypt-Israel ties from fraying further, the State Department said Saturday.
"We have been in contact with the Egyptian and Israeli governments about this serious incident," and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has "reached out" to Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Amr to highlight US concerns, State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=419065
Egypt vows to try those who targeted Israel mission
By Amena Bakr and Sami Aboudi
CAIRO (Reuters) -- Egypt vowed on Saturday to try those behind the violence that drove Israel to evacuate its ambassador from Cairo, heaping pressure on army rulers to respond to public fury against the Jewish state while fending off US criticism.
Washington, which has poured billions of dollars of military aid into Egypt since it made peace with Israel in 1979, urged Cairo to protect the mission after protesters hurled embassy documents and the Israeli flag from the windows of the building.
Three people were killed and 1,049 wounded in the clashes that began on Friday and raged on into the early hours of Saturday around the Cairo tower block housing the embassy, the Health Ministry said. Police and soldiers had fired shots in the air and teargas to disperse the crowd, who hurled stones at them.
Egypt's army, under pressure to give power to civilians after taking over from toppled ex-president Hosni Mubarak, must balance public calls for a more assertive policy towards Israel with maintaining ties that bring it cash and top-notch US hardware.
"Egypt witnessed a harsh day that inflicted pain and worry on all Egyptians. It is clear that the behavior of some threatens the Egyptian revolution," Information Minister Osama Hassan Heikal said in a televised statement.
Egypt would transfer those in custody or "involved in inciting or participating in [Friday's] events to the emergency state security court," the minister said, adding that Cairo would use emergency laws still in place to protect the nation.
Protesters lit tires in the street and at least two vehicles were set alight near the embassy. Many had come from a demonstration earlier on Friday in central Cairo calling for the army to end emergency law and speed up other reforms.
"Our dignity has been restored," said Mohi Alaa, 24, a protester near the site of the overnight clashes. Bits of concrete and bullet casings were strewn over the street.
"We don't want the Americans' money," he said, showing the greater readiness of many Egyptians to express resentment of Israel and the United States and anger at Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, after decades of pragmatic official relations.
Some 500 protesters stayed after dawn and a few threw stones at police, who gradually pushed them away and secured the area around the embassy, located on the upper floors of a residential block overlooking the Nile.
Ambassador evacuated
It was the second big eruption of violence at the embassy since five Egyptian border guards were killed last month when Israel repelled cross-border raiders it said were Palestinians. Egypt then briefly threatened to withdraw its envoy to Israel.
Israel has stopped short of apologizing, saying it is still investigating the Egyptian deaths, which occurred during an operation against gunmen who had killed eight Israelis.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make a statement at 1730 GMT on Saturday about the Cairo violence, his office said.
Israeli ambassador Yitzhak Levanon, staff and family members arrived home on Saturday, but one diplomat stayed in Egypt to maintain the embassy, an Israeli official said.
The information minister's statement followed a crisis meeting between Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and other ministers as well as talks with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who heads the military council that has ruled Egypt since Mubarak resigned on Feb. 11.
State television said the military council rejected Sharaf's offer to resign.
Israel is finding itself increasingly at odds with formerly sympathetic states in the region. It is already embroiled in a feud with Turkey, once the closest of its few Muslim allies, over its treatment of the Palestinians.
Egypt's ties with Israel, though never warm, were a pillar of Mubarak's foreign policy and buttressed his claim to be a regional mediator. Mubarak regularly met Israeli officials.
Under Mubarak, Egyptians could never show such hostility to Israel without a crushing security response. That has changed. Police came down hard but could not contain the anger.
US demands
U.S. President Barack Obama called on Egypt to "honor its international obligations" and protect the Israeli mission. He told Israel's Netanyahu that Washington was taking steps to resolve the situation.
Egypt is committed to "fully respect all its international obligations regarding protecting and safeguarding international diplomatic missions on its soil," the state MENA news agency quoted Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr as saying.
An Israeli official said the ambassador, staff and family members had left in one plane and a second one had brought home six Israeli security personnel who had been left guarding the embassy, protected from the crowd only by a reinforced door until Egyptian troops extracted them.
"The fact that Egyptian authorities ultimately acted with determination is laudable. With that said, Egypt cannot let slide this harsh blow to the fabric of relations with Israel and the gross violation of international norms," Netanyahu said in a statement. He also thanked Washington for its role.
British Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the embassy attack and urged Egypt to protect diplomatic property.
Some Egyptian politicians and activists criticized the violence, even if they backed the anti-Israel demonstration.
Presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy called for the army to take a "serious stance matching the public anger" towards Israel but said violence sullied the image of Egypt's uprising.
Last month, a man scaled the embassy building, took down Israel's flag and replaced it with Egypt's. Protests continued daily but did not turn violent until the latest flare-up.
In response to the protests, the authorities had erected a wall around the building, which was quickly defaced with anti-Israel slogans and then painted in Egypt's national colors.
On Friday, the wall was torn down after a demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square calling for speedier reforms and a deeper purge of officials who worked for Mubarak, the former president on trial on charges including conspiring to kill protesters.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=419045
Netanyahu aide: Israel, Egypt to preserve peace deal
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel and Egypt are working to preserve the landmark peace accord they signed in 1979, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's spokesman said on Saturday after rioting forced the evacuation of Israel's Cairo embassy.
"There is a new Egyptian administration with which we are fully and painstakingly coordinating. And it is the intent of this Egyptian administration, as it is that of the government of Israel, to preserve the peace that has been preserved for more than 30 years," spokesman Roni Sofer said.
Speaking on Israel's Army Radio, Sofer said Netanyahu sought to return Ambassador Yitzhak Levanon to Egypt "soon, under the appropriate security arrangements".
Sofer commended Egyptian forces for extricating six guards who had been besieged by hundreds of protesters at the embassy but said Israel was not yet "turning the page" on the unprecedented incident.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=419038
Egyptians vent fury as troops defend Israel mission
CAIRO (Reuters) - Mustafa Yahya's mother wailed and tore her robe in the Cairo hospital where her son's body lay in the morgue, accusing her own country's troops of killing him as they defended Israel's embassy from protesters overnight.
"To hell with Israel. Why is the army protecting Israel and killing my children?" she screamed, voicing the popular anger that has been well and truly unleashed since five Egyptian border guards were killed last month in an Israeli operation against a cross-border militant raid.
The morgue where the body of Yahya's 24-year-old son was taken is close to the scene of the violence, where spent bullet casings littered the street and the whiff of teargas filled the air. Israel's ambassador was flown out after protesters stormed the building housing its mission.
The violence, the second time such fierce scenes have flared outside the mission, might have been avoided, analysts say.
"What happened was not a surprise, it reveals political mismanagement of the crisis," said military analyst Safwat al-Zayaat.
But the fact it was not averted reflects the dilemma facing the army as it grapples with governing Egypt after the fall of Hosni Mubarak, for whom a 1979 peace treaty with Israel was a pillar of the foreign policy that secured him regional muscle.
"It is a difficult situation that needs some wisdom and perseverance to deal with it," said Adel Soliman, director of the International Center for Future and Strategic Studies.
"Israel will try to make use of the situation to make the incident seem very serious so that it can cover for the real issue that fueled popular anger," he said.
Egypt's ruling generals must balance calls for a tough response from an increasingly assertive population angry at Israel's treatment of Palestinians against the benefits of the treaty that guarantees billions of dollars of US military aid.
For some ordinary Egyptians, the solution is simple.
"We don't want the Americans' money," aid Mohi Alaa, 24, speaking after a long night of protests outside the embassy.
When the border crisis erupted, Egypt briefly threatened to withdraw its ambassador. But it never followed through. That jars with many Egyptians, who have watched Turkey expel Israel's envoy in another feud while their own country, which they see as a regional leader, has not.
'Egypt above all'
"When the five Egyptians were killed at the border, Egypt could have at least called its ambassador back from there for consultations or taken any measure to reassure the public who are now comparing what their government did and what Turkey did," military analyst Zayaat said.
The public mood was clear after Egypt put up a wall outside the embassy, which is housed in the upper floors of a high-rise block.
No sooner was the barrier erected than it was defaced with graffiti, such as "Egypt above all". On Friday, a group of about 20 protesters used metal poles to batter it and gathered support from hundreds more as they clambered over it with ropes to knock it over. "Tear it down," they chanted.
They had marched from a protest on the other side of the Nile in Tahrir Square, the center of the pro-democracy demonstrations that drove out Mubarak on Feb. 11 and helped ignite the region.
Politicians and activists support the anti-Israel drive, but some criticized the violence.
Presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy called for the army to take a "serious stance matching the public anger" towards Israel, but said violence sullied the image of Egypt's uprising.
The Health Ministry said 1,049 were injured and three people killed, including one in Agouza where Mustafa Yahya's body was. The statement on the state news agency did not name Yahya.
As well as wounded protesters, several police and troops near the embassy nursed injuries. One soldier had a bandage round his head. A policeman had a ripped shirt and his eye covered.
"We all have demands but this is not the way to get them," said police officer Ibrahaim Mohamed, 25, with a bandaged arm.
Some Egyptians questioned whether the embassy building should have been stormed at all.
"This is a normal reaction, but it should have limits. They shouldn't storm the embassy, this gives a negative picture of Egypt to the entire world," said a baker who did give his name.
And there were also those who sympathized with the challenge facing Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, head of the ruling army council and the armed forces Chief of Staff Sami Enan.
"They have been doing things for this country that nobody appreciates ... but I have faith that the army will solve everything," said 48-year-old café owner Mahmoud Abbas Mahmoud.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=419018
TV: Egypt's ruling army rejects PM resignation
CAIRO (Reuters) -- Egypt's ruling military council rejected an offer to resign by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf on Saturday after violent clashes around the Israeli embassy in Cairo, Al Arabiya reported.
One news website earlier in the day had suggested he might offer his resignation over the violence that led to the Israeli ambassador flying out of Cairo to Israel.
The news channel cited its reporter. Officials could not immediately be reached for comment.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418994
Report: Egypt PM to resign over protests
Government-owned newspaper says Essam Sharaf expected to step down along with cabinet ministers following failed handling of Cairo riots, which left three people killed and some 1,000 injured.
Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf is expected to resign Saturday along with his cabinet ministers over the failed handling of Friday's protests in Cairo, sources close to the cabinet told government-owned newspaper al-Ahram.
According to the report, Sharaf discussed the issue with his ministers in an urgent cabinet meeting.
Some 4,000 people demonstrated outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo on Friday evening, tore down the wall set up to defend the diplomats, removed the Israeli flag from the building and clashed with security forces. Three protestors were killed and more than 1,000 were injured.
Dozens of protestors stormed the embassy building, where six security guards and workers were stranded. The rioters threw Israeli documents out of the windows and reportedly beat up one of the employees.
The six Israelis were evacuated from the embassy by an Egyptian commando force early Saturday, and returned to Israel. Ambassador Yitzhak Levanon, some 80 diplomats, their family members and other Israelis residing in Cairo were flown back to Israel earlier. The deputy ambassador remained in the Egyptian capital to maintain the embassy.
Sharaf was appointed prime minister on March 3, after the revolution which led to President Hosni Mubarak's downfall. Sharaf enjoyed the citizens' support but his government began drawing criticism recently.
According to recent reports, several years ago, when he served as minister, Sharaf gave his associates official roles.
Friday's protests were not just against Israel, but also against the Military Council controlling Egypt. Sharaf convened his cabinet for an urgent meeting Saturday morning. At the same time, the Interior Ministry said it put police on high alert and canceled all police holidays.
Meanwhile Saturday, Israel received surprising support from Bahrain's foreign minister, Sheik Haled bin Ahmad bin Muhammad al-Halifa, who condemned the attack on the Israeli Embassy in Cairo.
The minister wrote on his Twitter page that "the failure to defend the embassy building is a blatant violation of the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations."
http://fwd4.me/0B95
4 mar 2012, 21:13 , Respect -
Maria 10 sept 2011
Egypt declares state of alert after Israeli embassy broken into
Storming of building comes after demonstrations two days before Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan visits country.
Egypt declared a state of alert early this morning after a group of 30 protesters broke into the Israeli embassy in Cairo last night and dumped hundreds of documents out of the windows.
The storming of the building came after a day of demonstrations outside where crowds swinging sledgehammers and using their bare hands tore apart the embassy's security wall. Hundreds of people converged on the embassy throughout the afternoon and into the night, tearing down large sections of the graffiti-covered security wall outside the 21-storey building. For hours, security forces made no attempt to intervene.
A security official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because not authorised to speak to the media, said that one group of protesters reached a room on one of the embassy's floors at the top of the building just before midnight and began dumping Hebrew-language documents from the windows.
The prime minister, Essam Sharif, summoned a crisis cabinet meeting to discuss the situation. In Jerusalem, an Israeli official confirmed the embassy had been broken into, saying it appeared that the group reached a waiting room. In Cairo, officials at the capital's airport said the Israeli ambassador was there waiting for a military plane to evacuate him, and other Israelis were also waiting for the flight to take them back to Israel.
Barack Obama expressed concern at the intrusion and told the Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, that he was taking steps to help resolve the situation without further violence. Obama called on the Egyptian government to honour its international obligations to safeguard the embassy.
The attack came two days before a scheduled visit by the Turkish prime minister to Cairo amid concern in Israel that he may seek an alliance between the two countries with the aim of increasing the Jewish state's isolation in the region.
Recep Tayyip Erdogan's visit, the first by a Turkish leader for 15 years, comes against the backdrop of a spiralling diplomatic offensive against Israel by Ankara which the US is seeking to contain.
During Monday's talks, Turkey and Egypt are expected to explore co-operation, and Erdogan may offer the post-Mubarak government much-needed financial aid, which would inevitably secure him leverage.
"Turkey may be ready to invest a lot of money and effort into building Egypt as a regional ally," said Alon Liel, a former Israeli envoy to Ankara. "He may try to persuade them to downgrade relations with Israel."
According to Yossi Alpher, an analyst and co-editor of the bitterlemons website, Erdogan "is flexing Turkey's muscles. He's now trying to project Turkish influence into Egypt. There's concern he will offer financial aid to Egypt, which needs it desperately, and that will give him a degree of influence. There's concern Erdogan will hook up with the Egyptian Islamists, who are growing in influence.
"And there's concern that he will persuade the Egyptians to allow him to visit Gaza, where he'll proclaim himself its saviour. None of this is good from Israel's perspective."
In Gaza, Erdogan would get a hero's welcome and incur Israel's anger. But an Israeli government source said that it had not picked up indications the Egyptians had agreed to Erdogan crossing their border into Gaza.
The visit to Cairo follows a series of punitive measures by the Turkish government – including expelling the Israeli ambassador, suspending defence trade agreements and threatening to deploy the Turkish navy to patrol the eastern Mediterranean – since Israel refused to apologise for its deadly attack on a Gaza-bound flotilla last May.
A UN report published a week ago concluded Israel had used "excessive and unreasonable" force in stopping the Mavi Marmara, although it also stated that the Israeli naval blockade of Gaza was legal. Nine Turkish activists were killed on the ship, for which Turkey demanded an apology and compensation for the men's families.
Israel's refusal to apologise contrasted with its swift statement of regret three weeks ago when Egyptian security personnel were shot dead after a militant attack near the Egypt-Israel border in which eight Israelis were killed.
"The mistakes that Israel is making are much more evident in the case of Turkey than in the case of Egypt," said Alpher. "Damage control was relatively more forthcoming with the apology to Egypt than in the case of Turkey, where we basically allowed ourselves to walk right into repeated traps that Erdogan has set for us."
The regret expressed to Egypt was not enough to prevent days of anti-Israel protests in Cairo. To Israel's alarm, the post-Mubarak government made it clear it was listening to the mood on the street.
Israel can ill afford to lose regional allies, especially in the runup to an expected vote to recognise a Palestinian state at the UN general assembly this month. Turkey and Egypt are backing the Palestinian bid. As well as wide political ramifications, a breach with Turkey could have serious economic consequences, Stanley Fischer, governor of the Bank of Israel, warned this week. Trade between the countries is worth $3.5bn-$4bn a year. The breach "will affect tourism, trade, culture and sport" as well as diplomatic relations, said Liel.
Israeli government ministers and officials have been issued clear instructions to refrain from comment in an attempt to de-escalate the crisis. But the Israeli paper Yedioth Ahronoth reported on Friday that Avigdor Lieberman, the provocative rightwing foreign minister, is considering a series of measures against Turkey in retaliation for Ankara's moves.
According to Alpher, that would exacerbate the current crisis. "We have a lot to lose not just economically but also regionally, to the extent that we get drawn deeper into a clash with Turkey," he said. "We were foolish not to apologise [for the Mavi Marmara deaths]. We should still be trying to maintain a low profile and hope friends like the US can try to some extent mend fences here before things get worse."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/10/egypt-israeli-embassy-broken-into
Israel evacuates ambassador to Egypt after embassy attack
Egypt declares state of alert after three die and more than a thousand are injured as crowds storm the Israeli embassy in Cairo.
Israel has evacuated its Egyptian ambassador after crowds stormed the embassy in Cairo, plunging Egypt's ruling army deeper into its worst diplomatic crisis since the overthrow of Hosni Mubarak.
Egyptian prime minister Essam Sharaf is holding a crisis cabinet meeting and a state of alert has been declared as protesters remain on the streets following the violence on Friday, burning tyres and chanting slogans against the governing military council.
An Egyptian protester holds documents from the Israeli embassy after it was attacked in Cairo
A senior Egyptian official says at least three people died and more than 1,000 were hurt during street clashes with police and army troops after an angry mob attacked the embassy building.
Deputy health minister, Hamid Abaza, says one of the three fatalities in the violence late on Friday was a man who died of a heart attack.
Abaza told The Associated Press on Saturday he doesn't know the cause of the other two deaths. He says at least 1,093 people were injured in the clashes.
The protesters pelted the police and the military with rocks, prompting the troops to fire tear gas and shoot into the air. Only 38 of the injured remained in hospital.
Earlier, the protesters tore down a security wall outside the Israeli mission and stormed the embassy's offices.
Police fired shots in the air and teargas to disperse the crowd. Early on Saturday morning around 500 demonstrators remained near the embassy, which overlooks the Nile, and a few threw stones at police and army vehicles. But police gradually pushed them back and secured the area.
An Israeli official said the rampage marked a further deterioration of diplomatic ties between Israel and Egypt since the fall of Mubarak.
The Israeli ambassador, Yitzhak Levanon, his family and most of the staff and their dependents some 80 people were evacuated out of the country by military aircraft overnight, the official added. Only the deputy ambassador remains in Egypt.
"That the government of Egypt ultimately acted to rescue our people is noteworthy and we are thankful," the official said. "But what happened is a blow to the peaceful relations, and of course, a grave violation of accepted diplomatic behaviour between sovereign states."
The incident was the second major eruption of violence at the embassy since five Egyptian border guards were killed last month during an Israeli operation against gunmen. That incident prompted Egypt briefly to threaten to withdraw its envoy.
"This action shows the state of anger and frustration the young Egyptian revolutionaries feel against Israel especially after the recent Israeli attacks on the Egyptian borders that led to the killing of Egyptian soldiers," Egyptian political analyst Nabil Abdel Fattah said.
Israel is already embroiled in a diplomatic feud with Turkey, formerly one of its closest allies, over Israel's armed assault on a Gaza-bound aid flotilla in which nine people were killed.
Presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy called for the army to take a "serious stance matching the public anger" towards Israel but said violence sullied the image of Egypt's uprising.
Last month a man climbed up a flagpole on the Israeli embassy and took down the flag, replacing it with the Egyptian flag. Protests continued until Friday's violence.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/10/egypt-declares-state-alert-embassy
Egyptians storm Israeli embassy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eQDF9UxVSmk
Egyptian protesters have stormed the Israeli embassy in Cairo, destroying a part of a barricade wall around the building in the process, and one demonstrator has died, Press TV reports.
Egyptian police used tear gas to disperse the crowd, the Press TV correspondent in Cairo reported on Friday.
One person died due to asphyxiation after inhaling tear gas, and about 450 demonstrators were injured, medical personnel said.
The demonstrators threw documents out the windows of the embassy building and also torched a police car.
The crowd managed to break into the embassy building despite the presence of heavily armed Egyptian security forces in the area.
Gunfire was also heard near the embassy.
A protester tore down the Israeli flag at the embassy, to the cheers of thousands of demonstrators on the scene.
Last month, another Egyptian protester became a national hero after he climbed up the wall of the Israeli embassy, took down the Israeli flag, and hoisted an Egyptian flag in its place during a demonstration held to condemn Israel for killing a number of Egyptian policemen on the border.
Five Egyptian border police officers were killed on August 18 in an attack by Israeli forces.
On Friday, the Egyptian demonstrators also called for the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador and chanted anti-Israeli slogans.
Meanwhile, tens of thousands of Egyptians once again gathered at the iconic Liberation Square in Cairo to demand that the military government hand over power to a civilian administration. The protesters gathered in the square after Friday prayers to participate in the "Correcting the Path" demonstration.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/198311.html
Besieged Israeli embassy guards shared fears with PM
By Dan Williams
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu spoke by phone with guards at the Israeli embassy in Cairo as they were besieged by an Egyptian mob on Saturday, reassuring them they would be rescued, aides said.
They said that after demonstrators penetrated the tower block housing the mission, some of the six-member staff on overnight security detail told Netanyahu they feared for their lives and asked him to pass farewells to their families.
"All that separated them from the mob, at that point, was one wall. We were very concerned, and so were they," said an aide.
After telephoned appeals by Netanyahu to Cairo's interim military rulers and the Obama administration, Egyptian security forces extracted the guards before dawn. Another Netanyahu aide said the Israelis' heads were covered to throw off the crowds.
Israel had earlier sent a military plane to evacuate its ambassador, Yitzhak Levanon, and about 80 staff and families. A second aircraft brought the six guards "safe and sound" to Israel, Netanyahu's office said in a statement.
An official at the airport in Cairo confirmed the six had departed after being evacuted by Egyptian forces.
Israel's more than three-decade-old ties with Egypt were never particularly warm, although US-backed ex-President Hosni Mubarak regularly met top visiting Israeli officials. However, the fall of Mubarak in February has deepened the chill between the two nations.
Many Egyptians are incensed by Israel's treatment of the Palestinians. Some spurn Israel itself. Popular anger was stoked by the killing of five Egyptian border personnel during an Israeli pursuit of infiltrator gunmen last month.
The hundreds of demonstrators who stormed the embassy building on Friday while police stood aside were aligned with a wider protest against Cairo's caretaker generals, under whom Egypt has sunk into economic entropy and political uncertainty.
"I'm happy we managed to prevent a disaster," an aide quoted Netanyahu as saying.
"The fact that Egyptian authorities ultimately acted with determination is laudable. With that said, Egypt cannot let slide this harsh blow to the fabric of relations with Israel and the gross violation of international norms."
Rather than abandon the Cairo embassy altogether, Israel left behind Levanon's deputy as its representative.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418942
Obama in tizzy over embassy takeover
US President Barack Obama has called on Egypt to protect the Israeli embassy in Cairo, expressing “great concern” over the storming of the embassy by Egyptian demonstrators.
According to a White House statement on Friday, Obama urged Egypt “to honor its international obligations to safeguard the security of the Israeli embassy,” AFP reported.
“The president expressed his great concern about the situation at the embassy, and the security of the Israelis serving there,” the statement said.
Obama also held a telephone conversation with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
“The president and the prime minister agreed to stay in close touch until the situation is resolved,” the White House statement added.
The Israeli ambassador to Egypt, Yitzhak Levanon, flew out of Cairo a few hours after demonstrators stormed the Israeli embassy.
Meanwhile, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak called US Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in the early hours of Saturday morning Tel Aviv time and urged Washington to help protect the Israeli embassy.
Egyptian protesters stormed the embassy on Friday, destroying a part of a barricade wall around the building in the process. A state of emergency was declared in Egypt after the incident, and Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf called for a meeting on recent developments in Cairo.
In addition, tens of thousands of Egyptians once again gathered at the iconic Liberation Square in Cairo after Friday prayers to participate in the "Correcting the Path" demonstration and demand that the military government hand over power to a civilian administration.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/198317.html
Israeli diplomat maintains evacuated Cairo embassy
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -- Israel left a diplomat behind to maintain its Cairo embassy after evacuating the ambassador and dozens of other staff and their families on Saturday, an Israeli official said.
The diplomat, identified as the consul for state affairs and Ambassador Yitzhak Levanon's deputy, will remain in Egypt while Israel weighs a response to overnight demonstrations during which the Cairo office tower housing the mission was overrun, the official said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418912
Israeli envoy leaves after Cairo embassy attack
By Yasmine Saleh and Edmund Blair
CAIRO (Reuters) -- Israel flew its ambassador home Saturday after Egyptians stormed the building housing the Israeli mission in Cairo, plunging Egypt's ruling army deeper into its toughest diplomatic crisis since taking over from Hosni Mubarak.
The United States, which has poured billions of dollars of military aid into Egypt since it made peace with Israel in 1979, voiced concern about the violence after protesters hurled embassy documents and the Israeli flag from windows.
Police fired shots in the air and tear gas to disperse the crowd. Protesters lit tires in the street and at least two vehicles were set alight near the embassy, located on the upper floors of a residential apartment block overlooking the Nile.
As dawn broke, about 500 demonstrators remained and a few hurled stones at police and army vehicles and personnel. But police gradually pushed them further away and secured the area.
It was the second big eruption of violence at the embassy since five Egyptian border guards were killed last month during an Israeli operation against gunmen. That incident prompted Egypt briefly to threaten to withdraw its envoy.
Israeli ambassador Yitzhak Levanon, staff and family members left Cairo and arrived home Saturday but one diplomat stayed in Egypt to maintain the embassy, an Israeli official said.
Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf called a cabinet crisis meeting for early on Saturday.
Pulling Israeli diplomats even temporarily out of Egypt, the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty, is likely to shake Israel's confidence. It is already embroiled in a feud with Turkey, formerly the closest of its few Muslim allies, over treatment of Palestinians.
"This action shows the state of anger and frustration the young Egyptian revolutionaries feel against Israel especially after the recent Israeli attacks on the Egyptian borders that led to the killing of Egyptian soldiers," Egyptian political analyst Nabil Abdel Fattah told Reuters.
Some politicians and activists criticised the violence, even if they backed the anti-Israel demonstration.
Presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy called for the army to take a "serious stance matching the public anger" toward Israel but said violence sullied the image of Egypt's uprising.
Last month, a man climbed up a flagpole on the building, took down Israel's flag and replaced it with Egypt's. Protests without such violence followed till the latest flare-up.
In response to daily protests, the authorities erected a wall around the building which was quickly defaced with anti-Israel slogans and then painted in Egypt's national colours.
Hostility toward Israel
On Friday, the wall was torn down after a demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square calling for speedier reforms and a deeper purge of officials who worked for Mubarak, the former president on trial on charges including conspiring to kill protesters.
The Interior Ministry said at least 450 protesters were injured. State television said 46 police were injured.
During Mubarak's rule, Egyptians could never show such hostility to Israel without facing a crushing security response. Egypt's ties with Israel were a pillar of his foreign policy and buttressed his claim to be a regional mediator.
The treaty has sat uneasily with many Egyptians angered at what they see as Israel's mistreatment of Palestinians but it secures billions of dollars in US military aid and access to top-notch warplanes, tanks and other equipment.
The army now in charge faces the dilemma between pursuing a more assertive policy towards Israel and protecting the treaty.
US President Barack Obama called on Egypt to "honor its international obligations" and protect the Israeli mission. He told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that Washington was taking steps to resolve the situation.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr to urge Egypt to meet its Vienna Convention obligations to protect diplomatic property, a senior State Department official said.
Demonstrators had used hammers, large iron bars and police barricades to tear down the wall outside the embassy building, erected this month by Egyptian authorities after protests over the killing of the five Egyptian border guards in Sinai.
The five died during an Israeli operation against gunmen who had killed eight Israelis. Egypt threatened to withdraw its ambassador from Tel Aviv. Israel has stopped short of apologizing, saying it is still investigating the deaths.
Before moving on the embassy, demonstrators tried to storm a local police compound, hurled stones at the police and torched at least four vehicles. They also set alight a nearby public building. Security sources said 28 people were arrested.
The April 6 movement, which helped lead the anti-Mubarak uprising, said violence against the police vehicles and other property was perpetrated by those trying to "distort the image of the revolution". It blamed supporters of Mubarak.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=418910 4 mar 2012, 21:13 , Respect -
Maria 10 sept 2011
Video of Israel embassy in Cairo stormed by Egypt protesters
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5tHYIirFYE
Egyptian police and military forces firing tear gas moved against hundreds of protesters in Cairo on Friday night, trying to push them away from the Israeli embassy. A stand-off between protesters and police followed, with both sides firing firebombs at the each other. Crowds first gathered throughout the afternoon as well as into the night, advancing on the embassy and tearing down large sections of a security wall outside the 21-storey building.
Violence settles down in Egypt after attack on Israeli Embassy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G3L_10gNhmo
(press tv video)
Cairo (CNN) -- Clashes in Cairo largely pacified Saturday, a day after an attack on the Israeli Embassy heightened tensions in Egypt and Israel.
Earlier Saturday, streets in Cairo looked like a war zone as violence intensified between security forces and protesters. Gunfire pierced the air as rocks, burning tires and fires from Molotov cocktails littered the streets.
The turmoil left three dead and 1,049 injured, the Egyptian Health Ministry said, according to the the state-sponsored Al-Ahram newspaper.
The Giza police station next to the Israeli Embassy and several police vehicles were set on fire, Al-Ahram reported.
A senior Israeli government official expressed relief Saturday that the violence had largely subsided.
"A very difficult event is over," said the official, who is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
The official said while Israelis are thankful to the Egyptians for their efforts to resolve the situation, "it cannot be brushed under the carpet. This was a serious violation of the conventions of diplomatic behavior."
The official added that American involvement in speaking with Egyptians about the situation was crucial.
Egyptian Cabinet members will meet in an emergency session Saturday to discuss the attack on the embassy, a government spokesman said.
The Israeli ambassador to Egypt left for Tel Aviv early Saturday, along with members of his family and staff as well as security guards, said Egyptian Army Lt. Col. Amr Imam.
All diplomatic personnel from the Israeli Embassy have either left or were in the process of leaving, the Israeli official said.
But one Israeli diplomat -- a deputy ambassador -- will stay in a secure location in Egypt becuse Israel wants to maintain a diplomatic presence in the country, he said.
On Friday, Egyptian protesters tore down a wall surrounding the building that houses the Israeli Embassy and entered its offices.
Once inside, the protesters threw papers bearing Hebrew from the windows and into the streets. The offices were empty because Friday is a weekend day in Egypt.
Initially, police and military forces took no action as demonstrators destroyed the wall that had protected the high-rise building. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said about 3,000 protesters had torn apart the wall.
An Egyptian commander at the embassy told CNN that security personnel had been ordered to avoid confrontations with protesters.
Police had been guarding the entrance to the building, which houses the embassy on the 12th floor and private dwellings on other floors.
The commander said the wall had been erected recently to protect the residents, not the Israeli Embassy.
Protesters cheered the demolition and chanted for the ouster of Israel's ambassador.
"There was a real concern for the lives of six embassy personnel who were trapped inside the embassy during the course of the attack," the Israeli official said. The six Israelis were able to escape after an Egyptian military operation and arrived in Israel on Saturday, officials said.
Since the revolution that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February, many Egyptians have called for the end of diplomatic relations with the Jewish state. The two nations signed a peace treaty in 1979.
Egyptians have been angry about the killing of five Egyptian police officers by Israeli soldiers last month when Israel went after militants who had attacked civilians near the Israeli-Egyptian border.
The demonstrators were among thousands of Egyptians who took to the streets Friday. - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXravWgNOKA
Many protesters converged on Cairo's Tahrir Square to demand reforms in a turnout they had dubbed "correcting the path of the revolution."
Protesters at the square criticized the performance of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and the government in the wake of Mubarak's ouster. They want the abolishment of military tribunals, the establishment of minimum and maximum wages, permission for Egyptians abroad to vote in the coming elections and the announcement of dates for those elections.
Protesters are also calling for the removal of former ruling party members from banks, schools, universities and government institutions.
Mubarak is charged with corruption as well as ordering the killing of protesters to quash the uprising that ultimately ended his 30-year rule. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
http://fwd4.me/0B8u