EGYPT: Bones from troubled past

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The discovery of a new mass grave of Egyptian soldiers allegedly killed by Israeli forces in the 1967 Middle East war may add fuel to already strained Egyptian-Israeli relations.

According to news reports, about 30 bodies in uniform were found by a Bedouin in Sheikh Zuwayed town near the Israeli borders. The bodies are believed to date from 1967. Forensic medics are expected to examine the bodies to decide whether those soldiers were killed in combat or executed by the Israeli forces in the Sinai Peninsula.

Witnesses say the soldiers were buried by Bedouins in the Sinai desert in the 1960s. This discovery will heat up parliamentary debates next week as lawmakers are expected to discuss another recent discovery of bodies, believed to be of Egyptian soldiers, in Israel’s Eilat resort.

Many Egyptian fighters who survived the war with Israel had accused Israel of executing large numbers of Egyptian POWs in the Sinai. Last year, an Israeli documentary with alleged reference to the killing of 250 Egyptian soldiers by Israeli soldiers elicited much fury in Egypt.

Many human rights activists accuse the Egyptian government of turning a blind eye to the matter in order not to jeopardize relations with Israel. However, this time the discovery comes in the midst of already tense relations between the two countries after Israel accused Egypt of doing a “terrible” job controlling weapon smuggling through its borders to the Gaza Strip.

This is not the first mass grave to be discovered; in 1995, similar graves were discovered near the Egypt-Israel border.

— Noha El-Hennawy in Cairo