For Our POWs In 1973

Al Jazeera channel official website made a report about the Palestinian detainee , Mansour Mowqda who is currently jailed in Israel for murder an Israeli Veteran officer.

The story of Mansour started in early 2002 where he worked at a farmer that was owned by a veteran IDF officer , that officer one day bragged in front of Mansour on how he killed Egyptian POWs in Yom Kippur October war 1973, yes in Yom Kippur war.

Mansour told his family that the officer was speaking proudly on how the Egyptian soldiers were put under the tanks’ track to be squashed then later were buried in mass graves. He even told him that he killed the Egyptian officer who was in charge of  those soldiers with three gun shots then how he urinated over his body. Mansour could not keep his anger and killed that veteran officer/ war criminal.

Of course he was arrested later after being shot by dumdum bullets and was sentenced a life prison term. His injury went from bad to worse to worst as his lower part of his body is completely paralyzed.He had multiple major  surgeries and he needs huge medical care and attention.

The ministry of detainees affairs in the Palestinian authority’s lawyers failed in getting health parole for him yet managed to reduce his sentence from life sentence to 30 years !!

Still Mansour is being mistreated despite his illness and his disability in the prison and its hospital which are like a living hell. He does not receive the proper medical attention or care he should get. The Palestinian detainees who do not suffer from health problems already are suffering from the ill treatment in the Israeli prisons so you can imagine how people like Mansour suffer.

Mansour on his wheel chair

Mansour killed one person , a war criminal and he paid a very big price for it ; a price that I am afraid that war criminal did not pay when he killed our POWs in very cold blood.

Mansour should get a health parole , already I do not know what price he will pay more than what he is paying.

Now moving to the real war criminal here who was that veteran IDF officer , well I am not surprised at his claims in fact it is well known fact the IDF used to execute our Egyptian POWs using tanks’ tracks to save bullets and time !! That disgusting Nazi technique was used in 1967 widely across Sinai especially in Al Arish whose people remember that fearful scene of tanks moving over human beings and how that scene was directed by Ariel Sharon !!  They had done it in 1967 and so I would not be surprised that they used it in 1973.

I want to help Mansour but I feel that I am helpless , all what I can do is to write this post.

Source : Al Jazeera Net (Arabic)

A Humiliation of Human rights

Le guerre des six jours il ya 40 ans” or “40 years on the six days war” is an essay written by Chitour Chems in 2007 in the 40 anniversary of the war that changed the Middle East forever. The essay discusses the six days war and its implications up till now showing new historical revelations that the Israelis knew in advance that Nasser did not want to go unlike what they claimed and have been claiming up till now despite the confessions of the Israeli decision makers then.

Despite it is a heavy historical political essay still it contains very interesting details about the massacres against our POWs in 1967 which I will quote here the translation due to its importance.

Among the horrors that Israel was guilty, the film “Shaked Spirit” released by the Israeli state television was shock. It shows the massacres of Egyptian soldiers and officers, it opens  the war crimes file committed by Israel despite the liquidation of 250 solider could be considered  quite simple in comparison to those Egyptians and Palestinians, and even Israeli historians themselves’ testimonies that the number of prisoners were Killed in the capture was 10,000. Indeed, the number of prisoners would be killed in the capture of 10,000. In His book “The unit Shaked,” Professor Uri Milistein Gives details and counts of war crimes, Even Has A photo of Ben Eliezer with the caption: “Liquidation after the war.”  In his book “The unit Shaked,” Professor Uri Milistein counts and gives details of war crimes, even has a photo of Ben Eliezer with the caption: “Liquidation after the war.”

Among the testimonies of this book include: “I saw a man digging a hole for about 15 minutes. Then, Israeli soldiers Asked Him to throw the shovel. Then one of  them with an Uzi sub-machine gun killed him.” Israeli Historian Gabby Born, in Yediot Aharonot ” We were close enough to see the town mosque with the naked eye. On the morning of June 8, 1967, in Sinai, in the City of Arish, Israeli forces Have Systematically Executed more Than 1000 Egyptian POWs. The Israelis Asked prisoners to dig their own grave Before  Then finish them off. “ James Ennes, Former American serviceman from the USS Liberty, the American spy ship Was bombed in 1967. Fouad Riyadh former judge at the international criminal Tribunal of the Former Yugoslavia  called for the formation of an Investigation committee to investigate the Israeli crimes Against Egyptian soldiers: These crimes are quite identical to those Committed  in Bosnia.

These testimonies are not strange to us , in fact we mentioned some of them before in our website here , the question now is when these testimonies will be recognized , when these testimonies will be taken seriously whether locally or internationally

Remember Remember The 5th of June

Today was the start of the six days war from 43 years ago , today was the start of a series of war crimes against civilians and POWs alike , it is not our issue here who won the battle or who lost but rather who respected the international laws and who did not.

Many Pro-Egyptian regime writers claims that the rights of the Egyptian POWs have been restored in 1973 Yom Kippor war but they are wrong because the rights of Egyptian and Arab POWs are not restored by wars and battles but with the law , the international laws.

Many Egyptians from Alexandria to Aswan remember today their beloved ones whether fathers, brothers and sons who went to a battle they did not know anything about , they remember them and wish one day to see those who killed their beloved ones in captivity behind bars as war criminals.

Did Or Did Not Rabin Admitt it in 1995 ??

This is not the Egyptian Press , this is not the Arabic press , this is the French Press archives : A Libération article from 1995

Rabin reconnaît le massacre de soldats égyptiens par Israël

Rabin recognizes the massacre of Egyptian soldiers

According to that old article which was based upon quotes of  Israeli foreign minister and the current President now Shimon Perez to Radio Israel late prime minister Yitzhak Rabin admitted the Israeli responsibility for the IDF crimes in both Suez War and six days war in a meeting with President Mubarak in Washington D.C in 1995 during the Oslo 2 agreement.

Again this is a French newspaper not an Arabic newspaper.

I tried to search in international archives regarding this incident and I found out that the Israeli Press said the opposite as usual :

From Jerusalem Post :Rabin , Mubarak pledge not to let POW issue to ruin relations.

From that small excerpt you will see how the Israeli media fools the Israeli public claiming that “The Mubarak government has been under pressure from Islamic militants in Egypt” to readdress the issue !!?? What Islamic

Mubarak and Rabin in 1995
Mubarak and Rabin in 1995

militants !!?? It was in fact Dr. Cherif Bassiouny who spoke with president Mubarak about the matter and he is no way associated with any militant group !!?? It was clearly that the media there was using the Israeli public fear from militant groups and was claiming that they were pushing the Egyptian regime , the Mubarak regime to reopen the war crimes against the Egyptian POWs file as if Biro did not brag with his crimes !!

If you check the dates you will find it goes with what Dr.Bassiouny had revealed that Mubarak met with pressure from the States and Israel to close the file , may be Rabin admitted Israel’s responsibility in that meeting by off the record and wanted to be in that way in front of a comprise or may be he had admitted and let Clinton pressure Mubarak  to close the file and let it not to ruin the so-called neutralized relations.

Neutralized relations are not built over the war crimes which will surface again one day.

Again the first links are from a French newspaper quoting Radio Israel which for long time was considered from the reliable sources of information in the Middle East. Of course if we search now in Radio Israel archives we will not find any record for that news in 1995.

My only hope regarding this incident if it took place for real that someone in the Egyptian delegation would have the courage to say that it took place and Rabin admitted Israel’s responsibility for the murder of our POWs in 1956 and 1967

Thanks for Egyptian in France for the link

Unit 1391

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 Wikipedia : Camp 1391

Thanks for Dear friend Hossam  for reminding me with Unit 1391

Free Mossad Abu Fagr And Give The Locals Their Rights

Mossad Abu Fagr is an Egyptian blogger, writer and novelist from Sinai who is currently in jail for years now for no announced official reason.

Abu Fagr
Abu Fagr

This website does not get involved in the political issues of Egypt unrelated to our issue : The lost rights of POWs in our history but it has to speak about Mossad this time. It is a not a secret that the conditions between the locals in Sinai and the regime back in Cairo are not that good and solid due to the misunderstanding and short vision of the Egyptian regime with my all respect to it. The locals in Sinai ,especially those in Al Arish were those who buried our dead Egyptian POWs after being killed in the streets of the city by the IDF, they were the ones who gave shelter to those officers and soldiers who managed to flee from that on going carnage , they treated them if they were injured and they even helped them to return back to motherland from the occupied land despite that would cost them their lives and the lives of their beloved ones.

I believe it is the least thing we can do is we give to who those buried our men in their land and protected them all those years the right of land ownership. These people up till now remember very well where our men were buried and in fact they share the locations of the graves from generation to another least they forget and die without letting the world know about it.

Mossad was calling for that right among other rights and this is why I am speaking him on this day.

Giving the locals at Sinai the rights they want is the least thing we can do for those Egyptians who are ready to testify in front of the whole world about what happened there from more than 40 years.

The 1973 Egyptian POWs

In 1973 Egyptian POWs were captured by the IDF , of course their numbers were too small comparing to those who were captured in 1967 not to mention all the spot lights were highlighted on the Israeli POWs captured by the Egyptian side.

As expected the Egyptian POWs in 1973 like their brothers in 1967 and 1956 did not receive the same treatment which the Israeli POWs received in Egypt.

It is enough that the Egyptian POWs of 1973 are accusing the IDF of injecting them by HCV and of using them in medical experiments in Atlit prison camp. Already this would not be the first time it happens, it happened before in 1967.

Most of the Egyptian POWs of 1973 have passed away by liver cancer and hepatitis diseases which they brought with them from their capture. The only remaining Egyptian POW from them is Abdel Rahman Mohamed Kadous ,who is currently suffering from liver cancer and also the neglect of the regime. kadous once tried to sue the Israeli government but the court for some reason refused the lawsuit.

We are currently celebrating the 1973 nowadays in Egypt and I believe we should not neglect the file of the Egyptian POWs in 1973 especially on the other side we treated the Israeli POWs as it should.

Never Seen Before Photos

During the times of wars it is a normal thing that the news and the photos coming from the war zone is filtered , media is very powerful double edged weapon in time of war that can affect the people’s spirit whether positively or negatively , if you search in our modern history you will find out that during the times of war even the biggest democracies in the world had to censor and filter the news and photos coming from the war zone especially those issued by the enemy.

For that particular reason I am not surprised or shocked that the Nasser regime did not publish the photos the Israelis released to the wire services from humiliating shots to our Egyptian POWs during the captivity.There are many photos in this website Egyptians have not seen for decades , they only heard about their details and circumstance from the 1967 veterans who survived that shocking defeat , for sure the veterans accounts were even much horrible than those photos.

I have never stopped to search for new material from photos and accounts to add to the website and fortunately through our Egyptian groups in facebook I found couple of photos that led to huge patch of photos that have never been published to public in Egypt. I found the photos in Magnum Photo agency . Most of these photos were taken by Israeli photographers who accompanied the IDF during the war like for instance Micha Bar Am

Micha Bar Am on the Suez Canal in 1967
Micha Bar Am on the Suez Canal in 1967

The photos I found are very sad and can be provocative to any Egyptian , you do not have to live during that era to feel how sad to see such moments , seriously I understand why the Egyptian regime then had decided not to publish these photos. (( Of course I am totally against the decision of the regime then to lie on the public in the first hours of the defeat))

I added the new photos to the photos section in 1967 , already I will show some of them below here too

I must warn the Egyptian visitors that some of the shots are really shocking

Left on the beach
The remaings of an Egyptian officer
The underwear parade
The underwear parade
Passing By
Passing by
Shall I guess their fate ??
Blindfolded POWs
Hands up
Hands Up

This was just the tip of the ice-berg, already from the photos you find violations to international laws and human rights treaties and agreements.

In 1967 just like Micha Bar Am was in the Israeli side we had our legendary Akhbar Al Youm Photographer Ahmed Youssef  was in the Egyptian side ,he shot two set of films while the withdrawal from Gaza and Al Arish yet he hided his camera bag well before his capture in the desert by the IDF , he swore to my grandfather who was his friend and co-journalist in Akher Saa that he hided them well in some kind of boxes that would preserve them from the desert and time. The man till his death wanted so much to get back and retrieve those films because what he shot was a real evidence of war crimes against Egyptian POWs. I wish one day seriously that someone would find Ahmed Youssef’s camera.

BY the way I was very careful in my search for these lost photos because I found some photos that did not belong to the six days war and belong to other wars and other countries ; this was very sad because we do not need this.

Also if you want to save the photos or post them in your website , you are most welcome but please mention the Egyptianpows.net

The world should know what happened back then , we can get back the rights of these men if we want by law.

Does it surprise anyone ??

Does it suprise anyone in the world that the IDF would start an investigation concerning misconduct (( war crimes )) in the war of Gaza and not to reach to a  condemnation to the IDF officers and soldiers conduct ???

Well according to the investigation panel announced by the IDF,all those claims of misconduct are just rumors !!!???

I am not surprised really because the Masada army never does anything wrong !!! All that WP used was not a misconduct in fact it should be used against the civilians taking shelter in UN buildings !!!!!

This is an expected result ,already this investigation was announced to enhance the ugly image of the IDF in the world after the Gaza war.

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