CAIRO: In a new twist to the political maelstrom sparked by charges that Israeli troops executed Egyptian military personnel in 1967, Israel’s Channel 10 TV aired excerpts of another documentary Sunday alleging that Egypt killed Israeli prisoners of war (POW) in the 1973 war.
The new documentary is apparently a response to the recent outcry in Egypt about reports that Israel killed Egyptian POWs in the 1967 war, as depicted in Israeli documentary “Spirit of Shaked , which aired two weeks ago.
But Head of Israeli research at Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies Abdel-Aleem Mohammed strongly denied that Egyptians executed Israeli POWS and said the Channel 10 film was a fabrication.
“Egypt cannot do something like this because it respects the Geneva Convention, especially in matters of conduct during warfare and prisoners of war, he told The Daily Star Egypt.
He questioned the timing of the Channel 10 documentary in light of Egyptian anger about “Spirit of Shaked .
For his part, Benny Sharoni from the Political Affairs department at the Israeli embassy in Cairo told The Daily Star Egypt that the furor over the “Spirit of Shaked was unmerited.
“The movie screened in Israel does not show any murder of Egyptian POWs, Sharoni said, “it tells the story of a certain army unit from the 50s to the 70s and out of 55 minutes, it’s only two and a half minutes that concerns the 1967 war.
Sharoni added that the documentary does show soldiers describing the war in which Egyptian soldiers were killed.
The Egyptian media had construed that the documentary claimed that 250 captured Egyptian soldiers were executed by the Israeli army. The Israeli response was that the 250 were armed Palestinian fighters killed in the battleground.
The Channel 10 documentary counters that the tables were turned in the 1973 war, and cited numerous incidents where Egyptian forces allegedly executed surrendering Israeli soldiers.
Mohammed believes that this is an Israeli attempt to avoid the current backlash over “Spirit of Shaked .
“Investigating the 1967 POW case has dangerous repercussions for Israel if Egyptian officials are to be believed and the case will be pursued if the allegations are proven, Mohammed said.
Mohammed added that in that scenario, the case can be taken to an international tribunal which could try the Israeli officers responsible. “Israel fears this backlash, so they could have made this [latest allegation] up as a response, he added.
Sharoni however believes a process will be respected saying “[Egypt and Israel] have strong and brave relations and if there are any formal allegations, they will be addressed, by the two nations.
Refutation for the Channel 10 documentary has already appeared in the Egyptian media, with the semi-official Al Ahram running a front page commentary claiming that the allegations have been made up, especially in light of the timing of the broadcast.
Additionally, the Al Ahram commentary stated that further proof that the allegations are unfounded was that Egypt kept captured Israeli soldiers alive so that they could be exchanged with Egyptian POWs.
It added that there were no protests by Israel during the 1973 ceasefire agreements which included talks on prisoner exchange.
