June 2009 – Egyptian POWs

Dayan Rock as a memorial for the Egyptian POWs

June 29, 2009August 13, 2010 Zeinobia 4 Comments

Moshe Dayan and the IDF left a very ugly memorial dedicated to 11 IAF pilots who were killed in 1967 in Al Arish at Sheikh Zowaid area. It is a rock scribed on its faces the names of those Israeli pilots who shut down by two Egyptian pilots in the six days war.

It is very provoking to all of us especially the people in Sinai.This is a memorial of an ugly invasion that should be removed , I do not think that in France there is a monument for the Nazis !! ??

What makes it worse is that in that particular area not less than 200 Egyptian POWs were killed in a cold blood by the IDF deliberately.

DayanÂ´s rock in Al Arish — Dayan´s rock in Al Arish

The land where that memorial is located,is owned by Shaikh “Ismail El-Khataby” . Shaikh “Ismail” wants this memorial to be removed from his land that buried many Egyptian POWs and drunk from their blood in 1967. Shaikh “Ismail” is suing the Egyptian government and is not giving up till it removes this ugly provoking piece of rock from his land.He does not want any more Israelis to come and to pay respect to their pilots over the dead bodies of our men

Shaikh “Ismail” who was a member in the National guards in 1967 still remembers till now the massacre he witnessed against the Egyptian officers ,soldiers and even civilians at Al Arish, he witnessed how the Napalm was used against the Egyptian Civilians and military alike on the 5th of June 1967 and the terrible massacre against the Egyptian POWs behind that ugly rock at the same location , in that terrible massacre not more than 200 Egyptian POWs were killed from the bank after their surrender to the IDF !!

He and another great Egyptians from the people of Al Arish buried those beautiful Egyptians by their own hands in that area and this is why he believes it is an insult to those Egyptians to have that memorial on the same land that holds them in.

I have better suggestion , instead of having that memorial dedicated to the IAF pilots ,why we do not change it to dedicate to the thousands of Egyptian POWs who were killed in 1967 in the great city of Al Arish , we got many artists I am sure who are ready to remove all those scribed on the faces of that memorial to become Egyptian.

This is a memorial on an Egyptian land and thus it must respect the feelings of the Egyptians , we will not glorify pilots who used to bomb our cities and people with Napalm for God Sake !!

Source : Wald El-Bald {Here are the most beautiful Egyptians rest}

Never Seen Before Photos

June 28, 2009June 28, 2009 Zeinobia 2 Comments

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

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

Shall I guess their fate ?? — Blindfolded POWs

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 YoussefÂ 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.

Syrian POWs in 1967

June 27, 2009June 27, 2009 Zeinobia 4 Comments

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 whatÂ precededÂ 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 ??

Syrian POWs heading back to Syria — Heading back from Atilt camp

Syrian POWs.1 — Syrian POWs Marked With "W"

To read more about the Golan invasion circumstance ,please read the following posts :

El-Mealem’s brother

June 22, 2009June 22, 2009 Zeinobia Leave a comment

Many people do not know the fact that El-Mealem Hassan Shehata’s brother was among our lost officers in 1967.Yes Hassan Shehate brother is among our men that went to Sinai in 1967 and had never returned since then. He was among that reportedly missing .The 1967 year was very special in the life of our favourite national team coach on all levels. Besides the loss of his brother ,the Egyptian league was freezed and Shehata had to travel to play in Kuwait in 1968 where it led through years to become the first Egyptian footballer to gain the title “The best footballer in Asia”.

Hassan Shehata seldomoly speaks about his family just like the rest of celebs in Egypt , I hope that he changes his mind and one day he will speak about how his family had suffered for not knowing the fate of their son whether he was killed in action or killed as a POW.

Shehata now is a world celeb ,he can be a strong ambassador to this cause just like he is strong and firm in the stadium

The Start of the Naksa

June 5, 2009June 5, 2009 Zeinobia Leave a comment

Naksa was the term the Nasserite Regime used to describe the Six days war defeat to lessen its effect.
Naksa means in Arabic “Set-back” ,the word “Defeat” was not used then.
Today is the memorial of the Naksa , our own definition of the six days war. Today from 42 years ago a human tragedy has started in Sinai where innocent people were killed brutality against international and even human laws and moral.
Today fro 42 years ago the agony of the Egyptians POWs has started and up till now it has not finished yet.
It will finish when those who killed those innocent men are punished just like the international laws say so