Egypt slams Israel for 'excessive force' against Palestinians

By Gulsen Topcu

CAIRO

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry on Saturday issued a written statement saying that the Egyptian administration condemned the "excessive force" Israeli forces used against innocent civilians rallying in the occupied Palestinian lands.

The statement stressed that Egypt was against people, who demand their legal rights, being killed and called on a serious work to assure that the rights of Palestinian people, including "establishing an independent Palestinian state with Eastern Jerusalem as its capital" were retrieved.

On the other hand, the Egyptian Parliament's Arab Affairs Commission released a statement, calling on the UN Security Council (UNSC) to step into action to stop the attacks in Palestine and impose sanctions on Israel.

"The legitimate resistance of the occupied people is a right guaranteed by the international conventions, however, the peaceful resistance of the Palestinians is answered back with live ammunition and shelling," the statement included.

Since March 30 when the peaceful demonstrations started, 31 Palestinians have been martyred by the Israeli snipers, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

The border rallies, which began last Friday, kicked off a six-week demonstration that will culminate on May 15. That day will mark the 70th anniversary of Israel's establishment -- an event Palestinians call the "Nakba" or "Catastrophe".

Demonstrators are demanding that Palestinian refugees be granted the “right of return” to their towns and villages in historical Palestine from which they were driven in 1948 to make way for the new state of Israel.

Israel, for its part, has deployed thousands of troops along the fraught border with Gaza, vowing to use deadly force against anyone who threatens Israel’s “security infrastructure”.