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- 27 juni 2011
Orabi: We will not serve as a tool in besieging Palestinians
CAIRO, (PIC)-- Newly appointed Egyptian foreign minister Mohammed Al-Orabi has affirmed that the Egyptian foreign policy under his command would not change from that of his predecessor Nabil Al-Arabi.
He said in a statement to the PIC on Sunday that the Palestine cause would top his priorities and that his ministry would continue to coordinate with the Palestinians the full opening of Rafah border crossing before individuals.
Orabi stressed that his ministry’s policy would not go backwards, adding that Cairo would not serve as a tool for the siege of Gaza.
The Egyptian chief diplomat said that his country was keen on maintaining the Palestinian reconciliation agreement, calling on both parties to return to points of agreement.
He also said that Egypt would return to its pioneering role on the Arab, Islamic, African and international arenas.
Orabi has served for 35 years in the Egyptian foreign diplomatic corps including as ambassador to Germany for eight years. He was the coordinator of the economic summit in Sham El-Sheikh and worked as an assistant to the foreign minister.
http://fwd4.me/04yB
4 mar 2012, 20:34 , Respect -
Maria 2 juli 2011
Egypt must possess credible strategic deterrent against Israel
By Khalid Amayreh
One of the main but little-known restrictions imposed on Egypt by the United States during the era of former President Husni Mubarak prevented Egypt from trying to develop or acquire a reasonable deterrent against Israel's formidable nuclear arsenal.
Successive U.S. administrations sought to "compensate" Egypt for its inherent strategic inferiority vis-à-vis Israel in a variety of ways, including economic and military aid and also by turning a blind eye to the regime's severe violations of the Egyptian people's human rights and civil liberties.
One of the main tacit understandings governing the unequal relations between the U.S. and the Mubarak regime was that Egypt must remain in a state of perpetual strategic inferiority vis-à-vis Israel.
This meant that Egypt would be utterly unable to defend its people and sovereignty if Israel decided to embark on the unthinkable, e.g. use or threaten to use weapons of mass destruction to bully Cairo into a total submission and surrender.
This strategic inferiority enabled Israeli supremacists, like the thuggish Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman, to threaten to bomb the Aswan Dam. One other Israeli leader went as far as threatening the Gaza Strip's 1.6 million Palestinians with "a real holocaust."
There is no doubt that the enduring strategic imbalance in the Middle East has served to embolden Israel to reject every peace overture coming from the Arab world. It is also making the achievement of a just peace unlikely, if not impossible, especially in the foreseeable future.
Moreover, the nearly total control by Jewish lobbyists and pressure groups of the American government has made Israel feel it has a carte blanche to exercise characteristic insolence and arrogance of power as manifested in its unmitigated territorial expansion at the Palestinians' expense.
To convince Arab states of the futility of embarking on nuclear programs that might eventually enable the Arab world to possess a nuclear deterrent against Israel, the U.S. repeatedly sought to assure unelected, subservient and often obsequious Arab tyrants that Israel would never ever contemplate using its nuclear power against her neighbors.
However, given U.S. subservience to the pro-Israeli pressure groups, such as AIPAC which tightly controls Congress, any American assurances to this effect should be treated as worthless.
It is true that the Israelis don't indulge in a lot of blathering and saber-rattling with regard to their huge nuclear arsenal. However, it is also true that Israeli nuclear missiles and war heads are trained toward Cairo, Amman, and Damascus, not Rome or Athens or Addis Ababa.
I am not a prophet of doom and gloom and I do believe that only true peace that is based on justice and human dignity constitutes the ultimate guarantee for security for states and peoples alike.
However, when one watches the Israeli Jewish society moving rather menacingly toward a sort of Jewish jingoism or worse, one cannot solely rely on Israel's good intentions or, indeed, American assurances.
In the past, Israel did contemplate using nuclear weapons against Arab states as acknowledged by Israeli military historians. Likewise, there should be no doubt as to Israel's presumed willingness to resort to threatening its neighbors with a nuclear holocaust, especially if the latter sought successfully to recover their land occupied by Israel.
The Israel of today is not the same Israel of the 1960s, when a certain semblance of rationality and logic governed its nuclear doctrine. The Israel of today is more Talmudic, more fanatical, and even more genocidal.
Just imagine if control over Israel's nuclear arsenal is passed to Talmudic, religious fanatics, Dov Lior, Ovadia Yosef or other Talmudic sages who believe that annihilating a million or two million non-Jews shouldn't raise any eyebrows since non-Jews are effectively animals walking on two legs according to some influential rabbinic authorities.
The strategic inferiority facing the Arab world vis-à-vis Israel is a constant motivating factor driving Israel to blackmail and bully Arab states, individually or collectively.
And if and when bush comes to shove, nothing, absolutely nothing would help the Arabs.
As to the western world, countries which wouldn't support Israel with a messianic zeal would be either silent or call on both sides to show self-restraint!!
This is not a far-fetched scenario, especially in a world that has been effectively morphed into a real jungle, thanks to America's diabolic embrace of Zionist depravity. Needless to say, in a jungle one would have to be wolf or a fox or a venomous cunning snake in order to survive.
We saw recently how the bi-cameral US Congress gave multiple standing ovations to an Israeli Prime Minister who is essentially a pathological liar who thinks peace with the Palestinians can be achieved by stealing more of their ancestral homeland and by transferring hundreds of thousands of Israeli settlers to live on a land that belongs to another people.
This shows that the U.S., a country deprived of its free will and national decency by Zionist money and power, would support anything done by Israel.
In light, it is imperative that the largest Arab country must see to it that hundreds of millions of Egyptians and Arabs not remain at the mercy of Israel's genocidal whims.
The current strategic situation between Israel and Egypt is a real scandal. Accepting this scandal as a perpetual fact of life is a real crime against the dignity and sovereignty of Egypt.
It is really hoped that the future governments of Egypt would be more answerable to the will of the Egyptian people than to U.S. administrations that are more or less at Israel's beck and call.
Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD) kept the peace between the Soviet Union and the West during the Cold War era. However, in the Middle East where one aggressive, fascist, even Nazi-like state based on the policy of lebensraum could threaten all its neighbors with instant extinction, peace is the last thing that comes to one's mind.
We who have been living under the Israeli rule for many decades know rather too well the Zionist Jewish mindset. It is a mindset based on the subjugation and enslavement of the non-Jew.
It is no wonder that some influential partners in the Israeli coalition government of Benyamin Netanyahu make no secret of their ideological agenda vis-à-vis non-Jews living under Israeli rule. They say goyem (non-Jews) have three choices: enslavement as water carriers and wood hewers, expulsion, or physical extermination following Biblical style.
http://fwd4.me/05XE
...Read more 4 mar 2012, 20:34 , Respect -
Maria 3 juli 2011
Kuwait blocks al-Quds forum participants
Zionist forces arrest Palestinian student near al-Quds (Jerusalem)
Kuwaiti officials have refused to issue visas for delegations from ten different countries to attend the annual al-Quds Conference for Palestine Youth.
In a controversial move, the officials prevented one-third of the 30 participating countries, including Iran, Yemen, and Syria, from traveling to Kuwait to attend the conference.
The World Muslim Student Association, which is a religious organization dedicated to establishing and maintaining Islamic societies on college campuses, was also prevented from attending the conference.
The move comes despite the fact that Iran and Syria are the main advocates of Palestinian rights worldwide and are considered to be the front-runners in the resistance bloc against Israeli aggression and occupation in the international community.
The sixth annual al-Quds Conference for Palestine Youth will be held in the Kuwaiti City from July 3-5.
The Conference is organized by the Palestinian youth organizations and students with the goal of spreading the culture of resistance among Palestinian youth against US and Zionist atrocities.
The previous editions of the annual conference had been hosted by Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Yemen, Qatar, and Algeria.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/187396.html
4 mar 2012, 20:34 , Respect -
Maria 4 juli 2011
Explosion in gas pipeline halts exports to Israel
CAIRO, (PIC)-- A powerful explosion ripped through the Egyptian gas pipeline pumping gas to Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon, eyewitnesses told the Egyptian daily Al-Youm Al-Sabe.
The sources said that unknown persons blasted a pumping station at Darawish area in Al-Najah village to the north of the Sinai Peninsula at the early hours of Monday.
More details are expected later on the blast that cut the gas supplies to Israel, Jordan, and Lebanon for the third time since the eruption of the Egyptian revolution late last January.
http://fwd4.me/05bx
4 mar 2012, 20:34 , Respect -
Maria 5 juli 2011
New law targets illegal organ transplants in Egypt
CAIRO (IRIN) -- Egypt has a new law banning the sale of human organs, imposing severe restrictions on transplant operations for foreigners, and stipulating long jail sentences and huge fines for violations.
“This law will bring the organ trade in Egypt down to a minimum,” Assistant Health Minister Abdel Hamid Abaza said. “With a law like this, patients will not need to seek organs in an illegal manner.”
The law, approved in December 2010 after protracted discussions in parliament, took effect only in June owing to country-wide political turmoil since January. It ends the debate about whether Islam or other religions permit the taking of organs from deceased persons -- by allowing organs to be donated.
Doctors say about 1,500 illegal transplants take place annually. Most live organs come from the destitute who sell body parts to pay debts or start small projects to earn a living to escape unemployment and poverty. A recent report by the Central Auditing Organization said 21 percent of Egypt’s 80 million people live in poverty.
Most of those needing a transplant find costs prohibitive. For example, a legal liver transplant costs $44,000-53,000.
“This is too much for an average Egyptian,” said Mahmud Al Metiny, a leading liver surgeon in Cairo. “This will make matters harder for patients, particularly the poor.”
In 2010, the World Health Organization described Egypt as a “hub” for organ trafficking, saying the country was one of five organ trafficking hotspots.
“The approval of this law is a wonderful step that creates hope for thousands of patients who have been waiting a long time for life-saving transplant operations,” said Hussein Gezairy, WHO regional director for the Eastern Mediterranean.
"It is also a significant step towards ending illegal organ trafficking, which usually results in operations conducted under unsafe conditions and harming both donor and patient."
According to the Coalition for Organ-Failure Solutions (a non-profit health and human rights organization trying to combat the trafficking of humans for their organs), donors and organ sellers in Egypt consist mainly of young men aged 22-27, while recipients and buyers are largely over 45. Brokers, it notes, solicit vulnerable individuals for organ sales, and some donors have been lured from as far as Darfur in western Sudan.
Challenges
Implementing the new law, say experts, will be challenging despite a newly established transplant fund designed to help the poorest. Al Metiny and other specialists wonder how many transplants the fund can pay for.
Another problem is that few people are ready to donate organs. According to Samia Sabri, a cornea specialist at Cairo University, a law which regulates only cornea transplants has been in effect since 1963 but it is not easy to find donors.
“Even with this, we rarely find cornea donors,” Sabri said. “This makes blindness inevitable for many patients.” Currently, 5,000 patients are waiting to receive corneas.
Part of the problem is that the culture of donating is not widespread and the sanctity of the human body is deeply rooted in Egypt’s culture. The pharaohs, for example, used to mummify the dead and put them in a golden sarcophagus.
But recently the mufti, who issues edicts to the predominantly Muslim population, announced plans to donate his own organs after his death to encourage others to do so.
“We are dealing with the cultural heritage of millennia,” said Magda Mustafa, a psychology professor from Helwan University. “People need to understand that by donating organs, they save the lives of others.”
There are also structural issues, say experts, including transport and communications networks. According to Sabri, a cornea is good only for three hours after it is taken from a dead donor.
Mohamed Fathi, a liver professor from Ain Shams, Egypt’s second largest university, says the same applies to human livers. “The government must improve the roads and buy helicopters to take organs from dead persons -- particularly those who die in road accidents -- to hospitals,” he said.
Egypt also lacks transplant specialists. According to Rifaat Kamel, a member of the cabinet-affiliated Higher Organ Transplant Panel, there are only 10-20 such experts in the country. “This is not enough given the huge demand,” he said.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=402650
4 mar 2012, 20:34 , Respect -
Maria 12 juli 2011
Assailants blow up station along Egypt gas pipeline to Israel
The attack on the pipeline that supplies Egyptian gas to Israel was the fourth in the last five months.
Saboteurs blew up an Egyptian pipeline distribution station in northern Sinai on Tuesday that supplies natural gas to Israel, the official MENA news agency said. It was the fourth attack on facilities supplying Egyptian gas to Israel this year.
MENA quoted witnesses as saying that the assailants attacked the Al-Tawil security guard before the station, located near the northern town of Al-Arish, was blown up early Tuesday morning.
The security guard and some members of his family were believed to have been hurt, the agency said, quoting witnesses.
The state's Nile television said flames from the station could be seen up to 20 kilometers away. It gave no details on the causes of the explosion or the extent of the damage.
MENA said the station pumps gas to another station in an area called Sheikh Zwayed, which exports gas to Israel. The agency earlier reported that the station was used to "export Egyptian gas abroad". Egypt also sells gas to Israel and Jordan among other countries.
Egypt has been trying to renegotiate gas prices with Israel and Jordan after President Hosni Mubarak was forced to step down in February, amid charges of corruption stemming from selling gas to Israel at below market prices, among other things. Israel says it pays market rates.
MENA said the governor of Northern Sinai and the area's security chief arrived on the scene as security forces searched for those responsible. Fire trucks were trying to contain the flames, MENA said.
Egypt's gas transport company, Gasco, a subsidiary of the national gas company EGAS, has been finalizing repairs on a pipeline that supplies gas to Israel and Egypt, and was expected to complete the work over the weekend.
A security source had said after the blast on July 4 that men in a small truck who were armed with machineguns forced guards at the station to flee, then planted explosive charges.
Previous attacks on the pipeline on April 27 and on February 5 forced its closure for several weeks.
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4 mar 2012, 20:34 , Respect -
Maria 28 juli 2011
Egypt police shoot, detain African immigrants at Israel border
EL-ARISH, Egypt (Ma’an) -- Egyptian police detained 11 African immigrants attempting to enter the border with Israel from Egypt on Thursday, injuring two others when they opened fire.
Police said they issued a warning to the immigrants, and fired towards the group after it was ignored.
Two Eritreans, Ahmad Shefa, 38, and Muhari Takhli, 19, were injured.
Four Ethiopians and seven Eritreans said they planned to enter Israel to search for work and obtain political asylum, Ma'an's correspondent said.
Human rights groups have criticized Egyptian forces for their use of force against immigrants on the border, which has lead to the death of dozens of people in recent years.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=409202
4 mar 2012, 20:34 , Respect -
Maria 30 juli 2011
Report: Egypt forces accidentally fire at Israeli army jeep
TEL AVIV, Israel (Ma'an) -- Egyptian forces accidentally fired at an Israeli army jeep on Friday at the border near Eilat, the Israeli news site Ynet reported.
Egyptian border guards opened fire at migrants trying to enter Israel illegally and fired on Israeli soldiers operating in the area, Ynet reported.
Initially, Israeli army officials believed smugglers had fired on the soldiers, but it later became apparent that Egyptian soldiers were responsible, the report said.
One female migrant was lightly injured but no soldiers were hurt, Ynet reported, adding that Israeli forces had detained the migrants.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=409551
4 mar 2012, 20:35 , Respect -
Maria 3 aug 2011
Mubarak on Trial: Profile
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiCXTCrhHsU
In three speech attempts to rescue his regime, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak did not know that he will be out of rule by the time he turned eighty-three on the fourth of May.
The war changed Mubarak's life and introduced him to the world of politics, a step that is completely natural in a country of inherited military rule; He was appointed by President Anwar Sadat as his deputy in 1975.
Mubarak continued al-Sadat's journey toward peace with Israel, even after al-Sadat's assassination.
Mubarak led Egypt back to the shield of Arab States in 1989 and played an important role in providing the international coalition front, to liberate Kuwait in 1991. Then he targeted his efforts towards continuing the pursuit of a peace process.
Mubarak attempted at the beginning of his rule, to help the Egyptian economy and openness policy. He made Egypt's stability a priority in the face of several internal security challenges with extremist religious groups.
Mubarak has presented a number of political reforms in measured steps accompanied by internal and external pressures. These reforms achieved multi-party elections and freedom of press.
Egypt's regional role declined after Mubarak's illness, especially that Mubarak was exclusively ruling Egypt with a policy that was clearly marked with security, along with information stating that Mubarak was seeking to retain the rule until his death, and his son Jamal inheriting the lead.
The street indignation has increased because of the corruption, elections' fraud, Human rights' abuses and the deteriorating economic situation. All these causes, ultimately led to the revolution of the 25th of January, which overthrew Mubarak and led to his resignition.
While he was resigning, Mubarak may not have thought that it could lead him to the courtroom; he was not used to be held accountable. The state of chronic depression reported by his close companions, shows that he was shocked by the stance of the country towards him.
He was assumptive that his contribution to the October War would protect him and redeem all his previous acts.
Mona Eltahawy: Mubarak trial deeply symbolic for Egyptians
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5mdkdzm3i3Y
Online reaction to the Hosni Mubarak trial in Cairo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwvjXiOX23M
Mubarak trial LIVE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I8Hv0mq1szU
Mubarak Trial Denies Charges
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u5SRxY8hfgo
'Mubarak trial, a Hollywood made movie'
cartoon by Carlos Latuff
Former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak is being tried for charges of corruption and murder, however this is nothing but a “cartographed trial... a Hollywood made movie,” a TV host says.
“What we are watching now is basically a Hollywood made movie... very few people know that this is nothing but a cartographed trial to basically accomplish political domestic needs,” Hesham Tillawi, host of Current Issues TV & Radio told Press TV.
He went on to say that it doesn't make much of a difference to have the ex-president tried, since everyone knows what occurred in the incidents taking place amid the revolution, and that the military council is attempting to quell the protestors.
The Ousted Egyptian President is standing in the dock after the former ruler and his sons entered the purposely-built cage in a Cairo court.
The commission investigating the violence against the protesters in Egypt says more than 800 demonstrators were killed in the demonstrations.
The reality of the trial, conducted by the military council, is to give them the “big catch” of the 83 year old defendant, hoping to calm down the situation, “but I don't believe that this is going to work.”
“I really don't doubt it that the court would find him guilty and even have the death penalty being placed against him.”
Mubarak's trial is not what the people are really demanding, it is the “removal of this military council... that's what the people want,” he added
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192137.html
Clashes as Mubarak trial begins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F_wF926uIyk
Mubarak trial begins in Egyptian capital
Former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is seen on a stretcher in the courtroom for his trial at the Police Academy in Cairo August 3, 2011.
At a historic trial in the Arab world, ousted Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is standing in the dock after the former ruler and his sons entered the purposely-built cage in a Cairo court.
The trial of the overthrown dictator started on Wednesday, months after a revolution in Egypt, which ended Mubarak's decades-long rule, a Press TV correspondent reported.
Shortly after being flown to the Almaza military airport in Cairo, Mubarak arrived at the Police Academy in a Cairo suburb where he and his two sons will stand trial on charges of corruption and ordering the killing of anti-government protesters in Egypt.
Mubarak was brought into the Cairo courtroom on a stretcher for the opening of his murder trial in the capital as his two sons stood by his side.
It was Mubarak's first public appearance since he was ousted by a revolution on February 11.
Mubarak's trial is taking place under tight security as nearly 3,000 riot police and security forces are ringing the courthouse.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192124.html
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2011/08/2011837525919537.html
4 mar 2012, 20:35 , Respect -
Maria 4 aug 2011
'Israel offered asylum to Mubarak'
An Israeli lawmaker says Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered ousted Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak to seek asylum in Israel when he was still president.
Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said Tel Aviv proposed Mubarak to seek asylum in Israel's Red Sea port city of Eilat, on Israel's border with Egypt's Sinai desert.
"I met him in Sharm el-Sheikh and told him that the distance was very short, and perhaps this would be a good time for him to heal himself," Ben-Eliezer told Israel's Army Radio.
"I am sure Israel would have accepted him, but he refused," he was quoted as saying by Israeli newspaper Haaretz on Wednesday.
However, Netanyahu's aide Roni Sofer denied the proposal.
"It never happened," Sofer told AP. "The prime minister never offered Mubarak asylum."
Ben-Eliezer's spokesman said he would make no further statements on Wednesday.
The former Egyptian leader, who was ousted in February following weeks of anti-government protests, ruled the North African country for 30 years under direct support of the United States and Israel.
The revolution has put in danger the relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv. The crippling Israeli blockade against the Gaza Strip and Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel are the main concerns for Tel Aviv.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/192245.html
4 mar 2012, 20:35 , Respect -
Maria 19 aug 2011
Egyptian soldiers killed as bomb explodes near border
Suicide bomber detonates explosives near Philadelphi route, estimated to be among Sinai-based terrorists planning attacks against Israel.
A suicide bomber detonated a bomb on the Gaza border on Friday and killed a group of Egyptian soldiers. The fatalities also include members of Egyptian security forces.
Israeli security officials estimated that Sinai-based terrorists are behind the attack which is part of an initiative to carry out terror attacks in Israel.
On Thursday, the Al Jazeera network reported that two Egyptian soldiers were killed in an Air Force assault near the Taba-Eilat border while searching the area for infiltrators.
According to Egyptian media, the two soldiers killed were members of the central security service. An Egyptian security official told Egypt's official news agency that two more soldiers were hurt in the aerial attack. He said that the Israeli aircraft was following infiltrators and opened fire while the wounded soldiers were in the area.
Egypt has been hunting terrorists in Sinai recently and raided several terrorist centers which were involved in gas pipeline attacks last week.
Among the victims of Thursday's terror attacks are Yossef Levy, whose wife Esther was also hurt in the attack and pretended to be dead.
Staff-Sergeant Moshe Naftali, 22, a combat soldier from the Golani Brigade, was killed by terrorist fire during the first attack.
Senior Non-Commissioned Officer Paskal Avrahami, a 49-year old married father of three from Jerusalem, was killed during the final shooting.
Following the attacks, the IAF launched an attack in Gaza and killed the terrorists behind the attacks – members of the Popular Resistance Committees. The IDF struck in Gaza a second time after Grad rockets were fired at south Israel. At least one teenager was killed.
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4 mar 2012, 20:35 , Respect -
Maria 20 aug 2011
Egypt: Israel violated 1979 peace treaty
A Palestinian boy inspects damages following an Israeli airstrike on Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
Egypt's state media say Israel violated a peace treaty signed between Cairo and Tel Aviv in 1979 after Israeli troops entered Egyptian territory and killed five security personnel.
The international force known as Multinational Force and Observer (MFO), the monitoring force stationed in the Sinai desert under the 1979 treaty, said on Saturday that it has recorded two violations of the treaty committed by Israel.
The MFO said the violations included entering Egyptian territory and firing from the Egyptian side of the border.
The MFO report, however, mentioned nothing about Israel's accusations that militants it was pursuing on Thursday had infiltrated the Negev desert from Egypt.
Egypt, which is the first Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel in 1979, summoned the Tel Aviv's envoy demanding an apology and an investigation.
Egypt's state television reported on Saturday that the country would recall its ambassador in Tel Aviv.
The death toll for Egypt's military personnel climbed to five on Friday afternoon after two officers that were wounded in the Israeli strike succumbed to death at a hospital.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194905.html
Egypt envoy: Initial agreement to restore ceasefire
RAMALLAH (Ma'an) -- Egypt's ambassador to the Palestinian Authority said Saturday that Cairo was exerting efforts to calm tensions between Israel and factions in Gaza following a sharp escalation in violence.
Yasser Othman said both sides have reached an initial agreement to restore a ceasefire between Israel and factions in the Gaza Strip. Egypt is mediating to stop "Israel's aggression on Gaza," he said.
Hamas' armed wing called off the two-year lull late Friday after a series of deadly Israeli airstrikes. Still, the Al-Qassam Brigades is not believed to have taken part in the latest hostilities.
As for Egypt's own breakdown with Israel over the deaths of security forces in the Sinai, Othman said, "What is needed from Israel is a formal apology and a commitment to never do this again."
Israel is not interested in escalating tensions with Egypt, he added.
But Othman told Ma'an that Israel must apologize for the deaths of five Egyptian policemen killed in the Sinai if it hoped to restore normal relations with its oldest ally in the region.
Asked how recalling Egypt's ambassador from Tel Aviv would help the dispute, Othman said the move "sends a strong message to Israel that Egypt stands by its civilians and soldiers."
Israel knows well Egypt's critical role in maintaining security in the Sinai area, he said, and it shares responsibility for the attack Thursday in Eilat because both sides are responsible for protecting the border.
He pointed out that investigations into the Eilat attack were ongoing.
State television said Saturday that Egypt decided to withdraw its ambassador from Israel to protest the deaths on the border during retaliatory attacks on Palestinian militants.
"Egypt has decided to withdraw its ambassador to Israel until there is an official apology," it said.
The Egyptian government had asked "for an official apology from Israel" at the end of a crisis meeting overnight, the state-run MENA news agency reported in a statement.
Information Minister Osama Heykal said the policemen were killed "inside Egyptian territory as a result of an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and armed elements inside Israeli territory."
It is the second time that Egypt, the first Arab country to have signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, recalls its ambassador from Tel Aviv.
In November 2000 Egypt recalled its envoy from Israel to protest over what it said was "the excessive use of force by Israel against the Palestinians after the second intifada," or Palestinian uprising.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414680
Israel says it deeply regrets Egypt troop deaths
JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel's Defense Minister says Israel deeply regrets the deaths of Egyptian troops killed during a shootout between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants.
Ehud Barak says he has ordered a military investigation and a joint inquiry with the Egyptian army to clarify the circumstances of Friday's incident, when militants from Gaza crossed into southern Israel through the Egyptian desert and launched a deadly attack that killed eight Israeli.
At least three Egyptian troops were killed in a subsequent shootout between Israeli soldiers pursuing the militants along the Israeli-Egypt border. Egypt said Saturday it would recall its ambassador from Israel to protest the deaths.
Barak says that "Israel deeply regrets the deaths of the Egyptian officers."
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's Defense Minister says Israel is sorry for the deaths of Egyptian troops killed during a shootout between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants.
Ehud Barak says he has ordered a military investigation and a joint inquiry with the Egyptian army to clarify the circumstances of Friday's incident, when militants from Gaza crossed into southern Israel through the Egyptian desert and launched a deadly attack that killed eight Israeli.
At least three Egyptian troops were killed in a subsequent shootout between Israeli soldiers pursuing the militants along the Israeli-Egypt border. Egypt said Saturday it would recall its ambassador from Israel to protest the deaths.
Barak says that "Israel is sorry over the deaths of the Egyptian officers."
http://fwd4.me/09U4
MENA: Israel entered Egypt, commited violations
CAIRO (AFP) -- A monitoring force stationed in the Sinai in keeping with the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel said Israel violated it when its troops entered Egyptian territory and fired on security personnel, state news agency MENA reported Saturday.
http://fwd4.me/09U1
Hamas welcomes withdrawal of Egypt's envoy to Israel
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) – Hamas on Saturday applauded Egypt's decision to withdraw the country’s ambassador to Israel in protest of the killing of Egyptian security forces in the Sinai late Thursday.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said in a statement that “Hamas appreciates the decision to withdraw the occupation entity's ambassador in protest of the crime of killing three Egyptians in addition to the Palestinian martyrs.”
Abu Zuhri also applauded Egypt's condemnation of Israel and its solidarity.
State television said Saturday that Egypt decided to withdraw its ambassador from Israel to protest the deaths on the border during retaliatory attacks on Palestinian militants.
"Egypt has decided to withdraw its ambassador to Israel until there is an official apology," it said.
The Egyptian government had asked "for an official apology from Israel" at the end of a crisis meeting overnight, the state-run MENA news agency reported in a statement.
Information Minister Osama Heykal said the policemen were killed "inside Egyptian territory as a result of an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and armed elements inside Israeli territory."
It is the second time that Egypt, the first Arab country to have signed a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, recalls its ambassador from Tel Aviv.
In November 2000 Egypt recalled its envoy from Israel to protest over what it said was "the excessive use of force by Israel against the Palestinians after the second intifada," or Palestinian uprising.
http://fwd4.me/09U6
Abu Zuhri appreciates Egyptian reaction
GAZA, (PIC)-- Dr. Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman, has appreciated the Egyptian leadership’s step of recalling its ambassador from Tel Aviv.
The step was taken to object to Israel’s killing of three Egyptian security men near its borders.
Abu Zuhri also appreciated the Egyptian people’s protest in denunciation of the Israeli crime and in support of the Palestinian people in face of the Israeli attacks.
http://fwd4.me/09Tq
ISRAEL REGRETS DEATHS OF EGYPTIAN SECURITY PERSONNEL IN SINAI CL
ISRAEL REGRETS DEATHS OF EGYPTIAN SECURITY PERSONNEL IN SINAI CLASH, WANTS JOINT INVESTIGATION- DEFENCE MINISTER
http://fwd4.me/09Tp
Report: Egypt reinforcing forces along Isreal border
The official Egyptian news agency reported that Egypt has reinforced its forces along the border with Israel.
According to the report, the reinforcement is aimed at deterring infiltrators and "respond to any Israeli military activity near the border."
http://fwd4.me/09Th
Thousands of Egyptians protest, demand removal of Israeli ambassador
CAIRO, (PIC)-- Thousands of Egyptians continue to demonstrate outside of the Israeli embassy in Cairo demanding the removal of the Israeli ambassador in response to Israeli gunfire that killed five men from the Egyptian security forces.
The demonstrations began on Friday after sermons and congregational prayers in several cities across the country. The largest have taken place in Cairo and Alexandria.
Our correspondent in Cairo has learned that those behind the Egyptian revolution in January have refused to respond to requests to disperse by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces. He said there are intentions to turn the demonstration into a sit-in that would carry on until the embassy was shut down.
Egypt has protested after Israel killed five of its troops in Sinai on its borders with the Palestinian territories.
Egyptian media outlets have quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Egypt has recalled its ambassador to Israel.
Egypt’s MENA has quoted one military official as saying the soldiers were killed by a missile fired from an Israeli helicopter in pursuit of activists near the Egyptian borders.
Among those who have taken part in the protests is presidential candidate Abdul-Mun’im Abul Fattouh. He called for considering what happened as an opportunity to amend the country’s peace treaty with Israel and allow more Egyptian troops to be deployed along the borders.
In Alexandria, protesters have tried to enter the Israeli consulate in the city’s Kafr Abdo district as military police have surrounded the area with tanks and barbed wire in order to stop them.
A number of youths managed to ascend to the top of the building where the consulate is located and raise Egyptian and Palestinian flags.
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Attorney General in El-Arish has issued its first report on the Sinai killings, saying that Israel used projectiles that explode inside the body, confirming the intent to kill.
The report added that one of the soldiers was hit by seven bullets to various parts of the body and another in the chest and abdomen, confirming that there was intent to kill the targets.
http://fwd4.me/09Tg
Egyptian PM: Blood of Egyptians too valuable to go unanswered
CAIRO, (PIC)-- The blood of Egyptians is too valuable to go unanswered, said Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf in response to the killing of five Egyptian soldiers in an Israeli attack in Sinai.
“The revolution was made to restore Egyptian dignity at home and abroad,” Sharaf said in a statement on his official Facebook page, “and what was acceptable in Egypt before the revolution will not be acceptable in Egypt after the revolution.”
He also said that he was weighing available alternatives with regard to the Sinai killings, without explaining the nature of those alternatives.
Egypt’s Middle East News Agency reported earlier that Sharaf discussed assessing the security situation in Sinai with the Foreign and Interior Ministers as well as with representatives from the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and Egyptian intelligence.
Egypt has taken several measures to protest the killing of its soldiers by Israeli forces. It has recalled its ambassador to Israel and the Foreign Minister was assigned to summon Israel’s ambassador in Cairo in demand of a joint official probe into the incident.
Also to condemn the attacks was Grand Imam of Al-Azhar University Dr. Ahmed Al-Tayeb. In a statement, he confirmed his support for the efforts of the country’s armed forces in establishing security in the Sinai Peninsula and called on Egyptian political forces to put differences aside in order to tackle the challenges facing the Egyptians.
Meanwhile, all of the candidates for the Egyptian presidency have agreed that the Egyptian armed forces should deal with Israel firmly after the attack.
They also called for closure of the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv, removal of the Israeli ambassador in Cairo, and to stop supplying Israel with natural gas.
Presidential candidate Abdul-Mun’im Abul Fattouh has called on the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to consider the incident a national security issue affecting all Egyptians.
An Egyptian military official said the country's forces are making a comprehensive assessment of the border situation to determine the reasons for the killing and injury of the Egyptian troops and take whatever steps necessary to prevent it from happening again in the future.
http://fwd4.me/09Tf
Egyptian security experts warn Israel planning on occupying part of Sinai
CAIRO, (PIC)-- Egyptian security experts warn Israel is planning on taking control in part of the Sinai Peninsula with support from the United States.
The move would be a proactive step by the Israelis after the ouster of Israeli ally and former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.
Former Major General Sameh Seif El-Yezel, an expert on national security and intelligence, said that Israel was planning on crossing Egyptian borders and occupying somewhere between five and seven kilometers of the Sinai Peninsula in order to secure its borders. He pointed out that world powers would support Israel in case that happened.
Another security expert Ibrahim Salah said the plan had leaked during the onset of Egypt’s Jan. 25 revolution. He said that Israel managed to convince the U.S. that the Mubarak removal would threaten the stability of its borders with Egypt and that it was in the best interest to secure those boundaries by occupying part of Sinai by any means necessary.
Egyptian newspaper Al-Masri Al-Yawm quoted Egyptian security sources as saying that the situation in Sinai has become serious, as tensions rise at home and abroad. He said on one hand there is an internal conflict across the peninsula between elements from the Egyptian armed forces and armed groups, and on the other hand, the Israelis have attacked in the north, confirming fears that Israel has intent to move into the peninsula.
The sources said that Israel wanted to demonstrate that Egypt was unable to control security in Sinai and that its borders with Egypt are not secure. He also said there was a possibility that in the near future, Israel would ask for international armed forces to be deployed to monitor its borders with Egypt.
Meanwhile, Israeli war minister Ehud Barak has instructed to take additional contractors to accelerate the constructing of a security fence on its boundaries with Egypt following the Elat attacks. The new plan is to have the wall built by the end of 2012 instead of 2013 as initially planned.
http://fwd4.me/09TV
Egypt Urges Israel to Apologize for Soldiers
Egypt has condemned Israel's shooting of Egyptian soldiers on Thursday and asked for an official apology, state media said on Saturday.
A statement issued after an extraordinary ministerial meeting also attended by army commanders said Egypt will never give up the rights of its sons, official MENA news agency said.
The meeting entrusted Egyptian foreign minister to summon Israeli ambassador in Cairo to express Egypt's rejection of the shooting.
Egypt is calling for launching an official probe into the incidents and taking all legal measures on this score, it added.
On Friday, hundreds of Egyptians protested in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo. Protests are expected to continue on Saturday.
The Chief of Staff of Egypt's Armed Forces Sami Anan headed to Sinai on Friday to probe the deaths, Egyptian media reported.
An Egyptian army officer and four soldiers inside the Egyptian territory were killed and several others injured during clashes between Israeli security forces and armed groups inside the Israeli territories at the border sign No. 79, MENA said, quoting Egyptian Information Minister Osama Hikal.
The latest report of casualties contradicted previous reports of the agency which said three Egyptian soldiers were killed.
The Egyptian government has decided to recall the country's diplomatic envoy to Israel over the incident.
http://english.cri.cn/6966/2011/08/20/2561s654409.htm
'Israel prepares for war in Sinai desert'
An Israeli military convoy along the Egyptian border
The former head of Israel's National Security Council (NSC) urges military action by the regime in the Sinai Peninsula, following growing tensions with Egypt.
Uzi Dayan told Israel's Channel 7 on Friday that Israeli military and security forces should prepare for a period different from the past in dealing with the new Egyptian government.
He claimed that the military effort would aim to target those that represent a threat to the Israeli regime.
"This is the time for the Israeli army to prevail its control inside Sinai," Dayan went on to say.
Israeli troops are banned from entering the Sinai Peninsula under a 1979 peace treaty with Egypt.
Tensions have escalated between Cairo and the Tel Aviv regime after Israeli soldiers killed several Egyptian military and security personnel on Thursday.
Dayan also revealed that a meeting was held in the presence of Israeli Army Chief of Staff Benny Jants last week to discuss issues related to Sinai Peninsula but he did not elaborate on details of the talks.
Stressing on preserving the US-sponsored peace treaty between Egypt and Israel, he proclaimed that Israeli officials should "maintain the security of their civilians whilst ensuring that no tensions between Israel and Egypt escalate."
Israeli military must "respond strongly by pursuing the terrorists and to inform the Egyptian government that we may militarily intervene in Sinai" to prevent the Israeli border from becoming a vulnerable zone for militant attacks.
On Saturday, Egypt decided to withdraw its ambassador to Tel Aviv as relations between the two governments remain strained.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194803.html
Egypt protests Israeli escalation in Gaza
The Egyptian government and population have challenged the Israeli response to a Palestinian attack on Thursday, which has involved bombardment of different areas of the Gaza Strip and a full lockdown of the borders.
Egypt lodged an official protest demanding an investigation of the killing of three Egyptian border guards by the Israeli military during Israeli operations that followed a Palestinian attack on an Israeli bus.
An Egyptian official told the MENA News Agency, "Egypt has demanded an urgent probe into the circumstances of the deaths and injuries of Egyptian forces' members inside our borders."
Although the Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak claimed that the bus attackers entered Israel from Egypt in order to carry out the attack, Egyptian officials denied the charge, claiming that their hold on the border is secure.
Following the attack on the Israeli bus, Egyptian border officials shut down the Rafah border, the only crossing point for Gazans to leave or enter the besieged coastal strip.
Also on Friday, dozens of Egyptian protesters gathered outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo, demanding an end to the Israeli assault on Gaza.
Protesters chanted, "Close the embassy! Expel the ambassador!", and some of the protesters burned an Israeli flag. They challenged the Israeli bombardment of Gaza that continued through Thursday night and Friday, following the attack against Israeli soldiers and civilians on Thursday afternoon.
http://www.imemc.org/article/61857
Israel discussing Egypt's recall of envoy
Israeli diplomatic officials are holding consultations about Egypt's decision to withdraw its ambassador to Tel Aviv as relations between the two countries remain strained.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/194790.html
Egypt recalls ambassador to Israel
Cairo's interim cabinet decides to withdraw its envoy to Israel over troops' death near border Thursday; Jerusalem's ambassador to Egypt summoned by authorities.
Israel-Egypt ties rattled further: Egypt has decided to withdraw its ambassador, Yasser Reda, from Israel in protest of the deaths of five Egyptian security forces in a border incident which took place Thursday, Cairo's state TV reported on Saturday.
The Egyptian troops were killed as Israeli soldiers pursued suspected militants from the Gaza Strip, who crossed the border from the Sinai Peninsula into southern Israel and carried out multiple terror attacks, killing eight Israelis and leaving dozens injured.
There nature of the incident is still under investigation, but the Egyptian interim cabinet has already ruled that "Israel is politically and legally responsible for this incident," further stating that is was in breach of the 1979 peace treaty between the two countries.
"The Cabinet committee has decided to withdraw the Egyptian ambassador in Israel until the result of investigations by the Israeli authorities is provided and an apology from the Israeli leadership over the hasty and regrettable statements about Egypt is given.
"Egypt deplores the irresponsible and hasty statements made by some leaders in Israel, which lack the wisdom and prudence and passes judgement before arriving at the truth, particularly keeping in mind the sensitivity of Egyptian-Israeli relations," the cabinet's statement said.
Egypt has also summoned the Israeli ambassador in Cairo to protest the shooting. A cabinet statement carried by Egypt's state TV said: "The Cabinet assigns the Egyptian foreign minister to summon the Israeli ambassador in Cairo. The cabinet demands a joint official probe to ascertain the circumstances of the incident… and take the necessary legal action to protect the rights of Egyptian victims and injured."
The blame game
The troops' death has posed a major test for ties between Israel and Egypt following the uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak and strengthened forces hostile to Israel.
Jerusalem expressed concern about security in the Sinai peninsula and said that the terrorists responsible for Thursday's attacks had infiltrated Israel from Gaza via Egypt's Sinai desert, despite stepped-up efforts by Egyptian security to root out Islamist radicals.
Cairo has adamantly rejected the criticism, which essentially suggested it has lost control of Sinai, and its strong-language statement, added that Israel was to blame, since the "lax security" from its side had allowed the ambush to take place.
An earlier Egyptian statement accused Israel of trying to "shirk responsibility for the recklessness of Israeli security forces in protecting the borders."
It was the first time in nearly 11 years that Egypt decided to withdraw its ambassador from Israel. The last time was in November 2000 when the Egyptians protested what they called excessive use of violence during the second Palestinian uprising.
The Foreign Ministry has called a consultation following Egypt's decision to recall its ambassador to Israel over the deaths of Egyptian troops on Thursday.
The ministry said that Cairo's decision was "regrettable" and that Israel seeks to maintain its good relations with Egypt.
A ministry source said that Israel has no intention of recalling its ambassador to Cairo as this time, "as that would indicate a downgrade in (diplomatic) relations. We have no desire to see that happen – on the contrary."
http://fwd4.me/09Sw
Egypt says it will withdraw envoy to Israel
CAIRO (AFP) -- Egypt has decided to withdraw its ambassador to Israel to protest the deaths of five policemen killed on the border during attacks on Palestinian militants, state television said Saturday.
"Egypt has decided to withdraw its ambassador to Israel until there is an official apology," it said. Egypt's military chief of staff, Sami Enan, headed to the Sinai on Friday to probe the deaths of the policemen killed a day earlier.
Meanwhile three people were injured, two seriously, when rockets fired by militants in Gaza slammed into the coastal town of Ashdod in southern Israel early on Saturday, police said.
"One rocket hit a house, causing damage but no casualties," police spokeswoman Luba Samri said.
"The second fell on open ground, among sand dunes, where it wounded three people, Palestinians staying in Israel illegally, injuring two seriously and one moderately," she said.
The rocket attacks came after a string of Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Friday killed seven Palestinians, a day after eight Israelis were killed by suspected Islamist militants near the Egyptian border.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414575
4 mar 2012, 20:35 , Respect -
Maria 21 aug 2011
Israeli Embassy protesters find their superhero, Flagman
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bq8kcKz5eZ8
Demonstrators in front of Cairo's Israeli Embassy found a new hero in the form of a young man named Ahmed al-Shehat, or as he will probably be known for some time to come, Flagman.
Shehat was able to climb up to the roof of the 22-story Dokki neighborhood building that houses the Israeli embassy on its 17th and 18th floors. He made his way from house to house while a large crowd below cheered him on.
“They wanted me to take down the Israeli flag, so I did,” said Shehat. The young Sharqiya Governorate native said in a live interview with Al-Jazeera that he was able bypass the heavy security surrounding the building by waiting for the moment they switch shifts.
“I just walked in when the guards were handing over their duty and no one stopped me… On the way up, an officer gave me a nod that I could continue, despite military police at first trying to keep me grounded,” he said. Shehat believes that once the crowds continued to cheer him on, military guards decided to stop trying to convince him to get down.
Upon completing a grueling trip from balcony to balcony, and even from building to building, for more than 20 floors, Shehat burned the Israeli flag and replaced it with an Egyptian one.
“I went up for our brothers who were killed,” he said. Shehata was originally protesting with the crowds calling for the expulsion of the Israeli envoy in light of the latest Sinai clashes, in which Egypt’s borders were breached and five Egyptians killed.
He then climbed down just as he’d climbed up.
Protesters were in a state of jubilant celebration in the hours following Shehata’s exploit, which helped raise morale and piqued on-lookers’ curiosity. They surrounded him until he was in need of medical attention for exhaustion.
Twitter folk dubbed Shehata “Flagman” (instead of Spiderman). It was the top trending topic at around 3am on Sunday.
http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/488309
Egyptian earns hero status with Israel flag protest
CAIRO (AFP) -- A lone protester became a hero to an exultant crowd of Egyptians and many more online by hauling down Israel's flag from its embassy in Cairo after the border killing of Egyptian policemen.
More than 1,000 protesters gathered outside the Israeli embassy early Sunday and let off celebratory fireworks when the man clambered to the top floor of a high-rise housing the mission, replacing the flag with an Egyptian one.
Egypt's cabinet said an Israeli statement expressing regret for the deaths of the five border personnel was not enough, but stopped short of saying if it would recall its envoy from Tel Aviv.
Tensions between Israel and Egypt have surged since the deaths on Thursday of the police officers, which occurred as Israeli troops pursued militants responsible for deadly attacks near Eilat.
It represents the most serious test of Israel's landmark 1979 peace treaty with Egypt since the fall of Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak in February, and the post-Mubarak government is under populist pressure to take a firm stand.
The man who took down the flag, identified as Ahmed Shehat, was led away by protesters after he descended, but not before some tore up the Israeli flag he carried down with him and kept bits as souvenirs.
Other demonstrators burnt Israeli and US flags.
Shehat became an instant idol with one Egyptian presidential candidate, Hamdeen Sabahi, hailing him as "the people's hero" on Twitter.
Shehat was labeled "Flagman" on Twitter and he trended rapidly on the social networking site as Egyptians and others worldwide expressed their admiration for his stunt.
"This is for Palestine. This is for Egypt. This is for every Arab. This is for every free person," one Twitter user posted.
Military police in riot gear stood outside the Israeli embassy building but did not intervene to halt the protest. Two military police generals walked into the crowd to try to calm the demonstrators.
"Look, what happened is Israeli soldiers were chasing some gunmen on the border, they opened fire and hit our men by mistake. That's all there is to it. They didn't enter our territory," said one of the generals.
But they were rebuked by the protesters, who demanded that the military take a firmer stand against Israel.
Egypt's cabinet insisted on a firm timetable to execute an Israeli offer of a joint investigation into the border deaths, according to the state news agency MENA.
"The Israeli statement was positive on the surface, but it was not in keeping with the magnitude of the incident and the state of Egyptian anger toward Israeli actions," a cabinet statement said.
"Egypt affirms its solicitude for maintaining peace with Israel, but Israel must also assume responsibility for protecting this peace," it added.
Prime Minister Essam Sharaf was blunter in a message on his Facebook page, saying: "Egyptian blood is too precious to be spilled for no reason."
On Saturday afternoon, the foreign ministry summoned Israel's charge d'affaires for a reprimand.
The envoy, who was summoned because the ambassador was outside the country, read out a statement by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressing regret for the deaths and offering the joint probe, Egypt's foreign ministry said.
Egyptian state television had reported earlier that Egypt would recall its ambassador from Tel Aviv. But Israel said it had received no notification of the decision.
Egyptian officials said discussions on the matter were still underway and that no decision had been reached yet.
After conflicting reports, Information Minister Osama Heykal was quoted by MENA as saying the five policemen were killed "inside Egyptian territory as a result of an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and armed elements inside Israeli territory".
Israeli officials accused Palestinian militants in Gaza, which also borders Egypt, of planning the attack and carrying it out after slipping into the Negev desert from Egyptian territory.
Egypt has denied the gunmen used its territory and bristled at suggestions that it had lost control of the Sinai peninsula, where its military has been conducting a week-long operation to root out Islamist militants.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414860
Egypt says Israeli regret over police deaths not enough
CAIRO (AFP) -- Egypt's cabinet said on Sunday that an Israeli statement expressing regret for the border deaths of five policemen was not enough but stopped short of saying if it would recall its Tel Aviv envoy.
"The Israeli statement was positive on the surface, but it was not in keeping with the magnitude of the incident and the state of Egyptian anger toward Israeli actions," the official MENA news agency quoted a cabinet statement as saying.
But the statement did not assuage more than 1,000 angry protesters outside the Israeli embassy, who celebrated when a man clambered up to the embassy on a top floor of a high-rise, took down the Israeli flag and replaced it with an Egyptian flag.
The red, white and black flag of Egypt was illuminated in the night sky as the protesters lit up fire works and chanted "Long live Egypt!"
Military police in riot gear stood outside the building but did not try to disperse the protesters. The man who took down the flag escaped after he climbed down, witnesses said.
MENA said the cabinet insisted on a timetable for an Israeli offer of a joint investigation into the deaths on Thursday as Israeli troops pursued militants who carried out attacks earlier in the Negev that killed eight.
"Egypt affirms its solicitude for maintaining peace with Israel, but Israel must also assume responsibility for protecting this peace," it said.
Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.
But Israel remains deeply unpopular in the most populous Arab state and there have been growing calls for the treaty's revision since a February revolt overthrew president Hosni Mubarak, seen as a close ally of Israel.
On Saturday afternoon, the foreign ministry summoned Israel's charge d'affaires for a reprimand.
The envoy, who was summoned because the ambassador was outside the country, read out a statement by Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak expressing regret for the deaths and offering a joint probe, Egypt's foreign ministry said.
Egyptian state television had reported earlier in the day that Egypt would recall its ambassador from Tel Aviv, but Israel said it received no notification of the decision.
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that "at no time has Israel been officially notified of a recall of the Egyptian ambassador."
Egyptian officials privately said discussions on the matter were still underway and that no decision had been reached yet. One official said Egypt would not recall its envoy.
After conflicting reports, Information Minister Osama Heykal was quoted by MENA as saying five policemen were killed "inside Egyptian territory as a result of an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and armed elements inside Israeli territory."
Israeli officials accused Palestinian militants in Gaza, which also borders Egypt, of planning the attack and carrying it out after slipping into the Negev desert from Egyptian territory.
Egypt has denied the gunmen used its territory and bristled at suggestions that it had lost control of the Sinai peninsula, where its military has been conducting a week long operation to root out Islamist militants.
Prime Minister Essam Sharaf also expressed his anger in a message on his Facebook page.
"Egyptian blood is too precious to be spilled for no reason," wrote Sharaf.
"Our glorious revolution took place so that Egyptians could regain their dignity at home and abroad. What was tolerated in pre-revolution Egypt will not be in post-revolution Egypt," he said..
If Egypt recalls its envoy, it would be the second time since the two neighbors made peace.
In November 2000 Egypt did so to protest an Israeli crackdown on a Palestinian uprising.
Following Mubarak's overthrow, some in Israel expressed fears that the government that followed him would listen to public calls and downgrade relations with Tel Aviv.
Egypt's military, which took charge after Mubarak's ouster, pledged to honor the treaty.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=414852
4 mar 2012, 20:35 , Respect -
Maria 22 aug 2011
Israel seeks prosecution of Egyptian who removed embassy’s flag
CAIRO, (PIC)-- Israel has filed a complaint with the Egyptian Attorney General against Ahmed al-Shahat, the Egyptian who became a hero after tearing the Israeli flag from the Israeli building in Cairo.
Israeli media said Monday quoting sources that Tel Aviv had assigned its ambassador in Cairo to seek immediate prosecution against Shahat for breaching the embassy’s security and the security barriers atop the building where the embassy sits.
Thousands of Egyptians roared for joy after Shahat managed to climb a 21-story building alongside the Israeli embassy and burn the Israeli flag after replacing it with Egypt’s and Palestine’s.
Separately, Egyptian protesters have gathered to break Ramadan fast outside the home of the Israeli ambassador demanding his departure from Egypt.
A meal before fasting is scheduled for Monday outside of the embassy in honor of Shahat.
http://fwd4.me/09d6
Report: Egypt army blocks Israel ambassador recall
JERUSALEM (Ma'an) -- A last minute decision by Egypt's military government head Muhammad Tantawi halted the recall of Egypt's ambassador to Israel, Israel's Hebrew-language daily said Monday.
Amb. Yasser Rida, "had already packed," when Field Marshall Tantawi overruled the Egyptian Prime Minister's decision, report said.
Tantawi is head of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, which has governed Egypt since former President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February.
Egypt's cabinet, headed by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, opted to withdraw the ambassador, the report said, following the killing of five Egyptian soldiers by Israeli forces pursuing assailants in Thursday's attacks in southern Israel.
Tantawi summoned Sharaf to request overturning the decision, Maariv reported.
Egypt had demanded that Israel apologize for the deaths, threatening to pull out diplomats. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak issued an apology on Saturday, and pledged an investigation into the deaths.
But an Egyptian cabinet statement Sunday said the apology was "was not in keeping with the magnitude of the incident and the state of Egyptian anger toward Israeli actions."
The cabinet demanded a time line for the investigation into the police killings.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but since Mubarak's removal Egypt's rulers have faced increasing calls to review the terms of the agreement.
http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=415246
Arab League urges UN to act on Israeli Gaza attacks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SEppCkSBlfc
Egyptian FM: Quartet overlooked our victims, meddled in internal affairs
CAIRO, (PIC)-- Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammad Amr criticized the International Quartet for overlooking the Egyptian victims and discussing Egyptian internal affairs in a statement it released regarding the escalating developments in the region.
The FM’s condemnation came during a meeting with UN Special Envoy to the Middle East Robert Serry, said the Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman Menha Bakhoum.
“Egypt considers dealing with the security situation in Sinai an internal affair involving Egypt and there is no room for addressing it in statements such as this one,” Amr said.
A row has erupted after five Egyptian soldiers were killed by Israeli forces who crossed Egypt’s borders alleging being in pursuit of Palestinian resistance fighters.
In the statement, the Quartet, which includes the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and Russia, said it was “concerned about the security situation in Sinai”.
“The commitment of the Egyptian government to deal with the security situation in Sinai is important. The Quartet urges the Egyptian government to find a permanent solution to the issue of security in Sinai,” the statement added.
The Quartet warned of the seriousness of the situation escalating in the Middle East, calling on all parties to exercise constraint.
The Egyptian Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has declared its rejection of interference from any foreign party in the security of Sinai and said in a joint statement with the government that “Sinai’s security is an exclusively Egyptian affair. Egypt does not accept interference by action, statement, or opinion from any outside party”.
http://fwd4.me/09ct
Egypt: 'Escalating Sinai Tensions'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FIl-cuv7Vs
Bruce Katz from Montreal, Abayomi Azikiwe from Detroit and Adel Lotfy from London:
Egypt has lodged a formal protest with Israel demanding an explanation about the killing of several Egyptian soldiers in an Israeli border raid. What is the Sinai conflict really about? Who are the gunmen who attacked Israel dressed in Egyptian military uniforms? Are we seeing the whole picture? This is another edition of News Analysis.
Egyptians continue protests outside Israeli embassy
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZU_ls1h6ays
Thousands of Egyptians continued to protest outside the Israeli Embassy demanding that the Egyptian ambassador be recalled from Tel Aviv and a review of the Camp David accord that Israel has repeatedly broke in similar events over the past years.
The Egyptian Prime Minister who held an emergency meeting in response to the protest that took place outside the Israeli embassy and continued into the next day and said that Egypt demanded a formal apology from the Israeli government.
The statement also mentioned that Egypt will withdrew its ambassador from Tel Aviv which has not happened since 2000 at the time of the Palestinian intifada.
Protesters outside the embassy in Cairo carried Egyptian and Palestinian flags and said that they do not accept the weak apology made by the Israeli Minister of Military Affairs Ehud Barak.
And in extraordinary sign of protest an Egyptian citizen managed to climb the building of Israeli embassy and replace its flag with an Egyptian flag.
An Israeli raid over the Egyptian border had left 5 Egyptians dead.
http://presstv.com/detail/194955.html
4 mar 2012, 20:35 , Respect -
Maria 23 aug 2011
Israeli general in Cairo for border killings
Major General Amir Eshel, head of the Israeli army's planning directorate
Head of the Israeli army's planning directorate has traveled to Cairo in the wake of the killing of several Egyptian military personnel during an attack by Israeli forces.
Major General Amir Eshel arrived in Egypt's capital, Cairo, on Monday, and discussed the security agreements signed between Tel Aviv and Cairo with Egyptian officials, Israel's Hebrew language Maariv newspaper reported.
On Thursday, the Israeli air force killed five Egyptian border guards in an attack in the vicinity of Egypt's border crossing with the Palestinian enclave of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak on Saturday apologized for the deaths, saying that he has ordered "a joint investigation with the Egyptian army to clarify the circumstances of the incident."
He made the remarks hours after Egyptian state television announced that Egypt had "decided to withdraw its ambassador to Israel until there is an official apology."
Egypt has also demanded that Israel halt its deadly airstrikes on the impoverished Gaza Strip.
Israel launched its latest military airstrikes on the Gaza Strip on Thursday shortly after eight Israelis lost their lives in assaults that targeted two buses and a military vehicle near Eilat in southern Israel.
The Israeli offensive claimed the lives of at least 16 Palestinians and injured more than 45 others, including children.
The attack that killed the Egyptian officers has escalated tension between Cairo and Tel Aviv.
Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but the situation has changed drastically since Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak was deposed in February, and a number of Egyptian political parties are now calling for changes to the peace treaty.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/195317.html