He is a native Egyptian from the tribes of Al Arish.His testimony is very important because not only he is witness to what happened in 1967 and the occupation years afterwards , but he also was a victim of the IDF war crimes for many year.
Sheikh Mahmoud El-Sawurka , the most famous Egyptian prisoner in the Israeli prison , who spent 22 years in the Israeli prisons witnessing all horrors and crimes that took place against the Arab political prisoners . Even his body became a map for the physical torture and abuse he saw on the hands of the Israeli forces.
Regarding the POWs massacres in Al Arish , the old Sheikh fragile sheikh still remembers the burial places of the Egyptian Soldiers remains , where the great locals of Al Arish buried our soldiers ; after all those years.
He also shared terrible memories about the massacres that took place in Al Arish
On the 4th of June From 41 Years ago ,the Egyptian soldiers and officers were in Sinai waiting for a battle they did not know when it would happen , some of them had some confidence that we would win , others did not know whether we would win or lose.
On the 4th of June 1967 all the Egyptian Soldiers and officers did not have an idea of what was going to happen the next day , they did not know that the hill doors would be open and they would witness and be part in one of the most worst military defeat in the modern history.
They also did not know or imagine for one second that they would be victims of a terrible enemy that did not know any laws or morals.
Al Jazeera International aired a special documentary “A Nation in Waiting” for the occasion of President Mubarak’s 80th birthday, this documentary is about his life and a quick critical look to Egypt under his rule for the last 27 years. It is one hour documentary, in You Tube it is divided in to four parts , in the first part which deals with the early life of Mubarak and also a quick to Egypt under Nasser’s rule there is a part concerning the six days war “which is a turning point in Mubarak’s military career”; this part includes a footage for Egyptian POWs
Here is the Clip , it is in the middle
I just want to add something , if you want to comment on this documentary based on its main content which is the life of President Mubarak , well be my guest in my main blog
The USS Liberty is from one of the enigmas in the six days war , it may be related to our case here and it may not. The theories about reason behind the Israeli attack on the warship did not stop till now
Beside being a possible indirect witness to the mass murder operations of Egyptian POWs in Al Arish , USS Liberty was intended to be a pawn in a bigger chess game , a bigger conspiracy between the United administration at that time and Israel.
In fact it was based upon an older plan the United States administration or rather the old hawks had put during the Bay of the Pigs and Cuban Missile crisis era,the same plan which resurfaced again among the 9/11 conspiracy theories that says the United States administration would send military units “without the knowledge of the people nor the military elements” to some place and sabotage them accusing their enemies of its destruction to the level that would give it the excuse in front of the American public and international community to go to where against these enemies.
On the 5th of March 2008 the Administrative court in Cairo issued a historical Verdict; according to it the Egyptian Foreign has to investigate the allegations that the IDF had killed Egyptian POWs in the wars of 1956 and 1967The court ordered the ministry to prepare a list with the names and numbers of the POWs killed by the IDF.The importance of that rule is that it is an official obligation on the Foreign ministry ,it should do it. They should open an immediate inquiry about this important file.This court order comes as the end of the long , very long Suit case filed against the State filed by Ex-Pows , eye witnesses and POWs families . The representative lawyer who filed the Suit is Wahid El-Oksori , the head of Egyptian Arab socialist Party and a veteran officer.This is very important court order , it does not recognize the crimes but it orders the Foreign ministry to investigate the allegations ,it opens the door officially ,still I doubt that the Foreign ministry will obey the court’s order and it will not be the first time , or the first ministry or governmental authority that will ignore a court’s order. By the way about the list with names and numbers of the POWs , they can be easily done with the records of the reported missing officers and Soldiers from 1956 and 1967 from the Egyptian army archives. I just want to add something , I am sorry for the lack of updates lately.
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.
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 .
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 forces1 , 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.
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.
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
I will have more information tomorrow including the exact location of the mass grave .