Angry Egypt calls back Israel envoy
Source: Agencies |
August 21, 2011, Sunday
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EGYPT said yesterday it would recall its ambassador from Israel to protest the deaths of at least three Egyptian troops killed in a shootout between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian militants who had launched a deadly attack on Israel from Egyptian soil.
The move sharply escalated tensions between the neighboring countries, whose 1979 peace treaty is being tested by the fall of Egypt's longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.
Egypt's interim government accused Israel of violating that treaty and demanded an apology, saying the envoy would be withdrawn until Israel concludes its investigation into the Egyptian soldiers' deaths. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the Israeli government was holding consultations on the Egyptian move.
The Cabinet, which was appointed by the ruling military council that took over power after Mubarak's ouster, revised an earlier statement saying the envoy, Yasser Reda, would be summoned for consultation - something that would have signaled a lower-level spat. Israel was likely to see that as a worrisome sign that Egypt's new leaders would be more responsive to public opinion about the Jewish state, which remains overwhelmingly unpopular because of its conflict with the Palestinians.
Israeli officials insisted the peace treaty was "stable" despite the developments.
The cross-border attack has raised concerns about the increasingly lawless Sinai Peninsula, whose porous borders with both Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip make it an attractive staging ground for Palestinian militant attacks on Israel. Israel says Gaza militants armed with guns, explosives, mortars and an anti-tank missile, killed eight Israelis in a roadside ambush on Thursday after infiltrating Israel through Sinai.
The Egyptian troops were killed as Israeli soldiers went after the Palestinian militants. Israel has offered conflicting accounts about how the Egyptians were killed.
The move sharply escalated tensions between the neighboring countries, whose 1979 peace treaty is being tested by the fall of Egypt's longtime leader Hosni Mubarak.
Egypt's interim government accused Israel of violating that treaty and demanded an apology, saying the envoy would be withdrawn until Israel concludes its investigation into the Egyptian soldiers' deaths. Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said the Israeli government was holding consultations on the Egyptian move.
The Cabinet, which was appointed by the ruling military council that took over power after Mubarak's ouster, revised an earlier statement saying the envoy, Yasser Reda, would be summoned for consultation - something that would have signaled a lower-level spat. Israel was likely to see that as a worrisome sign that Egypt's new leaders would be more responsive to public opinion about the Jewish state, which remains overwhelmingly unpopular because of its conflict with the Palestinians.
Israeli officials insisted the peace treaty was "stable" despite the developments.
The cross-border attack has raised concerns about the increasingly lawless Sinai Peninsula, whose porous borders with both Israel and the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip make it an attractive staging ground for Palestinian militant attacks on Israel. Israel says Gaza militants armed with guns, explosives, mortars and an anti-tank missile, killed eight Israelis in a roadside ambush on Thursday after infiltrating Israel through Sinai.
The Egyptian troops were killed as Israeli soldiers went after the Palestinian militants. Israel has offered conflicting accounts about how the Egyptians were killed.
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