Arab League condemns Israeli attacks on Egypt

Egyptian demonstrators protest outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo Representatives of Arab League states have condemned "the Israeli attack on the Egyptian forces" saying that Israel bears "full responsibility for this crime". Permanent members of the league issued the statement blasting Israel on Sunday after holding an urgent meeting in the Egyptian capital of Cairo to discuss what it called "dangerous Israeli aggression" on the Gaza Strip. Al Jazeera's Rawya Rageh reported from Egypt: "Although it is a low-level meeting, it comes as part of the apparent intensified diplomatic pressure on Israel." Earlier on Sunday, Egypt's cabinet said a statement of "regret" from the Israeli defence minister for the deaths of the five policemen was not enough. But it stopped short of saying if it would recall its ambassador to Israel. "The Israeli statement was positive on the surface, but it was not in keeping with the magnitude of the incident and the state of Egyptian anger toward Israeli actions," the official MENA news agency quoted a cabinet statement as saying on Sunday. MENA said the cabinet insisted on a timetable for an Israeli offer of a joint investigation into the deaths on Thursday as Israeli troops pursued fighters who carried out attacks earlier in the Negev that killed eight. "Egypt affirms its solicitude for maintaining peace with Israel, but Israel must also assume responsibility for protecting this peace," it said. The reaction came as thousands of Egyptians protested late on Saturday outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo, housed in the top floor of a high-rise building.
Although Egypt and Israel sought on Sunday to defuse a diplomatic crisis over the killing of five Egyptian security personnel during an Israeli operation against cross-border raiders, but crowds of over 1,000 Egyptians protested angrily at the Israeli embassy in Cairo. One demonstrator scaled several floors of the high-rise embassy building overnight to tear down the Israeli flag and replace it with an Egyptian one. The red, white and black Egyptian flag fluttered from the embassy as demonstrators cheered and chanted "Long live Egypt!" and lit fireworks in the night sky. Ahmad al-Shahat quickly shot to fame on Twitter under the name “Flagman,” with some users of the social network asking the government to name a street after him. Newspapers and one would-be Egyptian leader feted him as a hero. “Hamdeen Sabahy, the Egyptian presidential candidate, sends a salute of pride to Ahmad al-Shahat, the public hero who burned the Zionist flag that spoiled the Egyptian air for 30 years,” Mr. Sabahi said in statement. Several hundred protesters remained in front of the Israeli embassy on Sunday, watched over by hundreds of troops and police. Some demonstrators said they would stay until Israel’s ambassador is ejected from Egypt.
On Saturday afternoon, the foreign ministry summoned Israel's charge d'affaires for a reprimand. The envoy, who was summoned because the ambassador was outside the country, read out a statement by Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak expressing regret for the deaths and offering a joint probe, Egypt's foreign ministry said. Egyptian state television had reported earlier in the day that Egypt would recall its ambassador from Tel Aviv, but Israel said it received no notification of the decision. Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Yigal Palmor said that "at no time has Israel been officially notified of a recall of the Egyptian ambassador."
Egyptian officials privately said discussions on the matter were still underway and that no decision had been reached yet. One official said Egypt would not recall its envoy. After conflicting reports, Information Minister Osama Heykal was quoted by MENA as saying five policemen were killed "inside Egyptian territory as a result of an exchange of fire between Israeli forces and armed elements inside Israeli territory." Israeli officials accused Palestinian militants in Gaza, which also borders Egypt, of planning the attack and carrying it out after slipping into the Negev desert from Egyptian territory. Egypt has denied the gunmen used its territory and bristled at suggestions that it had lost control of the Sinai peninsula, where its military has been conducting a week long operation to root out Islamist militants.
Prime Minister Essam Sharaf also expressed his anger in a message on his Facebook page.
"Egyptian blood is too precious to be spilled for no reason," wrote Sharaf. "Our glorious revolution took place so that Egyptians could regain their dignity at home and abroad. What was tolerated in pre-revolution Egypt will not be in post-revolution Egypt," he said. If Egypt recalls its envoy, it would be the second time since the two neighbours made peace. Israeli ministers held an emergency meeting on Saturday night to discuss the violence while the Arab League are set for emergency talks on Sunday as Israeli air strikes and rocket attacks from Gaza continue. Earlier on Sunday, rockets fired from Gaza fell in southern Israel in a continuation of days of cross-border air strikes and rocket attacks that have left at least 30 people dead. At least 12 rockets landed on Sunday, but no serious injuries were reported, according to Israeli army officials.Two people have been injured, including one child, in the town of Beit Lahia in the Gaza Strip by a rocket fired from an Israeli drone, according to Palestinian medical sources.An Israeli man was killed on Saturday by a rocket strike in the southern city of Beersheba, while Israeli air strikes on Gaza left a Palestinian man seriously wounded. Israeli aerial attacks on Gaza have killed at least 15 people, among them gunmen and five civilians including three children, since gunmen killed eight people near the Red Sea resort of Eilat on Thursday. Israel blamed that attack on Palestinian fighters who had entered southern Israel from Gaza via Egypt. The Israeli army's chief spokesperson, Yoav Mordechai, told Israel Radio on Sunday that Israeli forces would not "not hesitate to widen its actions and to respond with as much force as is needed".
Seven other people, including two children, were wounded by more than 50 rockets fired from Gaza on Saturday. The Popular Resistance Committees (PRC) claimed responsibility for Saturday's deadly rocket strike in Beersheba. Hamas's armed wing claimed responsibility for another attack that destroyed a home in the town of Ofakim. It was the first time in months that Hamas had declared its involvement in rocket attacks against Israel, after largely observing a de facto truce since the end of a three-week offensive in January 2009. "We fired four Grad rockets at the Zionist town of Ofakim,” said a statement from the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic resistance movement Hamas. "This is our response to the crimes of the Zionist occupation after the deaths of 15 of our martyrs and dozens of injured" in Gaza, the statement from the Ezzedine Al Qassam Brigades read. World powers on Saturday expressed concern over the ongoing violence. A statement in Brussels from the diplomatic quartet of the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and the United States said they remained "concerned about the unsustainable situation in Gaza as well as the risk of escalation, and calls for restraint. Following Mubarak's overthrow, some in Israel expressed fears that the government that followed him would listen to public calls and downgrade relations with Tel Aviv. Egypt's military, which took charge after Mubarak's ouster, pledged to honor the treaty.