Revelations that an elite Israeli squad killed 250 unarmed Egyptian soldiers at the end of the 1967 War has triggered an uproar in the People's Assembly, reports Gamal Essam El-Din For the second time in one month, MPs in the People's Assembly have demanded the expulsion of Israel's ambassador to Egypt and the recall of Cairo's representative in Tel Aviv. Three weeks ago MPs cried foul over Israeli excavation works close to Al-Aqsa Mosque. This time, the furore centres on Ruch Shaked (The Spirit of Shaked), a documentary film on the 1967 War made by Israeli journalist Ran Edilist and screened on Israeli television's Channel 1. The film claims that Israel's elite Shaked reconnaissance unit, commanded by Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, now head of Israel's Ministry of Infrastructure, killed 250 unarmed Egyptian prisoners of war in the Sinai desert at the end of the 1967 War, after they surrendered to the Israeli army. MPs immediately demanded that Ben-Eliezer be prosecuted for war crimes before the International Criminal Court (ICC). The retired general was due to visit Egypt today, in his capacity as head of the Ministry of Infrastructure, to meet with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. The visit has now been cancelled. At the behest of Assembly Speaker Fathi Sorour, the Arab and foreign affairs and human rights committees held a joint meeting before issuing a denunciation of the war crime. Mustafa El-Fiqi, chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said the 29-year-old peace treaty between Egypt and Israel should not come in the way of filing a case with the Criminal Court. "The documentary presented evidence that can be used to demonstrate that the Israelis murdered innocent Egyptian soldiers," said El-Fiqi. He believes that in publicising the massacre, the Israelis are seeking to intimidate their neighbours. "Israel is seeking to make up for the humiliation it suffered during the 34-day war in Lebanon last summer," says El-Fiqi, adding that Tel Aviv wants to send a message that "it always kills prisoners of war (POWs)." El-Fiqi has urged the Egyptian government and Arab League to compile a dossier of Israeli war crimes during 1967's Six Day War in preparation for filing a case with the ICC. "We should not allow this admission of a massacre to go to waste, as we did when Ehud Olmert admitted that Israel possesses nuclear weapons." Saad El-Gammal, the chairman of the Arab Affairs Committee has advised the Foreign Ministry to demand a United Nations General Assembly investigation into Israeli war crimes. "Israel can hardly object to such an investigation if it is serious about showing the world that it is opposed to terrorism and really does care about stability in the Middle East," said El-Gammal. The measures suggested by El-Fiqi and El-Gammal were not enough for the assembly's leftist and Islamist hawks. Mustafa Bakri, editor of the pan-Arab weekly Al-Osbou, called for a complete boycott of Israel. "Officials who do not care about Egyptian lives should not stay in their positions any longer," Bakri said. Brandishing photographs of the Shaked massacre, Bakri said "they demonstrate clearly that the Israelis were determined to kill the Egyptian POWs mercilessly." Mohamed Esmat Anwar El-Sadat, an independent MP and nephew of late President Anwar El-Sadat, demanded that the government revoke the QIZ (Qualified Industrial Zones) agreement and immediately freeze exports of gas to Israel. When Edward Ghali El-Dahabi, the chairman of the Human Rights Committee, called for Shalom Cohen, Israel's ambassador in Cairo, to come to the assembly and explain his government's position on the Shaked massacre, the session began to disintegrate. "We will kill the apostate," screamed Bakri, together with three Brotherhood MPs. Backtracking, El-Dahabi, a Christian lawyer, said "Cohen must go to the Foreign Ministry to comment on the film." Members of the ruling National Democratic Party (NDP) joined the fray, with Alaa Hassanein, MP for the Upper Egypt Governorate of Al-Minya, and Mahmoud Selim, MP for Ismailia, both demanding Cohen's expulsion. Abdel-Aziz Seif El-Nasr, deputy foreign minister for legal affairs, said the government is studying the political and legal implications of the film's revelations in coordination with international organisations, the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights, and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference. He said the Israeli ambassador had already been summoned to the ministry to explain the contents of the documentary and Egypt's ambassador in Israel has been ordered to obtain a copy of the film. El-Fiqi said he had sent an invitation to Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit to come to the assembly and explain his ministry's position in the face of Israel's unending provocations.
