Literature is known to be the mirror of the society and its share from its social and political defeats and triumphs especially when it is inspired by real events like wars.
In 1960 one of Israel’s finest authors and playwrights Aharon Megged wrote a novel called “The fortunes of a fool” which
Aharon Megged
was published in 1960 , the novel is about the Suez war and its reflection on the hero of the novel , the fool who suffers in his social life to the degree that he wishes to kill himself finding a final resort in a terrible war.
In the 310 pages novel there is a whole chapter dedicated to the military tribunal of that fool hero who refused to follow his commanders’ orders and kill the Egyptian POWs he was guarding where there is that interesting dialogue between the judge and the fool hero showing how the Israeli military establishment supported and approved ((still does)) the murder of unarmed Arab POWs.
There is no doubt that Megged did not imagine that tribunal and that support to POWs murder from nothing , there is no smoke without fire, already in 1956 Israeli military correspondent then Amir Oren wrote about the Metla massacre then in Israeli newspaper “Davar“. There is no doubt that Megged was inspired by Oren’s reports where he wrote that whole chapter in that novel to represent his hero as a fool in the eyes of a military establishment.
“The fortunes of a fool” was translated in to English in 1962 in the United States. I do not know if it has been translated
Fortunes of a fool
in to Arabic or not despite the fact that other Megged’s have been translated in the Arab world as an example to the contemporary Israeli literature. This novel shows the importance of reading and translating the Israeli literature which is another window to understand the Israeli and Zionist mindsets. I knew about this novel from a 2009 op-ed by Dr. Ibrahim El-Bahrawy ((professor of Hebrew in Ain Shams university)) who was among the first to introduce examples from Israeli literature to the Egyptian and Arabic readers since early 1970s.
One may wonder how the Egyptians treated Israeli POWs , Maj. Gen. Hassan Al-Gandali, a former chief of operations of the Egyptian army, said there were a number of Israeli POWs in Egyptian camps in 1973. “We were very much concerned about their welfare, though we were aware of the way the Israelis had dealt with our POWs under their custody,” Hassan said.
“As I was the chief of operations, I accompanied Egyptian Defense Minister Musheer Ahmad Ismail to the camp in which Col. Esaf Yagouri and 150 prisoners were kept. On seeing us the prisoners looked so terrified as they seemed to think that we were going to send them to the firing squad in return for what Israel had done to the Egyptian POWs in the past. On the other hand, Musheer told them that he did not blame them for obeying the orders of their superiors though it was to occupy a territory belonging to another country. ‘However, you will be treated in line with the Geneva Conventions. So you have nothing to worry about,’ Musheer said.
“Then he asked the commander of the camp about the sick POWs and took special care of them. He also ordered the camp commander to take the POWs for sightseeing in Cairo, including a trip to the pyramids and a boat ride on the Nile. After a few moments of disbelief the prisoners broke into a deafening applause. This is how the Egyptians treat their prisoners of war.”
I am not surprised from this reaction despite the fact that the Israeli media is misleading the Israeli people because actually several IDF generals and historians have admitted by the crimes committed against the Egyptian POWs whether in 1956 or 1967 themselves before we ever speak.
BY the way there is news that the Israeli government is thinking in suing El Dostor for disturbing the Egyptian-Israeli Relations !!! If this happens then Al Dostor and Wael Mmdouh managed to hit the nerves of the Israeli government. All what I fear now is the graves found by Wael Mmdouh to be removed by the Egyptian regime.
I did a quick online interview with Egyptian journalist Wael Mmdouh who re-opened again the Egyptian POWs file in the Egyptian media in a way like no other. I asked him several questions about his report and he was kindly enough to answer my questions.
Egyptian POWs.net: what made you search for the mass graves of the Egyptian POWs in this way that one has ever done and that was the beginning of the interview??
Journalist Wael Mmdouh
At first I was not sure that I was going to find mass grave like I have done, I only wanted to prove that these mess graves do exist; through research and the cooperation of the locals I was able to be sure completely that there are mass graves and thus I started to take this lead with the help of some of the locals; I also looked for eye witnesses to tell me the circumstance of the POWs murder and its right time and date.
Egyptian POWs.net: Did you meet any difficulties while talking with the locals??
Of course I did meet several difficulties while talking with the locals in the area , especially it is a desert area that does not accept strangers easily which made even harder ; the people there do not accept to speak with strangers easily and they never trust them at all.
At the end I was able to find some locals who had strong relations with eyes witnesses and those took care to win the confidence of the people there and assuring that I only seek the truth and that no names would be mentioned if requested and that what happened.
Still despite all this we met difficulties, for instance after agreeing with one of the sources near the Halal mount to speak and after long time in the way to get him, we found him refusing to speak to us ; I had to thank him in the end despite I could not document his testimony nor did he guide us to that mass grave “which is the biggest” between the mass graves I found yet this did not stop me to search for the rest mass graves and find them in the end besides documenting the witnesses’ testimonies.
Egyptian POWs.net: Did the security or the official authorities stand against the research or there was not an interest or completely absence!!??
This did not happen because I took my precautions in order to finish my reportage without the knowledge of the authorities and this is better because I can’t be their reaction for reportage like this; the authorities did not know about my reportage except when it was published.
Egyptian POWs.net: What was your feeling when you hold the bones of our POWs in your hand??
Frankly I can’t describe my feeling then, it was so difficult that you can imagine and it is enough to say that I stop working and speaking after burying the bones that appeared in the video. I could not continue working; I did not say one single word except after leaving the middle zone.
Egyptian POWs.net: Why did not you show the complete video especially in the mass graves in Dostor Channel??
It was for technical reasons, as YouTube does not allow long news material or documentaries, still it was required to be a short news report to support the story with photos and videos. I recorded long interviews but it would take long time to upload and download which will be bad for the readers. Already there is an idea to produce a long documentary with the testimonies and footage for the mass graves.
Egyptian POWs.net: Are there more pictures for the mass graves??
Yes there are more photos that will be published later in Dostor newspaper and its official websites for the sites as a follow up.
Egyptian POWs.net: Has there been any official reaction you knew about regarding this reportage??
Officially there has been no reaction as if this reportage were published in another country, as if these soldiers were not Egyptians but off the record I know from personal sources that there are Egyptian Israeli moves to absorb the situation and not to escalate it like the gas issue, well I hope they fail.
Egyptian POWs.net: Will there be new material added to the report??
Of course there will be more to be revealed in the coming days especially the reportage was met with huge successful as I got many phone calls from people who want to document their testimonies and the physical evidences they have concerning the occupation era, this besides the people of Rafah, Sheikh Zowaid and on the borders villages who wanted to talk about the mass graves they found and feared to talk about. I think this report will continue and I will discover through it the biggest number of Israeli crimes to be documented.
Egyptian POWs.net: Did you document any of the sites on maps like Google maps??
It has not been done yet but I have the coordination of the middle zone on paper maps in order to prepare more precise maps to include the new cemeteries in the coming days.
Dostor weekly today published their big report about the mass graves of our POWs in Sinai today and from here I would like to thank journalist Wael Mamdouh for his time and effort in doing such great report alone , Mamdouh has already done something I always wanted to do and still want to , to take my camera and record by word , picture and video these mass graves to prove to our just case.
Dostor newspaper has put the government or rather the regime in to a corner and unfortunately I think the regime will ignore the whole matter again because of many reasons most of us know , this report I believe is just like these reports in the media that prove the failure of this regime on every single level.
Back to the Dostor report , you can find it here in Arabic . The report is about the massacres that happened against our officers and soldiers on the 5th and 6th of June 1967 in Al Arish valley area or as it was known then as the “First Defense Line”or as it is known to the locals there now “The Black Zone”
The report includes testimonies from the locals and one of the Egyptian POW survivors who escaped death in 1967 , this besides the photos and the video from the mass graves themselves showing the bone.
Stay tuned for more coverage insh Allah , please spread this post
After few hours Dostor Weekly issue will hit the newsstand with a new scoop that probably will cause a lot of stir in the Egyptian-Israeli relations. Dostor will publish astonishing details about a new POW mass grave found in Sinai supported by video and photos.
According to OnTv’s “headline” show this mass grave is in the middle zone of Sinai. The middle zone of Sinai if I am not mistaken is at the Metla passages , already this is a strategic military zone in Sinai.
Wait for more coverage insh Allah.
I do not know yet the details and the background of this mass grave but I know that this area was badly damaged in the heavy rains that hit Sinai from couple of months ago so may be these heavy rains were not a curse but rather a bless as they revealed a hidden crime under the sand after all those decades.
Wait for more coverage insh Allah
Update
Here is the episode of “Headline” show discussing the Egyptian POW mass graves found in Sinai with Egyptian journalist Wael Mamdouh of Dostor.Unlike what I though earlier these mass graves were not newly found , they have been known all the time by the locals in Sinai as they used to bury our men properly after the departure of the murderers. Wael Mamdouh documented everything including the remains of the POWs cloths found in the scene and kept by the locals besides their testimonies. Until this moment the locals there know the names of the officers who committed these crimes and are ready to testify against them.
A very interesting piece of information Mamdouh found in his research that the Israelis did not care that much to hide their crimes against our POWs in Sinai because they thought that Sinai would be theirs forever but after the 1973 war and also during the Camp David negotiations they began to fear that their crimes with their hard evidence would be exposed and thus they found a way to hide it, they planted landmines in the big cemeteries !!
The Egyptian media did not include a little piece of detail in its coverage to Israeli prime minister Netanyahu´s visit to President Mubarak at his Sharm El-Sheikh residence where he is staying till full recovery from his surgery in Germany. The Egyptian media forgot to mention that Binyamin Ben-Eliezer will accompany Bibi to meet Mubarak because “as Ynet News described it” he is known to have good personal relations with President Mubarak and the higher ranks of the Egyptian government !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Mubarak and Bibi today in Sharm
The war criminal of Shaked has good personal relations with Mubarak !!?? This is very dangerous claim by the Israeli press which they intended to spread even before the visit by two days !! Already the Israeli media knows very well how we look to Ben-Eliezer as a war criminal.
I do not care how good or strong our official relations but having a personal good relations with Mubarak or those higher rank of the Egyptian government will not change the fact that Binyamind Ben-Eliezer is a war criminal and one day he will pay for his crimes against the Egyptian and Arab POWs.
Today Egypt remembered the 25th of April which is known in our national calendar as the Sinai liberation day. Today from 28 years ago the Egyptian flag returned back to Sharm El-Sheikh leaving only Taba for a long legal international dispute between Egypt and Israel to be ended only after six years on the 26th of February 1989.
Remembering the 25th of April does not include remembering how the Sinai returned back to us whether through war or through peace or those great men who returned it back but all those men who gave their blood for Sinai whether as fighters or as POWs. God bless them all.
Truth always comes in the end regardless of how many years and how many attempts to hide it and the truth of Unit 1391 was a proof on this.
The world had a chance in 2003 to know Unit 1391 but unfortunately it missed this chance for some reason thanks to the media that ignored it or rather believed so easily that Israel’s first known secret detention came better known as Unit 1391 had been shut down , well for sure it is shut down but there are for sure many secret detention prisons worse that unit 1391 in that country.
That secret detention is only one in a big series of secret prisons there and I do not have to bet that it had been used not only against Palestinian Political prisoners but also against Arab POWs including the Lebanese and Egyptian POWs , it had been used for sure since the time of the British forces.According to several Lebanese sources this prison which could not be found on official maps was used during the Israeli invasion to Lebanon in 1980s and several Lebanese Amal movement POWs were transferred there and never were seen again. May be the high ranked Egyptian POW from officers were taken there from Atlit camp to there for interrogation as several Egyptian POWs remember that several Egyptian POWs were taken from the camp and did not return back , there were not seen again whether dead or alive in the camp.
Unit 1319 may have been closed on papers but I am sure it is still open by a different name in different location. It is not enough to close its file ,the torture and human rights crimes do not fall by seniority I am afraid.
From 40 years ago the IAF attacked a small village in Egypt called Bahar El-Baqar targeting a small 3 classrooms school , that school was named after the village : Bahar El-Baqar primary school.
The Israelis attacked the school claiming that they had mistaken it for a military facility , the result of their mistake as usual was 30 dead students not to mention the injured.
Bahar El-Baqr school massacre is just one bloody page in the Israeli army book of war crimes. 40 years have passed and strangely despite the official neglect the people still remember it , the name of “Bahar El-Baqar” has been immortalized in our Egyptian memory forever whether by a small dramatic scene in film starring Magda or Poem by Egypt’s Saleh Jahin that was sang by Shadia
Bahar El-Baqar raids according to international standards now are a war crime.
Remembering Bahar El-Baqar and paying respect to its victims won’t affect our relations with Israel on the contrary it will send a message to the whole world that Egypt never forgets her children
