ALEXANDRIA: More than 50,000 Egyptians demonstrated in Alexandria after prayers on Friday against Israel’s two-week onslaught in the Gaza Strip, witnesses and security officials said. The demonstrators, led by members of parliament affiliated with the opposition Muslim Brotherhood, chanted slogans against the Israeli offensive and what they called Arab complicity in the blockade of Gaza. …

CAIRO: Human Rights Watch urged Egypt to halt the forced deportation of Eritrean asylum seekers fleeing from military obligations in their home country, it said in a statement released Thursday. Eritreans are fleeing a repressive government with a terrible human rights record and need protection, not further abuse, said Joe Stork, deputy director of HRW’s …

CAIRO: Hamas will send a delegation, including representatives from Gaza, to Cairo today to discuss an Egyptian proposal for a ceasefire, a senior Hamas official told AFP on Friday. Moussa Abu Marzuk, the deputy head of the Islamist movement, said the delegation will ask for clarifications of the three-point plan President Hosni Mubarak announced on …

DAMASCUS/CAIRO: Palestinian groups based in Syria, including Hamas, believe the Egyptian plan aimed at securing a permanent ceasefire in the Gaza Strip “has no valid basis, a Palestinian official said on Thursday. “Palestinian organizations, notably Hamas, see no valid basis in the Egyptian plan for a solution to the crisis in Gaza, Khaled Abdel-Majid, spokesman …

CAIRO: The main opposition parties formed a new legislative committee to draft a law extracting legislations that contradict with human rights. The civil society organizations agreed that 2008 witnessed the highest rate of human rights violations. In accordance, the democratic alliance of the four opposition parties; El-Tagammu, El-Wafd, El-Nassery and the Democratic Front, aim at …

CAIRO: Nationalist currents are calling on the government to freeze the Camp David peace treaty, stop exporting gas to Israel, as well as follow in the Venezuelan government’s steps and expel the Israeli ambassador from Egypt. An official statement was released and singed by members of different political parties, calling for a stand against the …

CAIRO: In a press statement issued Thursday, Human Rights Watch called on Egypt and Israel to open their borders to allow humanitarian aid to reach Gaza and permit civilians to seek refuge from the conflict. “There is no place safe for civilians in Gaza at this time, said Fred Abrahams, senior emergencies researcher at HRW. …

CAIRO: Egypt is demanding Iran bring to justice the authors of an advertisement calling on Iranians to assassinate President Hosni Mubarak. The advertisement was published by the Iranian Fars News agency on Sunday by a student group. The announcement was in Persian and offered a reward of $1 million to whoever would carry out the …

CAIRO: The Muslim Brotherhood on Thursday slammed an Egyptian peace plan for Gaza for putting the victim and executioner on the same footing. The announcement of the latest Egyptian initiative is worrying, the banned but usually tolerated group said in a statement after Cairo floated a plan to end Israel s assault on the Hamas-run …

JERUSALEM: Insurgents in Lebanon fired at least three rockets into northern Israel on Thursday, ripping through a crowded nursing home and threatening to open a new front for the Jewish state as it pushed forward with a bloody offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed over 700 people. Lebanon’s government, wary of conflict, quickly …

JERUSALEM: Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, Defense Minister Ehud Barak and other senior ministers discussed the possible expansion of the ground offensive launched on Saturday night deeper into Palestinian towns, despite appearing to welcome a Franco-Egyptian initiative to end the 12-day-old war on Gaza, stopping short of endorsing it. “Barak has instructed the army to prepare …

CAIRO: Egypt denied on Tuesday a report in an Israeli newspaper that President Hosni Mubarak had told European ministers on a peace mission that Hamas must not be allowed to win the ongoing war in Gaza. The daily Haaretz reported on its website that Mubarak made the comment on Monday to a visiting European Union …

CAIRO: Egyptian Ambassador to the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah, Ashraf Akl, said that despite Egypt’s recommendations, Hamas’ refusal to renew the truce with Israel was a tactical mistake that gave Israel an excuse to launch the offensive on the Gaza strip. In an exclusive telephone interview with Daily News Egypt, Akl commented on the Israeli …

RAFAH/CAIRO: For the second day running frustrated Egyptian doctors were denied entry into Gaza through the Rafah border crossing, as Israel continued its shelling campaign near the border. Egyptian doctors carrying their suitcases were prevented from entering Gaza to aid the territory’s understaffed hospitals, flooded with over 2,800 wounded during the Israeli assault on Gaza. …

GAZA CITY: Israel’s military paused its Gaza offensive for three hours Wednesday to allow food and fuel to reach besieged Palestinians, and the country’s leaders debated whether to accept an international cease-fire plan or expand the assault against Hamas. About 300 of the more than 689 Palestinians killed so far are civilians, according to Palestinian …

CAIRO: Al-Qaeda s No. 2 leader lashed out at US President-elect Barack Obama in a new audio recording released Tuesday, blaming him for not doing anything to stop Israel s offensive in Gaza, according to an intelligence monitoring center. The audio recording was Al-Qaeda s first comments on the Gaza offensive since Israel launched it …

WASHINGTON: Former US ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton said Monday settling the Arab-Israeli conflict on the basis of a two-state solution was no longer workable and suggested giving the Palestinian territories to Egypt and Jordan. “Let’s start by recognizing that trying to create a Palestinian Authority from the old PLO has failed and …

SHARM EL-SHEIKH: An EU mission seeking to broker an end to Israel’s Gaza onslaught held talks with President Hosni Mubarak on Monday ahead of a similar visit by French President Nicolas Sarkozy. “Talks with Mubarak were about the situation in Gaza, the means of reaching an immediate ceasefire, a reopening of crossing points and a …

CAIRO: A group of 200 Muslim Brotherhood supporters protested Monday in Tahrir Square against the ongoing Israeli military offensive on Gaza. The crowd waved the Palestinian flag chanting anti-Israel slogans. Police presence exceeded the number of protesters, with security forces surrounding the protest, cordoning off bystanders, journalists and employees at the Tahrir Mugamma’ who were …

GAZA CITY: Israeli forces pounded Gaza Strip houses, mosques and tunnels on Monday from the air, land and sea, killing at least seven children and six other civilians, as they consolidated a bruising land offensive. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the campaign would continue until Israel achieved its objective, “peace and tranquility for residents …

RAFAH: Despite the Israeli shelling on Gaza near the border with Egypt, the Rafah border crossing remained open Monday to allow the transfer of aid and wounded Gazans but the pace was slow due to the bombing. In mid-afternoon, there was shelling and bombing close to the border, three shells on the first occasion and …

CAIRO: Sameh Ashour, lawyer and candidate for the chairman position at the Lawyers’ Syndicate, announced that he sent a letter to Boutros Boutros-Ghali, head of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), heavily criticizing him for welcoming the Israeli ambassador in his office at the council’s headquarters. “We are sorry and we are shocked at …

UNITED NATIONS: The United States late Saturday blocked approval of a UN Security Council statement calling for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hamas and expressing serious concern at the escalation of violence following Israel s ground attack in Gaza, council diplomats said. US deputy ambassador Alejandro Wolff said the United States saw no prospect …

CAIRO: Ayman Nour, the jailed founder of the opposition Al-Ghad Party, filed a lawsuit against Boutros Boutros-Ghali for failing to perform his role as chairman of the National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) and demanded LE 1 million in compensation from the council for not responding to any of his pleas. Nour had sent numerous …

LONDON: Protestors rallied outside Egypt s embassy in London on Friday, urging Cairo to open its border with Gaza, in the latest in a week of demonstrations here over the Israeli military clampdown. The demonstration came as a group of artists and writers including singer Annie Lennox threw their weight behind a call for a …

GAZA CITY: Israeli ground troops and tanks cut swaths through the Gaza Strip early Sunday, cutting the coastal territory into two and surrounding its biggest city as the new phase of a devastating offensive against Hamas gained momentum. At least 24 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed. Thousands of soldiers in three brigade-size formations pushed into …

CAIRO: Egypt called for the creation of humanitarian corridors in Gaza to allow food and medicine to be brought into the Israeli-battered Palestinian enclave, the foreign ministry said on Sunday. Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit sent letters to UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the foreign ministers of the Security Council s five permanent …

CAIRO: An Egyptian border guard was wounded in an exchange of fire with Gaza fighters at the divided border town of Rafah, a security official said on Saturday. Exchanges of fire between Egyptian border guards and Palestinians have broken out sporadically since Israel began air strikes on Gaza on Dec. 27. The 21-year-old soldier was …

CAIRO: Egypt summoned the ambassadors of the UN Security Council s five permanent members on Sunday in protest at its delay in passing a resolution for an end to Israel s onslaught on Gaza, the foreign ministry said. Egypt, one of two Arab nations to have signed peace treaties with the Jewish state, had called …

RAFAH: As Israeli airstrikes continue on the Gaza Strip, the Rafah border crossing has assumed greater importance serving as the only entryway for aid into Gaza. On Thursday, over 70 Egyptian ambulances were parked within the two gates of the crossing waiting for wounded Gazans to transport them firstly to either Al-Arish General Hospital or …