In this year’s six days war anniversary the Israeli Defense Army launched a twitter account “@IDF1967” in Hebrew to recount the events of the what happened in the war that changed the Middle East forever.
This account did not mention the documented war crimes committed by the IDF against the Egyptian POWs as well Egyptian citizens and Arab citizens in general during the war.
It neglected the fact that thousands of civilians in the Suez cities canal were killed in the air strikes of the IAF where the internationally banned Napalm bombs were used. Thousands of Egyptians were forced to be displaced.
Thousands of Egyptians were forced to be displaced.
Here are couple of Photos showing Israeli POWs captured in 1973 by Egyptian army Al Ahram newspaper , Egypt´s largest newspaper following the State and Alexandria Bibliotheca released online on the anniversary of October 1983 war “Yom El Kippur War”.
Today is the anniversary of the 6th of October 1973 war , today we remember all our fallen soldiers and officers as well our POWs whether in 1967 or in 1973.
Today we also remember the treatment of Israeli POWs in Egypt and how it is quite different to what our Egyptian POWs faced in 1956 and 1967.
In this occasion , I would like to share with you a rare Egyptian documentary directed by late famous director Shady Abdel Salam in 1975 about the war and the Egyptian soldiers. The documentary in Arabic includes the testimonies of Egyptian soldiers including those who had been captured by Israeli forces.
The newspaper spoke with “Said Atika” , a local from North Sinai who is concerned with the POWs file and is angry on how the government is ignoring the lost rights of his POWs who told it that “There are hundreds of POWs remains across Sinai” and that the Bedouin elderly tell him from time to time on how they buried “under that tree couple of officers” or “near that hill they buried three soldiers” ..etc.
The remains of Egyptian POWs in North Sinai "Al Masry Al Youm"
On 3th of June 1973 Syria and Israel had exchanged POWs whom were captured during the war of attrition. In 1970 Syria managed to capture 3 Israeli pilots : Captain Gideon Magen, Captain Pinchas Nahmani, and Lieutenant Boaz Eitan and sent them to the notorious Al Mazza prison. For the record those 3 pilots did not suffer 0.1 from what any Syrian citizen had suffered in that prison which has become a synonym to living cemetery during the iron fist of Hafez Al Assad rule.
Gideon Magen , the fourth from Left in Israel
On 9th of June 1972 the IDF managed to capture five Syrian officers who were in reconnaissance mission near the Golan heights.
On the 3th of June 1973 Israel and Syria exchanged their POWs , the 3 Israeli pilots for 5 Syria officers along other 41 Syrians.
Here was a photo for a Syrian POW during the exchange
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.
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 !!
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
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 must warn the Egyptian visitors that some of the shots are really shocking
The remaings of an Egyptian officerThe underwear parade Passing by Blindfolded POWsHands 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.
These are two photos I found while my search for Egyptian POWs photos ,these photos were for Syrian POWs heading back to Damascus after spending some time in infamous Atlit prison. The Syrian POWs were too few compared to the Egyptian POWs. They also left the POWs camp before the Egyptian POWs. The Syrian POWs were few because Golan was technically empty from the Syrian army by the 6th of June 1067 thanks to the withdrawal announcement issued by Hafiz Al-Assad and what preceded it from strange decision taken by Al-Assad and his men in Golan. Already the losses of the Syrian army official in 1967 war were 120 officers and soldiers !!!!!!!!
Can please someone tell me what that “W” written on their back meant or referred to ??
Heading back from Atilt campSyrian POWs Marked With "W"
To read more about the Golan invasion circumstance ,please read the following posts :
It is another shocking story about the war crimes against our officers in 1967 , of course you know that after the 5th of June 1967 the commandership of the Egyptian army gave its orders to the army to withdraw from Sinai and from Gaza , I am not going to speak about this stupid decision from unqualified commandership but this just historical introduction.
Some of our misfortune officers and soldiers who did not have time to withdraw and were captured whether in the city or its borders were taken and gathered to form some kind of circle in some square at Gaza. They were burned alive.
The people of Gaza understood what was going against our officers and so some of them offered help to officers and soldiers to escape that living hell in 1967.
Many people ignore that the PLO or what was better known as "Shokairians" then in Gaza { tribute to Ahmed Shokair the founder of PLO} were also hunted down by the IDF. I can’t forget what Fouad Hagazi ,the famous former POW and novelist said once in the TV about the murder of 16 years Palestinian boy from PLO in front of the Egyptian POWs.
These photos from 1967 , it seems that the IDF gathered hundreds of Palestinians in the Jabalia camp to interrogate them. I do not have a doubt the questions were mainly about the Egyptian army , do not forget from 1948 Gaza sector was under the Egyptian control despite in 1956 Israel invaded it for couple of months.
