CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood on Sunday demanded a "revision" of relations with Israel and denounced heightened security measures imposed after protesters stormed the Israeli embassy. Israel "must have received the message and understood that Egypt has changed, the entire region will change, and there is no room left for its arrogance and aggression," the Islamist group said in a statement. It also urged Egyptian authorities to "revise relations" between Egypt and Israel which have been bound by a peace treaty since 1979. The Muslim Brotherhood was banned under the three-decade rule of president Hosni Mubarak but has since the revolution which ousted him in February formed "the Freedom and Justice Party." The party did not, however, call for the scrapping of the peace treaty —the first between Israel and an Arab country. Egypt warned Saturday of harsh measures to quell civil unrest after protesters stormed Israel's embassy in Cairo, forcing the ambassador to flee and promptin g Washington to say it was "deeply concerned". Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the mob attack late on Friday in Cairo a "serious incident", but said his country was "committed to preserving peace with Egypt, which is in the interest of Egypt and Israel." The United States, an ally of both countries, said it was doing all it could to keep ties from deteriorating further. The embassy attack — which saw staff rescued by commandos and protesters grabbing documents from the mission — was the worst since Israel established its mission in Egypt after the 1979 peace treaty. Egyptian Information Minister Osama Heikal said Saturday that Cairo would apply "all articles" of an emergency law in force for 30 years that provided greater powers to the judiciary and police, to provide the peace. He said the military council ruling Egypt since Mubarak's ouster also decided that "security forces will have recourse to all necessary measures, including the right to legitimate self-defense, to preserve the security of the homeland." "Exceptional circumstances demand decisive judicial measures," Heikal said after a meeting of the military council, and described the unrest as an "attack on Egypt's image." But the Islamists denounced the new security measures and warned the military rulers against using security as a pretext to delay parliamentary elections. "The party rejects any bid to use and exploit these incidents to implement martial (law) measures, restrain freedoms or delay" elections, said the statement. It also accused the military rulers of "unacceptable and unjustified delays" in transferring power to an elected, civilian government. The storming of the Israeli embassy came after thousands had massed Friday at Cairo's emblematic Tahrir Square to press the military rulers to keep promises of reform after the January-February revolt ousted Mubarak. Activists behind his fall have also called for a revision of the peace treaty with Israel.
