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Egyptian Parties And Forces Call For Expelling Israeli Ambassador
by Mohamed Gamal Arafa & Megahed Meligi
CAIRO (IslamOnline) - Egyptian political parties and forces have been praising Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s decision to recall the Egyptian Ambassador from Tel Aviv, and are asking for more acts to deter Israel.
The Wafd, Grouping and Nasserite Parties, as well as the Muslim Brotherhood (Ikhwan al-Muslimeen) and Egyptian intellectuals, have issued statements hailing the Egyptian government’s decision and are calling for the Israeli Ambassador to Egypt to be expelled as well.
Meanwhile, many Egyptian newspapers attacked Israel and the Israeli Ambassador, urging him to leave the country.
Samir Ragab, Board Chairman and Chief Editor of Al-Gomhouria, a government-run newspaper, wrote a column on Wednesday, saying: “What is Israel waiting for in order to withdraw its ambassador from Cairo?”
Addressing the Israelis, Ragab said: “Good [riddance] it would be, if you withdrew the ambassador. The Israeli Ambassador is a figure loathed by every single Egyptian who would not even like to hear his name.”
Galal Dweidar, Chief Editor of Al-Akhbar, another government-run newspaper, wrote an editorial entitled “We Cannot Remain Patient Too Long.” He indicated that the U.S.’s threat to exercise veto power in the U.N. Security Council has led to the current situation.
Nabil Zaki, Chief Editor of Al-Ahali, a weekly Leftist newspaper and mouthpiece of the Grouping Party, said: “We are waiting for the expulsion of their ambassador.”
The General Guide of the Muslim Brotherhood described Egypt’s decision to recall its ambassador from Tel Aviv as “a courageous step.” He asserted that the Ikhwanites expected the Egyptian leadership would take bigger steps to return the usurped right to the Palestinians and liberate the al-Aqsa Mosque and the Holy City of Jerusalem.
Sheikh Mustafa Mashhour, the Ikhwan General Guide, called for monitoring moves of the “Zionist enemy’s” government in order to undermine measures it adopts from the beginning.
The Brotherhood alo issued a statement on the Egyptian President’s decision saying that it welcomed Mubarak’s decision to recall the Egyptian Ambassador from the state of the Zionist entity in protest against brutal and savage assaults, placing the Palestinian people under heavy barrage.
The Brotherhood’s statement hoped that more measures would be taken because Israel was still continuing its aggression. The statement also hoped that this Egyptian measure would be a step on the way of realizing the Egyptian people’s ambitions of boosting the Palestinian people’s uprising and supplying them with all that guarantee the continuation of their resistance till their fair requests of liberating their lands from the Zionist occupation are achieved.
The Arab Democratic Nasserite Party showed its satisfaction with the decision of recalling the Egyptian Ambassador. It urged all political parties and forces in Egypt and the Arab world to “take more effective steps.”
In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Party said: “Time is ripe for an Arab awakening under which the governments should heed to the people’s hopes, dreams and ambitions. Peace cannot be achieved except through justice, which, in turn, cannot be achieved except after expelling the occupation forces and returning the Palestinian Arab people to their land.”
No’man Gomaa, Chairman of the Wafd Party, also issued a statement in support of Mubarak’s decisive step.
“The Wafd Party stands in solidarity with President Mubarak regarding the adoption of other steps to defend the Palestinian people vis-à-vis brutal attacks launched by the Zionist enemy on them,” said Gomaa.
“The Zionist escalation of its attacks proves that Zionism is the main foe of humanity and it is time for responding to the Zionist attack on the Palestinian people,” he said.
The Wafd Party Chairman condemned the Zionist land, air and sea bombing of Palestinian cities and villages, saying that this bombardment was aimed at destroying the infrastructure of the nascent Palestinian state, causing heavy human losses to the Palestinians.
“This bombardment is unaccepted,” he said.
The (Leftist) Unionist Progressive National Grouping Party issued a statement immediately before the Egyptian Ambassador was recalled, urging the Egyptian people to extend all possible forms of aid to the Palestinian people and their national authority.
The statement urged Arab regimes to immediately start implementing resolutions they reached during the Arab summit and take measures meant to step up pressures on Israel.
The statement asked the Egyptian government to recall its ambassador from Israel, consider the representative of the Zionist aggressors persona non grata, stop all forms of normalization of relations with Israel and freeze all agreements signed jointly by the Egyptian and Israeli governments.
The statement also called upon the Egyptian government to support popular moves and allow Egyptians to express their solidarity with their Palestinian brothers.
The Grouping Party also asked the Egyptian government to extend moral, material and medical support to the Palestinians.
A number of Egyptian intellectuals issued a statement praising the recall. They urged Arab and Islamic governments to rise up to the hopes and emotions of their peoples.
The statement issued on Tuesday, expressed concern about Israeli aggression against unarmed Palestinians. The intellectuals expressed their full solidarity and limitless support of the al-Aqsa uprising heroes who face occupation bullets with their bare breasts.
Their statement also urged all committees formed to back the uprising and boycott Israel to unite in order to play an active role in imposing a boycott on the Israeli state, and taking more practical measures in this regard.
On the other hand, the first Egyptian popular mission to support the Palestinian uprising planned to move Thursday morning from the Egyptian Press Syndicate. The mission, organized by the Popular Committee on Expressing Solidarity with the Palestinian Uprising, will head for the Palestinian territories via the Rafah checkpoint, carrying medicines and foodstuffs.
Committee officials informed the Egyptian Foreign Ministry of the mission. The Ministry welcomed the step. Moreover, the Committee received a message from Egyptian Foreign Minister Amr Moussa, welcoming the measure that “comes within the framework of the Palestinian people’s legitimate struggle to resist occupation, determine their fate and establish their independent state.”
The message said that the Ministry was ready to extend any sort of help to facilitate dispatching the Committee’s mission to the occupied Palestinian territories.
More than 200 political leading figures, unionists, intellectuals and activists in the fields of non-governmental organizations and human rights formed the Popular Committee immediately after the eruption of the al-Aqsa uprising.
In its declaration of foundation, the committee said: “It has been formed to express solidarity with the Palestinian people that steadfastly resist the Zionist racial attack.”
The Committee started its work with collecting one million signatures on two statements. The first will be directed to U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan to urge him to form an international committee to investigate Israeli aggression on the Palestinian people, protect the Palestinians, and approve the Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their land.
The second statement calls for comprehensively boycotting Israeli and American commodities and goods.
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