Islam Times - The Israeli regret does not correspond to the gravity of the event but it is "positive"

The Israeli regret does not correspond to the gravity of the event but it is "positive"

Cairo (Islam Times) – Cairo considered that the Israeli statement of apology about the killing of its soldiers in Sinai is "positive" on its surface but it "does not correspond to the gravity of the incident, and the Egyptian anger towards the Israeli actions”.

Islam Times: On the other hand, and at a time when there was conflict over the fate of calling the Egyptian Ambassador from Tel Aviv, Israel was keen on sending "friendly" messages in order to reduce anger in Egypt.

The ministerial committee told the crisis management which tracks the development of the incident in the Sinai under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Issam Sharaf that Egypt "if it reaffirms its commitment to peace with Israel, Tel Aviv should also be working on its responsibility to protect this peace."

The Egyptian position came in response to Israel’s expression of regret for the killing of members of the Egyptian armed forces with fire during the confrontations with the armed men at the border with the Sinai. The Israeli side agrees to undergo a joint investigation to detect the circumstances of the incident.

The Egyptian rage continued on the streets as protests remained protesting outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo. Also, hundreds of young people who gathered at the site called to continue the protest "until the Israeli ambassador in Egypt is expelled".

The Egyptian state television quoted from the official Middle East News Agency that dozens of young individuals have launched many fireworks of various types while carrying flags of Egypt and Palestine and chanting "Down, down Israel", "Out, out Jews, Mohammed's Army will be back" and "the first demand of the masses is the lock of the embassy and the expulsion of Ambassador".

The movement "6 April Youth, Front of Ahmed Maher" called for “an open protest until receiving a formal apology in the words of the Prime Minister of Israel”.

Mahmoud Al-Afifi, the media spokesman of the April 6 youth movement stated that the movement began on Saturday evening an open protest in front of the Israeli embassy in Cairo, with about 500 of its members.

He added that the peaceful protest will carry on until receiving a formal apology from the Israeli government, in the words of its Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, on a condition that the apology is satisfactory to the masses of Egyptian people. He denied the existence of any intention to break in the embassy or to irritate the security members that are present around the building.

The demonstrators, who were joined by a large number from the group "Muslim Brotherhood", burned repeatedly the Israeli flag, amid cheers and applause and chanted slogans with enthusiasm.

For its part, the Israel Radio stated that the calls for pacification continued in Tel Aviv and it cited in this context the position of the Israeli president Shimon Peres, who said that it is in the interest of both Israel and Egypt the "the Sinai cape remains a region of peace".

Peres presented last Thursday "his condolences to the Egyptian people and the families of Egyptian security men who were killed on the border between the two countries".
An official political source in Jerusalem assured that Israel "is in contact with Egypt on both the security and political levels in order to ease tensions and avoid escalation and to maintain good relations with Cairo".

The source explained that Israel "intends to cooperate with Egypt in the ongoing investigation into the events that occurred in the border region and to draw lessons from these events”.

The conflict continued over the reality of Egypt's decision to recall its ambassador from Israel. The decision had already been published on the prime minister’s site but it was later deleted without a formal explanation.

The Egyptian press has been busy talking about this issue on Sunday and "Rose Al-Youssef" magazine said the journalists who had received a statement about withdrawing the ambassador returned and received mails indicating the occurrence of error in the first statement.