CAIRO - Egyptian activists and revolutionary groups have called for a million-man protest outside the Israeli Embassy in Giza, urging the authorities to order the Israeli Ambassador out of the country and recall his Egyptian counterpart from Tel Aviv. This call came as an Egyptian woman was injured by a Palestinian rocket in Egypt's Rafah. Dozens of Egyptians protested for the fifth consecutive day outside the Israeli Embassy in Giza over the killing of five Egyptian policemen last Thursday. The protesters chanted slogans calling for the Israeli envoy to leave Egypt and for the ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces to review the articles in the peace deal signed with Israel in 1979. An Egyptian diplomat said yesterday his country is not preparing to withdraw its Ambassador to Israel, playing down an earlier threat to bring home the envoy in protest at the killing of five Egyptian security personnel near the Israeli border. Egypt's Cabinet posted an online statement on Saturday ��" which it then withdrew ��" saying the killing of the Egyptians was a breach of Egypt's 1979 peace treaty with Israel and it would withdraw its envoy in protest. Low-key talks followed, with expressions of regret from Israel over the Egyptian deaths and meetings with top US and UN diplomats. By Tuesday, Egypt's threat appeared to have been dropped. "There are currently no procedures being taken to withdraw the Egyptian Ambassador in Israel," the Egyptian diplomat told Reuters, on condition of anonymity. He declined to comment further. In Rafah, a rocket fired by Palestinian activists from the Gaza Strip yesterday landed in Egypt and injured a woman, the official Middle East News Agency (MENA) reported. The woman, who was not identified, was rushed to hospital after the rocket struck the Rafah border town, the report added. It was the second time that Palestinian rockets aimed at Israel have strayed into Egyptian territory. On Sunday, a projectile landed on the Egyptian side of the border but caused no casualties or damage. Egyptian security sources said five of their policemen were killed as Israeli troops pursued the attackers along the border near Eilat on Thursday, sparking a diplomatic crisis between the two neighbours. The head of the EU delegation in Egypt Mark Franco yesterday said that the EU hopes the incident will not affect Egypt-Israel ties, stressing that the fact-finding mission is doing its job and we'll have to wait for the results. Israel has bolstered its security along the Egyptian border on the strength of intelligence reports indicating that terrorists planned to attack Israelis, officials said. Israeli Chief of General Staff Lt. Gen. Benny Gantz ordered the Army to bolster security along the border and gather intelligence using electronic and visual means, in order to track down the terrorists, The Jerusalem Post and Ha'aretz newspapers reported.
