主题：【中东】【文摘】埃及外交部长被巴勒斯坦军人痛扁 -- 西风陶陶

又一个李鸿章？

Militants Attack Egypt Envoy After Talk with Israel

Mon December 22, 2003 05:46 PM ET

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By Allyn Fisher-Ilan

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Radical Palestinian Muslims yelling "traitor" attacked Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher in a Jerusalem mosque on Monday after landmark talks with Israeli leaders to try to revive a stalled peace plan.

Maher, 68, was rushed to hospital for checks after the attack at al-Aqsa mosque, which overshadowed a meeting at which officials said Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had indicated that Israel would welcome any truce by Palestinian militants.

Two of those Palestinian factions claimed responsibility for the killing of two Israeli army officers in an ambush in the Gaza Strip. An Israeli army spokesman said tanks and helicopters swept into the area and one gunman was later shot dead.

Militants have so far rebuffed Egyptian efforts to secure a cease-fire and revive a U.S.-backed peace plan, the "road map."

Witnesses said Maher was accosted, jostled and possibly struck by a mob shouting "Allahu Akbar" (God is greater).

The mob threw shoes they had removed for prayers at his entourage and at Israeli police taking him out of the ancient mosque, Islam's third holiest shrine. Striking someone with a shoe is a traditional Muslim insult.

Television pictures showed Maher, pale and struggling for breath, being led from the melee by police and bodyguards and rushed to Hadassah Hospital for checks.

Maher later flew back to Cairo, where the government expressed "deep regret" at the assault but said Egypt's commitment to peace in the area was undimmed.

Relations between Israel and Egypt have recently begun to improve after taking a dive over Israel's crackdown on the Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation.

FRINGE ISLAMIC GROUP

An Israeli police spokesman said Maher's attackers were from a fringe Islamic group called the Liberation Party. He said later that police had arrested seven Palestinians in connection with the assault

Some Palestinians have never forgiven Egypt for signing a peace deal with the Jewish state in 1979.

A senior Israeli official said Sharon promised Maher at their meeting earlier in the day that if Palestinian militants agreed to a truce, Israel would "respond with quiet" -- apparently going a step closer to what the militants want than previous messages from Israeli leaders.

Maher, the most senior Egyptian minister to visit Israel since the uprising began in 2000, said before the attack that he hoped a genuine desire for peace on both sides would lead to a resumption of negotiations.

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurie said he was "shocked and furious" at the attack and vowed to pursue those behind it.

A senior official of the Islamic Jihad faction also said there was no justification for the assault.

Egypt's presidency expressed "...deep regret at the attempt of an irresponsible minority of Palestinians to assault...Maher while he was on a mission to Israel," a statement carried by the Middle East News Agency said.

The two Israelis killed in the Gaza Strip were the first for a month to die in the violence. At least 25 Palestinians have been killed in the same period.

A gunman opened fire on soldiers at the Kissufim road block near a Jewish settlement in Gaza, then threw grenades at two officers chasing him, killing them. He was later killed.

Israel has demanded a Palestinian crackdown on militant groups and has warned that if the peace plan fails, it will take unilateral action to separate itself from the Palestinians, taking some land they want for a state.

Palestinians say Israel must meet its own obligations by removing Jewish outposts and freezing settlement construction on occupied land, and must halt work on a wire and concrete barrier being built through the West Bank. Previous 1| 2