Egypt, Israel seek normality after embassy storming (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt and Israel said on Sunday they wanted a return to normal diplomatic activities after the Israeli ambassador flew home following the storming of the embassy in Cairo during violent protests.

Egypt's army, which took over when Hosni Mubarak was ousted on February 11, has struggled to quell public fury against Israel since five Egyptian border guards were killed last month when Israel repelled cross-border raiders it said were Palestinian.

The United States called on Egypt to protect the mission. Washington has given billions of dollars in military and other aid since 1979 when Egypt became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel.

Israel said it was in talks about returning Ambassador Yitzhak Levanon and his staff but wanted security assurances.

"The security in front of the embassy has been enhanced," cabinet spokesman Mohamed Higazy told Reuters. "Returning back to normalcy is the objective for both sides."

About 16 trucks full of police and security personnel, three buses of military police, two armored personnel carriers and other vehicles were parked near the embassy on Sunday.

Protesters marched on the embassy on Friday in the second major flare-up since the shooting.

First they tore down a wall erected to protect the embassy. Then they stormed it and clashed with police through the night.

"Those who rip down flags ... they are negating peace and the country," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told his cabinet, adding that Israel would stick to the peace deal.

"I am glad there are other forces in Egypt, including the Egyptian government, that are interested in advancing peace."

MONITORING THE SCENE

Traffic passed smoothly through a junction that a day before had been strewn with bits of concrete and debris. Charred police vehicles were in a side street near the embassy, located on the upper floors of a tower block next to the Nile.

The front pages of Israeli newspapers carried photographs of jubilant Egyptian flag-waving demonstrators on the balcony of the embassy. Other photos showed a tense Netanyahu, in a polo shirt, monitoring the scene on television.

Some Egyptian newspapers showed scenes of the protests. Al-Akhbar showed protesters breaking down the wall around the embassy with a metal pole and smoke coming from what it said was a document store room in the embassy.

Other newspapers carried photos of army vehicles deployed to secure the area.

In Iran, a fierce opponent of Israel which it refers to as the Zionist entity, one newspaper headline read: "Egyptian revolutionaries seized the den of Zionists." Media compared it to the 1979 seizure by students of the U.S. embassy in Tehran.

"All Muslim governments should close down embassies of the Zionist regime in their countries, before their nations take an action similar to Egyptian revolutionaries," Iranian MP Alaeddin Boroujerdi was quoted by Fars news agency as saying.

Egypt said it would try those behind the violence swiftly in emergency state security courts. Egypt has detained 111 people in connection with the incident, the official state news agency reported. Three people were killed and more than 1,000 injured.

Many Egyptians sympathize with the sentiments of those demonstrating against Israel, but activists, politicians and ordinary citizens have also criticized the violence.

"I don't want him (the ambassador) to come back because Israel doesn't respect anyone, but if they are in our country, then we should be able to protect them," said Mohamed Kamhawy, 28, an engineer working two blocks from the embassy site.

Ahmed Amr, 23, another engineer, said: "Tearing down the wall was right. They shouldn't have built it in the first place. But invading the embassy was wrong."

Some Egyptians are frustrated that Egypt did not take sterner measures against Israel after the border shooting. At the time, Egypt said it would withdraw its ambassador but did not carry through with the threat.

Israel has stopped short of apologizing, saying it is still investigating the Egyptian deaths, which occurred during an operation against gunmen who had killed eight Israelis.

Israel is finding itself increasingly at odds with formerly sympathetic states in the region. It is embroiled in a feud with Turkey, once the closest of its few Muslim allies, over an Israeli raid last year that killed nine Turks on a flotilla bound for Gaza.

Egypt's ties with Israel, though never warm, were a pillar of Mubarak's foreign policy and buttressed his claim to be a regional mediator. Under Mubarak, displays of hostility to Israel were swiftly crushed by security forces.

(Additional reporting by Jeffrey Heller in Jerusalem and Parisa Hafezi in Tehran; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Andrew Heavens and David Cowell)

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Egypt vows to try those who targeted Israel mission (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt vowed on Saturday to try those behind the violence that drove Israel to evacuate its ambassador from Cairo, heaping pressure on army rulers to respond to public fury against the Jewish state while fending off U.S. criticism.

Washington, which has poured billions of dollars of military aid into Egypt since it made peace with Israel in 1979, urged Cairo to protect the mission after protesters hurled embassy documents and the Israeli flag from the windows of the building.

Three people were killed and 1,049 wounded in the clashes that began on Friday and raged on into the early hours of Saturday around the Cairo tower block housing the embassy, the Health Ministry said. Police and soldiers had fired shots in the air and teargas to disperse the crowd, who hurled stones at them.

Egypt's army, under pressure to give power to civilians after taking over from toppled ex-president Hosni Mubarak, must balance public calls for a more assertive policy toward Israel with maintaining ties that bring it cash and top-notch U.S. hardware.

"Egypt witnessed a harsh day that inflicted pain and worry on all Egyptians. It is clear that the behavior of some threatens the Egyptian revolution," Information Minister Osama Hassan Heikal said in a televised statement.

Egypt would transfer those in custody or "involved in inciting or participating in (Friday's) events to the emergency state security court," the minister said, adding that Cairo would use emergency laws still in place to protect the nation.

Protesters lit tyres in the street and at least two vehicles were set alight near the embassy. Many had come from a demonstration earlier on Friday in central Cairo calling for the army to end emergency law and speed up other reforms.

"Our dignity has been restored," said Mohi Alaa, 24, a protester near the site of the overnight clashes. Bits of concrete and bullet casings were strewn over the street.

"We don't want the Americans' money," he said, showing the greater readiness of many Egyptians to express resentment of Israel and the United States and anger at Israel's treatment of the Palestinians, after decades of pragmatic official relations.

Some 500 protesters stayed after dawn and a few threw stones at police, who gradually pushed them away and secured the area around the embassy, located on the upper floors of a residential block overlooking the Nile.

AMBASSADOR EVACUATED

It was the second big eruption of violence at the embassy since five Egyptian border guards were killed last month when Israel repelled cross-border raiders it said were Palestinians. Egypt then briefly threatened to withdraw its envoy to Israel.

Israel has stopped short of apologizing, saying it is still investigating the Egyptian deaths, which occurred during an operation against gunmen who had killed eight Israelis.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will make a statement at 1730 GMT (1:30 p.m. EDT) on Saturday about the Cairo violence, his office said.

Israeli ambassador Yitzhak Levanon, staff and family members arrived home on Saturday, but one diplomat stayed in Egypt to maintain the embassy, an Israeli official said.

The information minister's statement followed a crisis meeting between Prime Minister Essam Sharaf and other ministers as well as talks with Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, who heads the military council that has ruled Egypt since Mubarak resigned on February 11.

State television said the military council rejected Sharaf's offer to resign.

Israel is finding itself increasingly at odds with formerly sympathetic states in the region. It is already embroiled in a feud with Turkey, once the closest of its few Muslim allies, over its treatment of the Palestinians.

Egypt's ties with Israel, though never warm, were a pillar of Mubarak's foreign policy and buttressed his claim to be a regional mediator. Mubarak regularly met Israeli officials.

Under Mubarak, Egyptians could never show such hostility to Israel without a crushing security response. That has changed. Police came down hard but could not contain the anger.

U.S. DEMANDS

President Barack Obama called on Egypt to "honor its international obligations" and protect the Israeli mission. He told Israel's Netanyahu that Washington was taking steps to resolve the situation.

Egypt is committed to "fully respect all its international obligations regarding protecting and safeguarding international diplomatic missions on its soil," the state MENA news agency quoted Foreign Minister Mohamed Kamel Amr as saying.

An Israeli official said the ambassador, staff and family members had left in one plane and a second one had brought home six Israeli security personnel who had been left guarding the embassy, protected from the crowd only by a reinforced door until Egyptian troops extracted them.

"The fact that Egyptian authorities ultimately acted with determination is laudable. With that said, Egypt cannot let slide this harsh blow to the fabric of relations with Israel and the gross violation of international norms," Netanyahu said in a statement. He also thanked Washington for its role.

British Prime Minister David Cameron condemned the embassy attack and urged Egypt to protect diplomatic property.

Some Egyptian politicians and activists criticized the violence, even if they backed the anti-Israel demonstration.

Presidential candidate Hamdeen Sabahy called for the army to take a "serious stance matching the public anger" toward Israel but said violence sullied the image of Egypt's uprising.

Last month, a man scaled the embassy building, took down Israel's flag and replaced it with Egypt's. Protests continued daily but did not turn violent until the latest flare-up.

In response to the protests, the authorities had erected a wall around the building, which was quickly defaced with anti-Israel slogans and then painted in Egypt's national colors.

On Friday, the wall was torn down after a demonstration in Cairo's Tahrir Square calling for speedier reforms and a deeper purge of officials who worked for Mubarak, the former president on trial on charges including conspiring to kill protesters.

(Reporting by Yasmine Saleh, Mohamed Abdellah, Seham Eloraby and Sami Aboudi in Cairo, Dan Williams in Jerusalem, and Christopher Wilson and Timothy Gardner in Washington; Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Alistair Lyon/Ruth Pitchford)

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Egypt, Israel try to defuse tension over killings (Reuters)

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt and Israel sought 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 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.

Ahmad al-Shahat quickly shot to fame on Twitter under the name "Flagman," while 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," Sabahi said in statement.

The crisis began when five Egyptian security personnel died as Israeli forces pursued a Palestinian faction who killed eight people in southern Israel Thursday. Israel said the group entered Israel from the Hamas-run Gaza Strip via Egypt's Sinai desert.

Several hundred protesters remained in front of the Israeli embassy near the Nile waterfront Sunday, watched over by hundreds of troops and police. Some said they would stay until Israel's ambassador is ejected from Egypt.

A protest of any size near the Israeli embassy would have been quickly smothered by state security in the era of former President Hosni Mubarak.

The Cairo-based Arab League condemned "the Israeli attack on the Egyptian forces" in a statement and said Israel bore "full responsibility for this crime."

However, there were signs that Egypt and Israel were both trying to ease the gravest crisis in their relations since longtime ruler Mubarak's overthrow in February.

Egypt said Saturday it would recall its ambassador from Israel after the killings, but it was unclear if the withdrawal would go ahead. The Foreign Ministry summoned the Israeli charge d'affaires to protest and demand a joint investigation.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel regretted the deaths and told the army to conduct the investigation with Egypt, which responded with cautious approval.

A delegation led by an unidentified high-ranking Israeli envoy arrived in Cairo on a private plane from Tel Aviv on Sunday to a low-key reception, airport sources said. Four cars drove onto the tarmac to whisk the delegation away.

The head of Egypt's ruling military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, met with ministers in a crisis management committee Sunday to discuss the events in Sinai, state media said.

Barak said: "We highly appreciate the responsibility the Egyptian government is showing (regarding) the peace agreement and I expressed directly the Israeli regret at the loss of life of Egyptian security people during the incident."

EGYPTIAN AMBASSADOR RECALLED?

The spat has highlighted the dilemma faced by the generals now ruling Egypt, caught between pressure to preserve the 1979 peace treaty with Israel and popular hostility to the Jewish state, perceived as trampling on national dignity.

It was unclear if Egypt's ambassador in Israel had returned home and a strongly-worded initial statement announcing his withdrawal was removed from a government website, prompting speculation that Cairo might have retracted its decision.

A spokesman said the cabinet stood by statements made by its information minister, but declined to comment on the recall of the ambassador, which was also reported by state media.

The army is trying to keep a lid on social tensions as Egypt prepares for elections later in the year as part of a promised transition to democratic civilian rule after Mubarak's removal.

Egypt's condemnation of Israel in a statement after a second cabinet crisis meeting Saturday was unusually blunt.

"Egyptian blood is not cheap and the government will not accept that Egyptian blood gets shed for nothing," state news agency MENA quoted a cabinet statement as saying.

The Israeli decision to work with Egypt to investigate the killings is "positive in appearance but does not fit with the weight of the incident and the state of Egyptians' outrage from the Israeli actions', MENA added.

MORE ROCKET FIRE FROM GAZA

The Israeli military killed the leadership of the faction it said was responsible for last week's attack in an air strike in Gaza Thursday and launched more than a dozen more raids on Friday. Medical officials say at least 15 Palestinians have been killed, including five civilians, three of them children.

Arab League Secretary-General Nabil Elaraby called the Israeli air attacks on Gaza a "war crime."

"We ask the Security Council to ... quickly take all necessary procedures to stop the offensive on the Gaza Strip," the Cairo-based League said in a statement.

Israel said it was acting in self-defense and did not rule out further action to prevent the launch of rockets and missiles against Israeli cities.

Palestinian militants fired at least 50 rockets at Israel from the Gaza Strip Saturday. An Israeli man was killed and at least seven other people were wounded by rockets.

Militants fired a dozen more rockets from Gaza toward Israel Sunday. At least two landed in the Egyptian border town of Rafah, apparently in error, but did not explode and no one was hurt, an Egyptian security source said.

Sources in Hamas, the Islamist movement that controls Gaza, said Israel arrested 120 of its activists and supporters in the West Bank city of Hebron Sunday. The Israeli military spokesman has declined comment.

A senior Hamas official in Gaza told Reuters militant factions "are ready to halt fire, but Israel has to agree."

The U.N. is due to publish the results of an investigation into Israel's seizure of a Gaza-bound ship last year in which nine Turks died, leading Turkey to demand an apology and compensation from Israel.

Israel has said it would pay into a "humanitarian fund" for those bereaved or hurt aboard the ship, which was trying to break a blockade of Gaza, but it has refused to apologize.

"Israel should not think that the Palmer report will be published and the present stalled state of relations will continue as they are... They will get worse," Turkish Anatolian news agency quoted Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu as saying.

(Additional reporting by Ali Abdelatti, Amr Dalsh, Omar Fahmy and Ayman Samir in Cairo and Ori Lewis and Allyn Fisher-Ilan in Jerusalem; Writing by Tom Pfeiffer; Editing by Jon Hemming and Jan Harvey)

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Ultraconservative Muslims join protesters in Egypt (AP)

CAIRO – Ultraconservative Muslims turned out in force Friday as tens of thousands filled Cairo's central Tahrir Square in a rally marked by a growing rift in the protest movement.

South of the capital, gunmen fired on a car carrying Christians, killing two. While the motive was unknown, similar events have sparked religious violence in the past.

In one of the largest crowds to fill the square since the popular uprising that ousted President Hosni Mubarak in February, Salafis chanted for the implementation of strict Islamic law — spurring accusations that they violated an agreement to keep the rally free from divisive issues.

The decision by the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's best organized political force, and other Islamist groups to participate significantly boosted the turnout. These groups stayed away from recent demonstrations that sought to keep up pressure on the military council that took power after Mubarak's fall, leading to smaller crowds.

But the Islamists' participation also highlighted the growing rift between them and liberal activists. Some Islamist groups rallied their members to the square to oppose the adoption of a set of guidelines for drafting a new constitution after parliamentary elections later this year.

Liberal parties endorse the measure in an effort to limit what they fear will be outsized Islamist influence on the new document should religious groups win a large share of the parliament. The Supreme Council of the Armed Forces has accepted the idea.

Islamists oppose it, saying nothing should restrict the right of the new elected parliament to oversee the process of drafting the document.

While opposing the measure, Muslim Brotherhood members did not press the issue Friday due to an agreement between organizers to avoid divisive issues.

Crowds of ultraconservative Salafis, however, gave a common protests chant an Islamic twist — sparking criticisms from others who said the chants violated an agreement to avoid divisive issues.

Instead of "Peaceful, peaceful," which demonstrators have chanted during confrontations with security forces, they repeated "Islamic, Islamic." And instead of "The people want to topple the regime" — a chant made famous in Tunisia and adopted across the region — they yelled, "The people want to implement Sharia," or Islamic law.

Salafis are ultraconservatives, close to Saudi Arabia's Wahhabi interpretation of Islam and more radical than the Brotherhood. They seek to emulate the austerity of Islam's early days and oppose a wide range of practices like intermingling of the sexes that they view as "un-Islamic." Many also reject all forms of Western cultural influence.

Violence broke out elsewhere in Egypt.

Gunmen fired on a car carrying five Christians in the province of Minya south of Cairo, killing two and injuring two, a military official said. It was the second killing in two weeks in the predominantly Christian village of Roman.

Christian residents gathered in front of the hospital where the bodies were taken as the word spread, although the official said the attackers had not been captured and the reason for the shooting was not known.

In the Sinai city of al-Arish, hard-line Salafis fired rocket-propelled grenades and other heavy weapons in the air during protests, injuring a small boy, according to an intelligence official.

Both officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorized to brief the media.

In the southern city of Assiut, deputy police chief Yosri el-Jammasi said Salafist protesters beat up a group of protesters from the Communist party trying to join their demonstration. At one point, some in the crowd yelled back at a speaker who criticized the idea of constitutional guidelines.

All protesters agree on a number of other key demands, including the end of military trials for civilians, a clear schedule for the transition to civilian rule and swift trials for former regime officials and those accused of killing protesters during the uprising, which left about 850 people dead.

The rally comes a day after Egypt's Justice Ministry said Mubarak, along with his two sons, his former security chief and seven others, will be tried at a Cairo convention center.

Of the 11, Mubarak, his security chief — former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly — and six top police officers are charged with ordering the use of deadly force against protesters. If convicted, the eight could face the death penalty.

Mubarak, his sons Gamal and Alaa and businessman Hussein Salem also face corruption charges. Salem, a close friend of Mubarak's, is at large.

The announcement had little apparent effect on Friday's protest, mostly because most activists doubt Mubarak will actually stand trial Wednesday as planned.

Mubarak's lawyer and doctors treating him in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh have repeatedly reported that the 83-year-old ousted leader's health is failing, though Egypt's health ministry said he is fit enough to stand trial.

___

Associated Press writer Sarah El Deeb contributed to this report.

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Police, protesters clash for 2nd day in Egypt (AP)

CAIRO – Egyptian security forces clashed for a second day in Cairo Wednesday with hundreds of youths demanding that the country's military rulers speed up prosecution of police officers accused of brutality during mass protests that forced Hosni Mubarak to step down. More than 1,000 people have been injured, a senior official said.

In scenes reminiscent of the 18-day uprising that ousted Mubarak on Feb. 11, riot police deployed around the Interior Ministry building and fired in the air or used tear gas as demonstrators threw rocks and firebombs. The fighting left streets littered with rocks and debris and a heavy, white cloud of tear gas hung over the area.

By late afternoon, army troops backed by armored vehicles took over from riot police who had been protecting the Interior Ministry, closing all roads leading to the complex, the official Middle East News Agency, MENA, reported.

The protests attest to the ongoing upheaval in Egypt nearly five months after Mubarak stepped down. The country is struggling with a worsening economic crisis and as a security vacuum that has led to a surge in crime.

The question of meting out justice to those responsible for the deaths of some 850 protesters during the uprising, as well as for regime stalwarts charged with corruption, is among the most divisive in post-Mubarak Egypt. Many of those who took part in the uprising accuse the ruling military of showing too much reverence to key figures of the old regime and lenience with senior police commanders accused of ordering the killing of protesters.

Gigi Ibrahim, one of the protesters, said security forces rained tear gas on them.

"It was like January 25," she said, referring to the first day of the uprising. "The protesters have enough anger, either because change has not come or because the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces hasn't done enough" to meet their demands.

MENA quoted Assistant Health Minister Abdul-Hameed Abazah as saying that of the injured, some 900 were treated on the spot and more than 120 went to hospitals.

Most of the injured suffered from gas inhalation or concussions, officials said. At least 18 cars and 11 stores were damaged.

Ambulances ferried the wounded to hospitals, and volunteer doctors and nurses treated others on sidewalks.

The military issued a statement on its Facebook page claiming the clashes were designed to "destabilize the country" and drive a wedge between the groups behind the uprising and the security forces. It called on Egyptians not to join the protests.

Some of the protesters used scarves to shield them from tear gas. They pelted police cars with rocks and advanced when the riot police lines retreated. The main chant back in January and February was "The people want to oust the regime." But that has been replaced by screams of "The people want to oust the field-marshal" — a reference to Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, Mubarak's longtime defense minister and chairman of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces that has taken over. Some of the youth groups behind the uprising see Tantawi as tainted because he was a key member of the Mubarak regime.

Critics also charge that Tantawi's policies are designed to keep the old order, and accuse him of deliberately stalling the process of purging Mubarak loyalists and failing to reform the hated Interior Ministry and its security agencies.

The clashes are likely to widen the rift between many Egyptians and the police, blamed for most of the human rights abuses during Mubarak's nearly three decades in power. They also are likely to delay efforts aimed at empowering the police to fully take back the streets. Police melted away following deadly clashes with protesters during the first few days of the uprising and army troops replaced them.

Mubarak's security chief, former Interior Minister Habib el-Adly, is on trial along with several of his top aides for ordering the use of deadly force against protesters. This week, his trial was adjourned until July 25, a decision that touched off clashes between relatives and police deployed outside the courthouse. Some of the victims' relatives want Mubarak to be included in the case against el-Adly.

Mubarak has been under arrest at a hospital in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm el-Sheikh and has been separately charged with ordering the killing of the protesters. Both men face the death penalty if convicted.

The clashes began Tuesday evening when some 100 people, claiming to be relatives of the uprising's victims, tried to storm a ceremony held at a Nile side theater to honor the memory of 10 protesters killed in the uprising. Clashes between them and security guards at the theater began when they were denied entry. The men pelted the theater with rocks.

Police arrested seven of the attackers, but the rest headed to the road outside the state television building across the river. They persuaded relatives of the victims staging a sit-in outside the building to join them. Together, they marched to the Interior Ministry, where they clashed with police and later headed to the nearby Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the uprising. They battled the police again until authorities ordered the police to pull back.

There were an estimated 6,000 protesters at the peak of the riots late Tuesday night.

Wednesday's clashes centered on streets leading to the Interior Ministry close to the downtown campus of the American University in Cairo.

Tahrir Square was closed to traffic on Wednesday, but about 1,500 protesters remained out on the streets.

A key youth group, April 6, described the police's handling of the latest protests as "brutal" and called in a statement for a sit-in in central Cairo to protest what it said was the failure to implement many of the demands from the uprising and to show solidarity with the families of the uprising's victims.

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