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Egyptian ambassador still not withdrawn from Israel but generals dismiss 'regret' statements


Egypt welcomed a joint investigation with Israel on the killing of five Egyptian security personnel during an Israeli border operation, but said on Sunday the response was insufficient given the gravity of the situation.

"Although the Israeli statement is seemingly positive, it is not on a par with the gravity of the incident and the Egyptians' anger at the Israeli acts," the Egyptian cabinet said in a statement, quoted by the semi-official Al-Ahram president, following a crisis meeting.

Egypt said on Saturday it would recall its ambassador from Israel, insisting the killing of five Egyptian security personnel while Israeli forces were pursuing gunmen across the border was a breach of its 1979 peace treaty.

Egypt's Foreign Ministry later called in the Israeli charge d'affaires, delivered a protest and demanded a joint investigation into the deaths.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said Israel regretted the deaths, which followed attacks in its border area that had killed eight people and sparked the most serious crisis in ties with Egypt since longtime ruler Hosni Mubarak's overthrow in February.

Barak also said he had instructed the Israel Defense Forces to conduct a joint investigation with Egypt.

"The Egyptian government considers the approval to conduct a joint investigation to uncover the circumstances of the incident a fundamental step to prevent the occurrence of such accidents as Egyptian blood is not cheap and the government will not accept that Egyptian blood gets shed for nothing," Egypt's state news agency MENA said.
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