EGYPT: FOREIGN MINISTER AHMED MAHER CRITICISES ISRAELI STRIKE THAT WOUNDED SPIRITUAL LEADER OF THE PALESTINIAN MILITANT ISLAMIC ORGANISATION HAMAS

Record ID: 342238

  • Title: EGYPT: FOREIGN MINISTER AHMED MAHER CRITICISES ISRAELI STRIKE THAT WOUNDED SPIRITUAL LEADER OF THE PALESTINIAN MILITANT ISLAMIC ORGANISATION HAMAS
  • Date: 9th September 2003
  • Summary: (EU)CAIRO, EGYPT (SEPTEMBER 7, 2003) (REUTERS) 1. MV EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER AHMED MAHER WITH EU FOREIGN POLICY CHIEF JAVIER SOLANA WALK INTO ROOM 0.05 2. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) EGYPTIAN FOREIGN MINISTER AHMED MAHER SAYING "We condemn Israels action's against civilians. Destroying homes and killing people with aircraft in streets crowded with civilians is a crime. Destroying a seven-storey building because one of the people living in it is accused by Israel of illegal actions and making 30 families homeless is a crime. So we hope to hear the voice of the entire world including Europe and the United States strongly condemning these operations as they condemn the operations of some Palestinian unions." 0.58 3. MV SOLANA AND MAHER LEAVE NEWS CONFERENCE 1.06 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 24th September 2003 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: CAIRO, EGYPT
  • Country: Egypt
  • Reuters ID: LVA1ME0VE110OYBRL005W9BDJRC9
  • Story Text: Egptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher has criticised
    the Israeli strike that wounded the spiritual leader of the
    militant Islamic organisation Hamas.

    Egyptian Forein Minister Ahmed Maher on Sunday
    (September 7) criticised an Israeli missile strike that
    wounded the spiritual leader of
    the Palestinian Islamic militant group Hamas.

    "We condemn Israel's actions against civilians.

    Destroying homes and killing people with aircraft in
    streets crowded with civilians is a crime," Foreign
    Minister Ahmed Maher said of
    Saturday's attack on Sheikh Ahmed Yassin.

    "We hope to hear the voice of the entire world, Europe
    and the United States strongly condemning these operations
    as they condemn the operations of some Palestinian groups,"
    he said at a news conference with the European Union's
    foreign policy chief,
    Javier Solana.

    Yassin escaped with minor wounds by leaving a house
    moments before it was hit by a missile fired from an
    Israeli F-16 fighter.

    Egypt, a regional U.S. ally, was in 1979 the first Arab
    country to sign a peace treaty with Israel. It has
    traditionally acted as a mediator between the Palestinians
    and Israel.

    But Israel's handling of a Palestinian uprising against
    occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has chilled ties
    with Egypt, which withdrew its ambassador from Israel in
    2000.

    EU foreign ministers on Saturday added the political
    wing of Hamas to a list of terrorist organisations.

    Speaking after talks with Maher, Solana called on Hamas to
    cut links to "terror".

    "We would like to have Hamas as a political
    organisation breaking ties with any terrorist activities
    and at the same time becoming a political party," he said.

    The EU last year put Hamas's military wing, the Izz
    el-Deen al-Qassam Brigades, on its blacklist of banned
    terrorist groups, but did not include the group's political
    wing.


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