Tag: Egypt

Another important testimony from important witness.

Zeinobia 2 Comments

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.Shiekh Mahmoud El-Sawukra

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

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On the 4th of June From 41 years ago

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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.

I know that there were officers who had dreams that they would spend the summer in Haifa on the 4th of June and I also know that there were officers who had dreams that they would be another 1961 war alert and no actual war would take place and thus they would return back to their homes and families safely. I Know that there were huge numbers of young men from the country side whether from Nile Delta or Upper Egypt enlisted as soldiers ; who arrived in Sinai without their miliatry overall that did not know what they were doing there.

I know that back in Cairo the commandership whether the political one or the military one had their own battle between them to be busy in the real battle. I know that the Political leadership represented in Nasser did not believe that Israel would attack  ((according to his own early statements to the Egyptian air forces))and the military leadership represented in Amar  believed that after the war he would be ruling the whole middle East not only Egypt

It was only matter of hours that dreams would come an end and a nightmare would replace them , a living nightmare that parts of the Arab world would suffer from till now

The POWs in a nation in waiting

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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

Another thing I may not agree with President Mubarak’s policies as a President of State but I can’t deny what he had presented to this country as an EAF commander who helped in the reconstruction of the EAF after its semi-destruction in the six days war.

New theory about USS Liberty

Zeinobia 8 Comments

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.

I will not go any further but I recommend that you watch this little clip from the USS Liberty Memorial website , it seems that Egypt the whole world survived another world war

The foreign ministry is officially responsible of the POW Case in Egypt

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On the 5th of March 2008, the Administrative court in Cairo issued a historical ruling oblighing the Egyptian foreign ministry to investigate the allegations that the Israeli Defense Forces “IDF” had killed Egyptian POWs in 1956 and 1967.

egyptianow-apThe court ordered the Egyptian foreign 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

The importance of that rule is that it is an official obligation on the Foreign ministry.

The ministry should open an immediate investigation in this important case.This court order comes as the end of a very long lawsuit filed against the Egyptian government by the families of the POWs and ex-POWs

The 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 nor 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. 

Were they killed in 1949 or in 1906 ??

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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

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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

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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