Month: January 2008

Were they killed in 1949 or in 1906 ??

Zeinobia Leave a comment

The Controversy about the mass grave in found in Eilat is not finished yet despite there is no more news about it in the media. The Controversy now is not about whether the remains in the mass grave were for Egyptian or Jordanian Battalion in 1949 , the nationality is not our issue here this time , the historians in debate agree that these remains were for Egyptian battalion yet they disagree to by whom or when that Egyptian Battalion was killed . Yes the general idea or assumption based on the fact there is not serious investigation in the site itself that that Egyptian battalion was killed in year 1949 by the Israeli forces still there is another probability that this Egyptian Battalion was killed in 1906 by the Turkish Othman forces.

It is all related to Um Rashrash village and its official history. Officially Egypt lost this village to Palestine according to order issued by the Othman Empire. Egypt according to history did not give up the village without a fight especially that the Othman Empire sent a battalion in order to control the village on the sea.

Late Egyptian historian Yonan Labib Razek who died last week said from couple of weeks ago that he believed they could be the Egyptian Battalion in 1906 who were killed by the Othman Empire Battalion.

Egyptian Historian Amr El-Nasharti also agree on this assumption despite that he did not deny the possibility that they could be killed in year 1949 by the Israeli forces

I will check by myself in the history books about the 1906 incident. Already for me whether they were killed in 1906 or 1949 ,whether they were killed by the Othman Empire Soldiers or by the the IDF soldiers as it is a war crime in either ways

Were they Egyptians or Jordanians ??

Zeinobia 5 Comments

Do you remember the mass grave for Muslims in Eilat last month ?? Already  the Defense and National security committee in the Egyptian assembly should have discussed it yesterday ,unfortunately there were no news regarding this discussion as yesterday the El-Malt’s CAO report was the main topic in the media for the last two days and seriously I have to say it was much important and it is expected to take all the attention whether from the media or the members of Parliament.

On the other hand there is a great historical debate about the mass grave and its location , also it is expected thing , Um Rashrash is already a center of debate of whether it is an Egyptian land or not .

The historical debate started when 1948 veteran , free officers movement member and military historian General Gamal Hamad said to Gamal Hamad Masrawy website that those remains are not for Egyptian officers and soldiers and there was no Egyptian Battalion in the Um Rashrash village in year 1949 and that they were for Jordanian battalion

We did not fight the Israelis in any battle in the Um Rashrash region. These remains could be for Jordanian officers and soldiers as this region was following the Jordan

Of course the old veteran and famous military historian had contradicts totally with what the Front for restoring Um Rashrash is saying , especially the front includes many historians and many military personalities like General Saad El-Din Shazaaly.

Still it is very easy to know to which army those people used to belong to , through photos of their military uniforms or the remains of their uniforms to be accurate , also through the photos and the Holy Quran found in the site, we can know in which country it was printed and thus it will be an evidence for us.

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Strangely there is no one from Jordan claimed that these were remains for Jordanian Battalion till now.

Anyhow whether they are Jordanians or Egyptians ,the war crime is still there ,  the evidence is still there.

More updates about the New Sheikh Zowaid Mass grave

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Yesterday morning in the city of Sheikh Zowaid in the North Sinai Governate, citizen Khalil El-Mani’e had found bone remains “Skulls, teeth and bones “ for people in military boots while digging in order to building some building . It did not take much time to know that these remains were actually for Egyptian Soldiers from their military boots that were killed in 1967 as POWs.

Mr. El-Mani’e went and reported immediately to the Egyptian authorities represented by the Police forces (( I was correct it is not theSheikh Zowaid 1 Egyptian army but the Egyptian police )) , which immediately by its turn reported back to Cairo and made the area of the cemetery as restricted area, no cameras or photos are allowed except those which took shots before the restriction and they are already very few.

The restriction will be continued till a forensic team comes from and examine the remains in order to know their correct number “their estimated number according to the eye witnesses are 120 soldiers”, whether they were killed in action or as POWs which is very important as this will be an evidence that IDF committed war crimes against the Egyptian POWs during the six days war as the Egyptian regime seems to depend on science and does not depend on people’s testimonies!!

Already the area where the mass grave was found used to have a camp for the Egyptian Army during the six days war.

Already Daily El-Masry Youm made a scoop yesterday when their correspondent in Al-Arish made a short interview with an Eye witnesses from the natives who refused to share their names, these Eye witness had seen the burial of those soldiers from 40 years ago with other important details.

Eye Witness # 1 from the natives, he was born in 1960 and so in 1967 he was 7 years old when he had witnessed the burial of those soldiers from 40 years . He had seen Sheikh Salah El-Mani’e ((He may not related to the person who found the mass grave in direction connection but they belong to one tribe)) and his tribe burying those men in the Sheikh Zowaid which was unpopulated area during that time in a mass grave and that some wild animals had devouring some parts in the bodies.

Eye Witness#2 from the natives too , he said that they managed to save one of the officers who is called “Mohamed El-Mahdy” and he was from El-Mansoura despite his injure in this massacre as he was shot by 8 bullets and that he escaped through the sea

Also they managed to save lance corporal called “Mahmoud Arafa” and return him back to Cairo after forging Palestinian id for him. Till very near time they used to communicate with “Arafa” yet they do not know if he is dead or alive now.

Several eye witnesses said that it was a common thing during that time that their parents and chief tribes bury the POWs then they would pray the funeral Islamic prayer on their souls.

If I were from officials, I will start immediate search for officer “Mohamed El-Mahdy” and lance Corporal “Mahmoud Arafaa” as they are considered from the surviving victims and eye witnesses from the first degree

Till now there is no official statement issued from any official party regarding the incident, also the official media ignored the matter which the AFP transferred to the whole world yesterday, and naturally the Israeli press ignored the whole matter as they are busy with Bush’s visit.

Already I do not want to say it but this is a déjà Vu case, the same circumstance and the same testimonies yet nothing on the official level is taken to restore back the rights of the soldiers and their families from Israel according to international laws.

Sources:

More info about Yesterday’s POWs’ mass grave in North Sinai

Zeinobia 1 Comment

Even before I got the newspapers , here couple of details about the Mass grave that was found in North Sinai yesterday the wednesday the 9th of January 2008.

It turned that the Mass grave was found by accidently yesterday when one of the natives of Al-Arish city reported to the police authorities that he found while digging in order to build a new house remains of bones in military uniforms .

The place till now is not known but it is in the Sheikh Zowaid city which is between the city of Al-Arish , the capital of North Sinia Governate and the city of Rafaah which is on the Egyptian-Israeli borders.

The remains are estimated to be for 30 persons from the Egyptian soliders who were killed during the six days war.

Eye witnesses from the natives are reporting to the media that currently the Egyptian authorities presented in the Egyptian army (( I highly doubt that it is the Egyptian army because according to Camp David ,the Egyptian Army does not have existence in this area , may be I am wrong but I will ask about it )) made it a restricted area , no one is allowed to reach it currently .

The good news is according to the media also there is a team of foresnics who will examine the bones in order to know whether those people were killed from 40 years ago in in action “KIA” or as “POWs” , I hope and I wish that the findings of this team to be announced publicly and if in case “POWs” I wish that the regime takes more serious steps as they will have then official evidence

Already from my readings and research which you can find here in the website , I will say that they were not killed in action or battle , they were killed as POWs because The city of Shiekh Zowaid is a populated area with mass graves for POWs , the residents of the city who were there in 1967 had seen by their own eyes the systematic mass murder for the Egyptian POWs

This comes at the same time the mass grave of the 1949 soliders was found in Eilat and also it comes at the same time where the Egyptian-Israeli relation is facing hard time after what President Mubarak ,the president of Egypt attacked the Israeli foreign minister Livni for crossing the lines with him .

Sources :

A new Mass grave for the Egyptian POWs in North Sinai

Zeinobia Leave a comment

I have just recieved the news which will be among the newspapers headlines tomorrow “Thursday the 10th of January 2008” , a new mass grave has been found in North Sinai .

I do not have more information now but insh Allah I will have more information tomorrow including the exact location of the mass grave .

As primary information this mass grave seemed to be from the 1967 Egyptian POWs mass graves

The Parliament will discuss the Eilat Mass grave

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The mass grave that was found in “Um Rashrash” at Eilat is believed by many parties in Egypt including military experts that it belongs to the Egyptian army officers and soldiers who were killed in the village in year 1949 in the “Operation Uvdah ((Established fact)) “ which was led by the current Israeli President Shimon Perez.

On the next 13th of January 2007, the Egyptian Parliament will discuss the case based on the request of PM “Talaat El-Sadat” ((The Nephew of late President Sadat)) , the request was a demand to the committee of the National security in the Egyptian assembly to discuss the findings of the mass grave as a possible mass grave for Egyptian soldiers and officers who were killed in 1949 in the Operation “Uvdah”. PM “El-Sadat” in statement for Al-Arabiya.net said that it is important that the Egyptian foreign ministry and other specialized official parties in Egypt to follow the case to know to whom this mass grave belongs to. He continued saying that he believed that the mass grave belongs to the Egyptian force that was in “Um Rashrash” when Perez and his Israeli force entered the village and that it would be easy to check from the names and the history of those 350 officers and soldiers from their family if the regime cooperated this time and did not act as in the Previous POWs case.

On the other hand the “People’s front to restore Um Rashrash” said that it owns historical documents that prove that this

I am happy that a man like “Talaat El-Sadat” is neglecting the issue like the rest of the PM , already “El-Sadat” discussed in the Parliament the POWs case and “UM Rashrash” case and currently “The people’s front to restore Um El-Rashrash” chose as a general secretary to the front which includes many public and military personalities including General Saad El-Shazely. The front believes that “Um Rashrash” village where the mass grave was found is originally an Egyptian land that Israel had occupied in 1949 and that it must return back immediately. Already the foreign ministry last year issued an official statement saying that “Um Rashrash” was under the Egyptian control only till 1906 when the Othman Empire along with Great Britain drew new maps for bordering that did not consider Um Rashrash an Egyptian land but Palestinian land. Of course the front denies this and saying that they own more than 700 historical documents that prove the Egyptian identity of the land even after 1907.

“Um Rashrash” is a big topic I would to discuss separately despite it is related historically with the Mass grave

Let’s hope that the National security committee reaches to some good decision and decide to investigate more

By the way I do not like this media official and unofficial media about the mass grave and the possibility that it can be for Egyptian soldiers

So the war crimes against our POWs did not start in 1956 but in 1948, well I changed the tagline of the website to include 1948 and insh Allah I working on a section to include all the details of the Uvdah massacre because Uvdahs do not stay buried forever

More updates about the Mass grave in Eilat

Zeinobia 2 Comments

First I did not receive yet from the Al-Aqsa foundation , hopefully they will reply on my requests.

Second the Al-Jazeera made a report about it

Third here are the new information and new photos

It is believed according to Al-Jazeera that this mass grave goes back to 1948 war between the Arabic armies and the Israeli Army. If this is true then we will have war crimes against the Arab armies older than 1956 committed by the IDF because according to the Al-Aqsa foundation which is the only Arabic Islamic party investigated the mass grave ,the position of the bodies and their remains go with the position of people who were executed ,someone must have executed them and according to the findings they were Muslims , they had not been shot by other Muslim Arabs for sure in 1948 as all the Arab armies were together not against each other

If these remains are for Arab soldiers killed in 1948 , they can be Egyptians , yes it will not change anything except the date

even in 1948 who was fighting in this area ?? some say they could be Jordanians and it is high probability still the location and how close it is from the Egyptian borders make me believe they will turn to be Egyptians

Still it is hard to determine this with the lack of historical accurate reports about the 1948 war , I feel sad that My grand father is not here as he was a military correspondent in 1948 , he could have helped me so much

Here are the photos

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More bones

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The Holy Quran , The Korsy Ayat , it is amazing how it is still there after all these decades whether it goes back to 1948 or 1967

A possible Egyptian POWs mass grave in Eilat

Zeinobia 2 Comments

First of all Happy new year to everyone

Second of all I am sorry that there was lack of updates in the website ,I am sorry it is my mistake ,I apologize again

Third , I know about this news from couple of days “thanks to dear friend Wael Abbas“ but I did not publish anything because I did not have any information  more than that the Israeli press was speaking about mass grave for Egyptian POWs  found in Eilat / Um Rashrash in Israel , and so I could not publish anything without any confirmation especially I felt that it could be among the current war of the words between the Egyptian regime and the Israeli officials.It seemed illogical to me that the Israeli Press itself would speak about Mass grave for the Egyptian POWs inside Israel itself proving the occurrence of war crimes ,it did not make a sense not to mention I searched every single Israeli newspaper on the web and I did not find anything still I kept it in my mind

Today I found that this news may hold part or most of the truth according to the short article published by Daily El-Masry El-Youm Egypt’s best selling daily newspaper .

It turned out the Al-Aqsa Foundation for the Reconstruction of Islamic Sanctities had discovered an unknown mass grave for Muslims in the city of Eilat. I checked from the official site of the foundation and found more interesting details about the incident

  • On the 27th of December 2007, one of the Israeli workers in a site planned to be a Jewish Cemetery found bones ,skulls and a knife, he reported his superiors ,still they continued their work
  • In the evening of 28th of December 2007,information arrived to Sheikh Ali Abu-Sheikha that the Eilat city workers had digged unknown grave containing remainings of Muslims in a site the city was planning to use as a grave yard for the Jews and Non-Jews
  • On the 29th of December 2007 , in the early morning a group from the foundation went to see the site and investigate these claims which turned to be true , they found an Islamic mass grave there ,1 with bones, skulls and other human remains , they were sure that this is a mass grave for Muslims because they found parts from the Quran with remains of military clothes and boots ,they documented the findings with photographs and video films
  • After a short time officials from the city came and told the group from the foundation that they found the Muslims remains fragmented all over the location
  • On the 31st of December another bigger group from the foundation went to investigate more in the location where they found more of the remains , more of bones ,more of military clothes and they believed those remains were for Muslims who could have been executed
  • On that day the foundation sent a call to all the Arabs and Muslims in the world to share any information regarding the cemetery or the mass grave
  • On the 31st of December 2007, the foundation succeeded in taking an order from the court in Eilat to prevent any further construction works in the site to be activated since the 1st of January 2008
  • Now the site is recognized as an Islamic cemetery protected by the Israeli laws the only thing remaining in the puzzle is to know who were those people in the past

You can find more about the foundation and what it had done from their official website here and there in Arabic language.

Now to what We conclude from all this :

  1. We can’t be certain that this is 100% mass grave for the Egyptian POWs as long as there is no further investigation from the Egyptian Embassy which is representing the Egyptian State , there must be accurate scientific investigation with the help of international forensic detectives to be neutral and investigate in the manner ,already this is a golden opportunity because if it was truly a mass grave for the Egyptian POWs then it will be a war crime committed inside the Israeli borders
  2. Still we can’t deny that all the description and details of the mass grave go with the description and details of the mass graves of the Egyptian POWs found across Sinai
  3. The location itself goes with the stories of the ex-POWs as Eilat was among the concentration points the IDF used to gather the Egyptian POWs in before transferring them to Atlit ,and already they killed some of the POWs just for fun according to the surviving accounts in these points.
  4. Also the specific location of the mass grave, as far as I know it is in the controversial village of Um Rashrash((This village is on the borders and is said to be an Egyptian land, there is a large dispute about it in Egypt regarding it)) , Um Rashrash is very close to the Egyptian-Israeli current borders on the Aqaba Gulf near Taba
  5. The bodies and the remains of the bodies from the bones in the military uniform are not usual things , first of all they can’t not be from the IDF , the IDF buries and buried the Muslims who served in the army in well known cemeteries ,also most of the Muslims who served in the IDF were from the North of Israel, this is in the south of Israel and the location seemed to be forgotten with no remarks what so ever , this is an old mass grave made from very long time made to be forgotten ,in a hurry that those who made it did not care to inform the Israeli authorities about , already who made it for sure are Israelis because since 1948 this part of land was under the Israeli control and no Arab army as far as I know entered it                                          
  6. Who used to wear military uniform and was close to Eilat or from Um Rashrash ?? The Egyptian army , you can’t say they were from the PLO because the PLO were in Gaza and they did not have a complete unified uniform like the Egyptian army
  7. Who used to be executed while wearing military uniform and buried in mass graves with no reference at all ?? No one except the Egyptian POWs
  8. Still with all reasons, we will not be certain 100% to claim our right back except by the following : inspecting the remains and asking the surviving POWs if they know anything about this place 

BY the way I sent an email to the foundation asking them for more details and pictures of the cemetery in order to show here and to show to the veterans they can recognize the uniforms and boots better than us