Israel's killing of five Egyptian soldiers has prompted demands the Camp David agreement be reviewed, reports Gamal Essam El-Din Liberal and secular groups have responded to Israel's killing of five Egyptian soldiers in Sinai on 18 August by demanding the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) expel Israel's ambassador to Egypt, withdraw the Egyptian ambassador to Israel, and review peace treaty and Camp David accords. The Wafd Party accused Israel of conspiring against Egypt as it moves towards democracy. "Sinai, in particular, has been the target of repeated Israeli conspiracies and the killing of Egyptian soldiers on 18 August will not be the last," said Wafd chairman El-Sayed El-Badawi. "Israel's aggressive attacks are because it fears a democratic Egypt will threaten its security." The Tagammu Party demanded the Camp David accords be either scrapped or changed to allow Egypt deploy a greater number of soldiers in Sinai. The Nasserist Party argued that the killing of Egyptian soldiers in Sinai had been orchestrated to distract attention from Israel's domestic economic and social problems. "The killing of Egyptian soldiers on 18 August in Sinai is a clear violation of the 1979 peace treaty between Egypt and Israel and a criminal act," said the Free Egyptians Party, led by Coptic businessman Naguib Sawiris. "Egypt must pursue all legal and international channels to bring the killers to justice." Egypt Freedom Party, led by Amr Hamzawy, expressed concern that Sinai was becoming a battlefield for groups determined to destabilise the peninsula, and the conflicts were being fanned by Tel Aviv. Israel should be aware, said Hamzawy, that Egypt has changed since the 25 January Revolution. If security tensions escalate he recommended a halt to negotiations with Israel over a new contract to supply gas. The youth movements of the 25 January Revolution preferred direct action to the issuing of statements. The 6 April Movement mobilised its ranks to organise a sit-in in front of the Israeli embassy in Giza. On the morning of 21 August one member, Ahmed El-Shahat, scaled 13 floors of the apartment building that houses the embassy in Cairo and replaced the Israeli flag with Egypt's. Some of the movement's members have called for a group Iftar in front of the Israeli ambassador's residence in Maadi, to convene under the slogan "Go away". The National Association for Change (NAC), led by Mohamed El-Baradei, called for a march in Arish, the capital of North Sinai, "to express the anger of all Egyptians and to emphasise Egypt's sovereignty over all of Sinai". The reaction of the SCAF and the government of Essam Sharaf to the border incident has been roundly condemned as ineffectual. "First the government announced that it would withdraw its ambassador from Tel Aviv only to backtrack on the decision," said the NAC. "The U-turn showed that it is the SCAF that has the upper hand. The government is powerless to implement its own decisions if they are not approved by the military." The NAC went on to condemn the SCAF and the government for adopting the same position as the deposed regime, thinking it sufficient to issue a condemnatory statement without backing it up with action. A coalition of 10 movements has announced a mass rally in Tahrir Square on 9 September to demand stronger official reaction to the incident. They are seeking a meeting with SCAF leaders in order to present a list of eight demands. They include: expelling the Israeli ambassador from Cairo; withdrawing the Egyptian ambassador from Israel; preventing Israeli ships from crossing the Suez Canal; increasing the number of Egyptian Armed Forces in Sinai; asking the UN Security Council to adopt punitive measures against Israel for its breach of Egyptian borders and its killing of soldiers, and a complete halt of exports of natural gas to Israel. The list of requests was signed by four possible presidential candidates: Amr Moussa, Abdel-Moneim Abul-Fotouh, Ayman Nour and Hisham Bastawisi. Signatories also included the chairman of the Wafd Party El-Sayed El-Badawi; deputy chairman of the Islamist Wasat Party Essam Sultan; coordinator of the Kifaya movement George Ishak; publisher Ibrahim El-Muallim and media figure Hamdi Qandil.
