Ain-Al-Yaqeen - July 15, 2005

		July 15, 2005

THE PALESTINIAN NATIONAL AUTHORITY REJECTS ISRAEL'S DECISION TO ISOLATE JERUSALEM WITH THE APARTHEID WALL.
ABOU MAZEN: ISRAEL'S MEASURES NEITHER SERVE PEACE NOR THE SECURITY OF ISRAEL.
AHMED QUREI: THE DECISION IS "THEFT IN BROAD DAYLIGHT" THAT MAKES PEACE ITSELF "A FARCE."
TALKS ON THE PALESTINIAN ISSUE DURING ABBAS' VISIT TO SYRIA AND LEBANON.
A LEAKED UK GOVERNMENT MEMO OUTLINES A PROPOSED US TROOP REDUCTION FROM 140,000 TO 66,000 BY ONE YEAR FROM NOW WHILE BRITISH NUMBERS WOULD BE SCALED BACK FROM 8,500 TO 3,000.

President Mahmoud Abbas said that the Israeli government's approval of the new Apartheid Wall track inside the West Bank (WB) is completely refused.

Speaking to journalists upon his arrival in Ramallah after a tour in Arab and Islamic countries, Abbas said that Israel's measures neither serve peace nor its security, but it aimed at obstructing the peace process.

He also described his tour as a success, especially that of Syria and Lebanon.

Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei said that Israeli decision to approve the Apartheid Wall track around Jerusalem city is a destructive and a severe challenge to the Quartet and international community.

In a statement issued, Qurei said that Israeli decision makes the talking about peace a farce, and that of withdrawal (from Gaza and parts of the West Bank) as useless initiative in reviving peace process.

He added that this decision came days after G8 decision to support the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) with $3 Billion, saying that the decision is constituting a severe challenge to the G8 assessment to the PNA.

Qurei considered this decision as a prejudge to the final status negotiations, and a unilateral act to the issues of Jerusalem, colonies and borders.

He confirmed Palestinian refusal of this aggressive acts and called on the international community to shoulder its responsibilities so as to stop such acts.

The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) rejected Israel's decision to complete the construction of its Apartheid Wall on occupied land in Jerusalem as a land "grab in broad daylight," which undermines the peace process and makes peace itself "a farce," and decided to take the Israeli Occupying Power to the United Nations General Assembly, a move that was immediately slammed by the Israeli government.

In its decision, the Israeli Cabinet said it sees "great importance in the immediate completion of the security fence in the Jerusalem area, in order to improve the level of personal security for the residents of Israel."

Ha'aretz reported that the government also set September 1st as the new deadline for completing the construction of the Wall in occupied Jerusalem, according to Israel's Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.

Some 55,000 Palestinian Jerusalemites, comprising more than a quarter of the 230,000 Palestinian population of east Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel in 1967, will be isolated from the Holy City and no longer be able to travel freely throughout the city.

A Catastrophe with Potential to Destroy Entire Peace Process

The PNA rejected the unilateral Israeli decision.

The Israeli decision is a land "grab in the broad daylight," which makes any talk about peace "a farce," Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei said.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the move would undermine the peace process.

"I do not believe this is helpful either to the peace process or to Israeli security," Abbas told reporters. "It will put obstacles in the way of peace."

Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat called on Israel to stop its construction plans immediately.

"The wall is separating between Palestinians and Palestinians," Erakat said. "We have exerted every possible effort with the Israelis themselves, the Americans, the international community but the only thing that is happening is that the wall is being completed."

The Israeli move was bringing "catastrophe" upon the Palestinians and "has the potential to destroy the entire peace process" Erakat added.

Erakat said Israel was trying to impose its own solution on the status of the holy city.

"This is a very critical development," he told AFP. "With this step, they are trying to decide the fate of Jerusalem."

Erakat urged the US President to defend his vision for a Palestinian Israeli peace.

"We are urging the Bush administration to stop Israel dictating the situation and from imposing unilateral measures," he said, adding: "Israel destroys any possibility to establish Palestinian state within 1967 borders," referring to US President George W. Bush's vision of a two Israeli and Palestinian states, living side by side peacefully.

The PNA said it is seeking a United Nations General Assembly meeting that would pressure Israel to stop building its Wall in occupied Jerusalem.

Palesinian Foreign Minister Nasser Al Kidwa said the PNA would try to bring the matter before an urgent session of the UN General Assembly, "hoping that it would succeed in implementing the ICJ advisory opinion about the Apartheid Wall."

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague ruled on July 9, 2004 that the Wall was "illegal" because it is being built on occupied land. The UN General Assembly adopted the ICJ's ruling.

Isreal slammed the Palestinian attempts to resume international pressure on Israel to stop building its Wall.

"I would like to warn against the renewed attempts by the Palestinian Authority to transform the United Nations and the UN bodies into tools against Israel," Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said.

Meanwhile Palestinian Planning Minister Ghassan Khatib indicated that the Israeli decision negatively and irreversibly affects Palestinian human rights.

"This wall is creating irreversible negative effects," said Khatib. "It affects human rights such as accessibility to work places, freedom of movement that cannot be compensated by whatever measures Israel is talking about."

The revised Wall route will mean some 55,000 Palestinians of east Jerusalem will no longer be able to travel freely throughout the holy city.

It will now cut through four of the Palestinian neighbourhoods of Shuafat and Kufr Akab as well as the Qalandiya refugee camp and Anata on the outskirts of the city.

The Wall leaves some 55,000 Palestinians on the West Bank side, while including the largest illegal Jewish West Bank colony of Maaleh Adumim, with close to 30,000 illegal Jewish settlers, on the Israeli side.

The Jerusalem Wall extends 40 miles and was originally approved in January 2004 as part of the partially completed 680-kilometer Wall across the West Bank, which the Hebrew state occupied in 1967. On February 20 2005, the Israeli government approved an updated route for the Wall in the West Bank, which confiscates about 8% of the West Bank area and annex it to the "Israeli" side when completed.

Only about 25 percent of the total 84 km of the planned Wall in Jerusalem is completed, The Jerusalem Post reported.

A recent study on the ramifications of the Wall by a Jerusalem think tank has found that as many as 65,000 Jerusalem Arabs will need to pass through the military passages and checkpoints along the Wall going up in and around Jerusalem on a daily basis.

Palestinian non-governmental organizations and international peace groups have launched a two-month protest in response to Israel's work on its Apartheid Wall.

The organizers told the media in Ramallah that Palestinians and moderate Israelis, as well as international groups will hold peaceful protests in all the West Bank cities and in east Jerusalem.

President Mahmoud Abbas affirmed today that Israeli government gives signs and impressions that it does not want real peace.

Abbas told reporters, as he received the Chinese representative to Palestinian National Authority(PNA), Mr. Gong Xiaoshen , that the Israeli decision on accelerating work in the Apartheid Wall gives us signs and impressions that Israel dose not want real peace based on the Road Map and international legitimacy.

The President added that the decision is a strict challenge to international legitimacy and the UN resolutions .

He considered the continued Israeli aggressions against the Palestinian people is another Israeli attempt to devastate the PNA exerted efforts to realize a state of calm.

"The continued Israeli siege and military actions is actions that devastate the efforts we want to achieve tranquillity and total withdrawal", the President told reporters.

Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said that the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) will resort to the United Nations and the UN Security Council to foil any legal action of the Israeli decision to construct the Apartheid Wall in the heart of Jerusalem. The Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei described as a land "theft in broad daylight" that makes peace itself "a farce."

He said that the Israeli decision represents a "flagrant defiance" to the United Nations General Assembly, which in 2004 adopted the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague in July that year, condemning Israel's Wall as "illegal" because it is being built on occupied Palestinian land.

During the Government's weekly meeting in Gaza, Qurie said the PNA has taken a number of steps to confront the Israeli decision to build the Wall around Jerusalem.

The Ministerial Council affirmed Israeli decision made it mockery to talk about peace and the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza Strip, regarding it a unilateral measure toward the issues of Jerusalem, colonies and the borders.

The council also discussed detailed reports on the preparations for the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and Northern West Bank.

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said his recent visit to Syria and Lebanon was a necessity to keep in touch with the Syrian and Lebanese officials.

The visit was "specially important to inform Syrian brothers of the ongoing events in the Palestinian areas as they partners in the region and care about the Palestinian land," said Abbas in press remarks upon his arrival in Amman.

He said he met many of the Palestinian groups in the two countries and talked about the general situation in the Palestinian areas including Israel's pullout from Gaza and measures to calm down the situation.

In reply to a question on the rejection of Hamas and other hardliner groups to a national unity government, Abbas said " We have heard this. They said they are not interested in entering the government and a result the follow up committees which represent all parties and operate in Gaza and the West Bank can serve as an alternative to the national unity government and can fulfill the same task in case such a government is not formed."

Asked about the formation of a Palestinian national commission, he said he didn't hear about this. " What we know is the Palestine Committee formed according to Cairo Declaration to develop and activate the role of the Palestine Liberation Organization," Abbas said.

On weapons in the hand of the Palestinians living in Lebanon, Abbas said there are two relevant resolutions 15 and 59 and this is a Lebanese affair and it is up to the Lebanese to accept this or reject it.

He said his talks with Syrian President and leaders of Palestinian groups in Syria stressed the need to preserve unity of PLO. The also covered the futures of the Palestinians in Lebanon.

President Mahmoud Abbas met with the Syrian President, Bashar al-Assad in the Syrian capital Damascus.

During the meeting, Abbas briefed his counterpart about the latest developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) and the exerted efforts to revive peace process.

He also briefed him about the problems that is facing the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), especially Israeli policies and practices against the Palestinian people.

From his part, al-Assad expressed Syrian's support to the Palestinian people in his struggle to establish the Palestinian independent state, with Jerusalem as its capital, and to guarantee the right of return for the Palestinian refugees.

President Mahmoud Abbas met in Beirut with the Lebanese President Emile Lahoud and discussed several political and regional issues.

The leaders also tackled the expected Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and parts of the northern West Bank, as well as the latest developments in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT).

Abbas told reporters after his meeting with his counterpart that the UN Security Council Resolution 1559 concerns the Lebanese people and Government, adding "we are with them in any decision they take regarding this resolution".

Regarding opening a Palestinian embassy in Lebanon, Abbas said the issue is being discussed, adding it is up to the Lebanese government to set a suitable time for opening it. He thanked the Lebanese government for the recent decisions to ease labour restrictions imposed on Palestinians born in Lebanon.

For his part, Lahoud asserted his interest that the Palestinians living in Lebanon would help boost security and stability in the country.

He stressed his full support to Abbas's efforts for peace, asserting his country's adherence to achieving just, lasting and comprehensive peace.

President Abbas also held talks with Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri and Prime Minister Najib Mikati.

The EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana said that Israel's Apartheid Wall in Jerusalem "is not legally proper when it is done outside" the Israeli territory "and creates also humanitarian problems."

"We think that Israel has a right to defend itself but we think that the fence when it is done outside the territory of Israel is not legally proper and it creates also humanitarian problems," Solana said after meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.

Similarly the Arab League (AL) criticized the Israeli government's decision to accelerate the building of the Wall in and around Jerusalem, Egypt's official MENA news agency reported.

AL spokesman Hossam Zaki was quoted as saying that the implementation of the decision would undermine chances to achieve a real peace in the Middle East.

He regretted that the Israeli decision came on the first anniversary of an ICJ ruling that the construction of the wall was illegal.

"East Jerusalem will become the eternal Palestinian capital whether Israel likes it or not," Zaki added.

The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) also reaffirmed its opposition to the Israeli Wall as illegal and said it must be dismantled, including in and around east Jerusalem.

Chairman of NAM's Ministerial Coordinating Bureau Datuk Seri Syed Hamid Albar made the statement to Palestinian Foreign Minister Al-Kidwa at a meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah on Monday to commemorate the first anniversary of the ICJ's (ICJ) ruling against the building of the wall.

Albar said that under the guise of security and self-defense, Israel is continuing to construct the Apartheid Wall, ignoring the ICJ's ruling as well as Resolution ES-10/15 adopted by the UN General Assembly at its 10th Emergency Special Session on July 20 last year.

He urged the international community, including the UN Security Council, to take all the necessary measures to ensure Israel's compliance with the ICJ's ruling.

Albar was speaking at a meeting in Qasr al-Thaqafa in Ramallah, which was also attended by al-Kidwa, several PNA ministers and legislators, as well as representatives of the Palestinian civil society.

Al-Kidwa called on Palestinians to organize daily protests to thwart the construction of the wall and urged international pressure on Israel to stop its construction.

PLO chief negotiator Saeb Erakat warned that the Israeli government's decision would damage all chances of establishing an independent Palestinian state. "Annexing Jerusalem (to Israel) will create a human disaster in all walks of life for tens of thousands of Palestinians," he said.

"What is happening in Jerusalem these days is transfer of a population and very dangerous to the peace process."

PNA Minister Ahmed Majdalani, who is in charge of the portfolio of the Jewish colonies and the Apartheid Wall, said at the same meeting: "This is a third Nakba (catastrophe) for the Palestinians," adding: "Israel is unilaterally imposing a solution with the aim of preventing the establishment of a viable Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip."

Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) Rouhi Fattouh said the decision to surround Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem with a Wall "will destroy what's left of the peace process."

"This is a flagrant change to the will of the international community and law and the Quartet," he said.

"The Palestinian people and their leadership won't succumb to Israel's attempt to unilaterally create new facts on the ground. We won't accept a situation where the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and northern West Bank would be at the expense of one inch of our land," Fattouh added.

PNA National Security Advisor Jibril Rajoub said the "racist wall will deepen hatred between Israelis and Palestinians," adding: "If Israel wants separation, it should build the wall on its territories. This wall won't solve Israel's security problems because the Palestinians won't succumb."

The Jerusalem Wall extends 40 miles and was originally approved in January 2004 as part of the partially completed 680-kilometer Wall across the West Bank, which the Hebrew state occupied in 1967. On February 20 2005, the Israeli government approved an updated route for the Wall in the West Bank, which confiscates about 8% of the West Bank area and annex it to the "Israeli" side when completed. Only about 25 percent of the total 60 km of the planned Wall in Jerusalem is completed, The Jerusalem Post reported.

On the other hand the world's industrialised nations have backed plans to pump $US3 billion into the Palestinian economy over the next three years as part of efforts to secure peace in the Middle East.

International special envoy James Wolfensohn, helping coordinate Israel's planned Gaza withdrawal, sold the plan to leaders of the Group of Eight (G8) nations during a three-day summit in Scotland.

"When the disengagement plan happens over the next few weeks it is essential we build the infrastructure of a state on the Palestinian side. This money can help us do this," British Prime Minister Tony Blair said.

Mr Wolfensohn, a special envoy for the "quartet" of the United States, Russia, European Union and United Nations, said last month he wanted the cash for projects that could include a seaport and infrastructure programs in Gaza.

Faryar Shirzad, the senior US negotiator at the G8 summit, said a key part of what Mr Wolfensohn was going to do was to "widen the circle of donors, including donors in the Arab world".

"In essence it's a proposal for him to essentially work with the Palestinians to help spur the kind of economic developments and governance necessary for them to develop a capability to govern themselves and to maintain a stable Palestinian territory," he said.

The G8 statement repeated past calls for a comprehensive resolution to the Middle East conflict, saying this was "crucial to peace in the world and prosperity in the region".

It added that a successful Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and parts of the West Bank scheduled for mid-August would re-energise the peace process.

"The government of Israel should meet its 'road map' commitments on settlements, and fundamentally ease the system of movement restrictions that prevent Palestinian economic recovery, consistent with Israel's security needs," the G8 said.

Concerning Lebanon the G8 statement said: Lebanon, where we welcomed the recent elections and looked forward to the early formation of a new Lebanese Government made up of respected members of society, who support reform, and are committed to protecting the sovereignty of their country. We reiterated that UN Security Council Resolution 1559 must be applied in its entirety.

In their final statement the G8 leaders said: We reaffirmed our commitment to open markets more widely to trade in agricultural goods, industrial goods and services, and in agriculture to reduce trade distorting domestic subsidies and eliminate all forms of export subsidies by a credible end date. We also committed to address products of interest to Least Developed Countries in the negotiations, and to ensure Least Developed Countries have the flexibility to decide their own economic strategies.

On the other hand and his speech at the G8 the French President Jacques Chirac said: It is an occasion for Syria to open up to its regional environment and to adapt to the evolution currently under way in the world. In the immediate present, we wish that Syria would establish a relation based on equality and respect with Lebanon. This would serve the interests of both countries because each of the two knows what brings it closer to the other.

Besides, it is in Syria's interest to return to the normal game of international relations. It can start now by ceasing support to forces that seek to destabilize Lebanon and the region.

Furthermore, the Syrian government should prove that it is ready to make a choice of freedom and democracy for its people. Syria must contribute in the national and regional economic development. The Middle East needs it.

On the Iraqi arena British forces could take the lead in a scaled reduction in coalition forces in Iraq as early as next year, a senior western diplomat indicated.

But any withdrawal of British forces would be closely co-ordinated with the US and the Iraqi government, the diplomat suggested.

The diplomat's remarks follow the leak last week of a UK defence document that laid out contingency plans for a cut in the 8,500 British troops in the country. John Reid, defence minister, said the document was genuine, but that it did not represent policy.

However, the document's projection that both US and British troop strength could be cut by more than half by early 2006 was said by the western diplomat to be optimistic, but not unrealistic.

The diplomat suggested that the handover to local Iraqi forces could take place sooner in southern Iraq, where British troops now control a relatively quiet, predominantly Shia Arab zone, than in the north and west.

"Given the stability of the southeast, it might be there first," the diplomat said.

The leaked UK government memo outlined a proposed US troop reduction from 140,000 to 66,000 by one year from now, while British numbers would be scaled back from 8,500 to 3,000. It mentioned a full handover in at least part of the British zone by early next year.

Nonetheless, Britain "wouldn't do this unilaterally". Washington and London must agree on any British withdrawal "in full consultation" as coalition partners, the western diplomat said, adding that the Iraqi government would also be closely involved.

The proposed timeline assumed that "everything went right" with Iraq's constitutional referendum and next parliamentary elections, due before the end of this year.

Withdrawal of multinational forces from any part of the country still hinges on security conditions rather than specific dates.

The leaked British memo cited US planning assumptions that 14 of Iraq's 18 provinces "could be handed over to Iraqi control by early 2006".

It also mentioned a more cautious outlook by multinational commanders on the ground, as opposed to a "bold reduction" approach by top-level US defence officials outside Iraq.

Along with the political process, the proposed handover would depend on "the strength of Iraqi security forces and their ability to take over", the diplomat said.

Ibrahim al-Jaafari, Iraq's prime minister, has called for accelerated training and equipping of Iraqi security forces, while acknowledging that foreign troops must not leave yet.

Since the formal transfer of sovereign authority to an interim government in June 2004, coalition commanders have insisted their forces are in the country at the invitation of the Iraqi authorities.

The memo's suggested reduction in UK and US forces comes amid concerns about brutality by Iraqi security units, especially towards the disaffected Sunni Arab community whose co-operation will be vital for Iraq's political reconstruction.

On the other hand with regards to the massacre of the Egyptian Envoy in Baghdad the G8 said: We strongly condemn all acts of terrorism, especially all violence directed against civilians, and those, Iraqi and international, working to establish stability and the rule of law in Iraq. We expressed our anger and sorrow at the murder of the Egyptian Ambassador to Baghdad. We call on the states of the region to co-operate with Iraq to prevent cross-border transit and support for terrorists and to improve regional security. We note the support of the Iraqi Transitional Government for a continuing presence by the Multinational Force in Iraq (MNF-I), as mandated by UNSCR 1546. We support Iraq in its efforts to build its security forces' ability so that it can assume responsibility for Iraq's security as soon as possible.

U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan condemned the execution of kidnapped Egyptian diplomat, Ihab Al-Sherif, as a "callous act" that cannot be justified.

Al-Sherif was kidnapped in Baghdad and the Egyptian government confirmed his death.

Annan said he learned with great sadness the murder of the diplomat and condemned in the strongest terms "those who planned and executed this callous act, which no cause can justify".

He called on Iraqi authorities to do their utmost to apprehend the kidnappers and bring them to justice.

Secretary General of the Arab Gulf Cooperation Council Abdul Rahman Al-Atiyyah has slammed the killing of Egyptian ambassador to Iraq, Ihab Al-Sherif, and said such a criminal act has nothing to do with Islam.

In a statement, Al-Atiyyah reiterated the support of the GCC states to Egypt and their determination on fighting terrorism. Al-Atiyyah condoled the Egyptian government and people as well as the families of the deceased.

In Washington the United States condemned the kidnapping and killing of Egypt's top envoy to Iraq in Baghdad, the deadliest in a series of attacks on diplomats from Muslim countries.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the killing this week of Ihab Al-Sherif "further underscores the desperate and evil agenda of terrorists working to undermine progress toward democracy around the world."

"Justifying the murder of a fellow Muslim in the name of God, these terrorists have again shown that their senseless fight is against all men and women of peace," McClellan said in a written statement.

He said the United States "will work tirelessly to help bring to justice those responsible for the brutal murder of Mr. Al-Sherif."

At the State Department, spokesman Tom Casey said the killing won't deter the United States from its role in Iraq or deter Egypt from helping in reconstruction of the country.

In a statement issued as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice headed for China on a six-day trip to Asia, the department condemned the "brutal murder" of Ihab Al-Sherif and said, "Such attacks will not deter us from our commitments to assist the Iraqi people in their transition toward a peaceful and prosperous Iraq."

President Hosni Mubarak received a telephone call from his Iraqi counterpart Jalal Talabani and his Prime Minister Ibrahim Al-Jaafari over the murder of Ihab Al-Sherif, the head of Egypt's diplomatic mission in Iraq.

The two Iraqi officials expressed condolences over the assassination of the Egyptian diplomat.

They also condemned, during the phone call, the terrorist act which took the life of Al-Sherif.

In an interview with the Egyptian Television programme "New Morning", Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit denied claims by Iraqi officials that Ihab Al-Sherif had made contacts with armed Iraqi groups. He said he who claims that must submit evidence.

He denied that Egypt had upgraded its diplomatic representation in Iraq, adding that Al-Sherif was a chief of the diplomatic mission in Baghdad with the rank of ambassador and was not an ambassador of Egypt to Iraq.

Abul-Gheit dismissed claims by some quarters that Al-Sherif 's previous service in Israel was behind his assassination, he said that former Charge D' Affaires in Iraq Farouq Mabrouk and Mamdouh Qotb served in Israel for four and three years respectively and were not targeted.

The Foreign Minister disclosed that Al-Sherif 's killers did not give the Egyptian Foreign Ministry time to negotiate his release and made no demands.

Abul-Gheit called on the Iraqi government and the US troops to act for finding Al-Sherif 's body and hand it over to Egypt as soon as possible.

In Cairo the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs condemned the murder of the Egyptian envoy.

The Iraqi authorities yesterday tried to contain the escalation in the crisis with Egypt, as a result of Iraqi statements after the killing of Egypt's top diplomat in Baghdad, and announced that an Iraqi delegation will shortly visit Cairo, stressing that Iraq will not permit the assassination of head of the Egyptian diplomatic mission in Baghdad Ihab Al-Sherif to affect relations between the two states.

In a press conference in Baghdad, the Iraqi foreign minister Hoshiar Zeibari said "we will dispatch as soon as possible a delegation from the foreign ministry to contact with the Egyptian foreign ministry and government." He added "I am contacting the Egyptian foreign ministry and I am confident that this incident will not affect historical relations between the two countries," noting that "the Egyptian diplomatic mission will continue its work and the Egyptian flag will continue to be hoisted over the building of the embassy and we do not think that Egypt will cut its relations with Iraq."

Zeibari had denied that Al-Sherif made contacts with the armed groups in Iraq, which another top Iraqi official had accused Al-Sherif of doing, and caused the Egyptian reaction. He said "I do not think that the late martyr made any irresponsible contacts in Baghdad," stressing "Egypt is the elder sister for Iraq. It is the largest Arab country and we expect we will be together in issues of destiny."

Zeibari announced that he had proposed to the ambassadors and heads of foreign diplomatic missions working in Iraq during a meeting and attended by the minister of the interior Bayan Jaber, to ensure diplomatic protection for its ambassadors to avoid repeating what had happened for Sharif. Zeibari added "we have notified them that the Iraqi government is able to ensure protection for all embassies and diplomats working in Iraq, without relying on any other side."