Egyptian terrorists fatally shot an Israeli woman and wounded three other Israelis in Cairo Wednesday night. The victims were members of the Israel Embassy staff.
The gunmen opened fire on their car as it left the parking lot of the International Trade Fair where the four had been working at the Israel pavilion. Premier Shimon Peres expressed “deep shock” over the incident but vowed that terrorists will not stop Israel’s search for peace.
The slain woman was identified as Ettie Tal-Or, 24, wife of an Embassy official. The wounded were flown to Israel shortly after the shooting and were reported to be in stable condition Thursday at the Sheba Government Hospital in Tel Hashomer. They were identified as Esther Yefet, David Droya and Uri Siev.
According to reports from Cairo, the killers were driving in two cars when they ambushed the Israelis’ car. Police cordoned off the area and set up roadblocks but as of Thursday morning no arrests had been made.
The Israel pavilion reopened Thursday and under tightened security. Attendance was reported brisk. It had been visited Wednesday by Israel’s Minister of Tourism, Avraham Sharir, who is on an official visit as a guest of the Egyptian Tourism Ministry. There were no indications that he had been an intended target.
THIRD ATTACK AGAINST ISRAELI OFFICIALS
The attack was the third against Israeli diplomatic officials in the Egyptian capital and the second to result in a fatality. Last August, Albert Atrakchi, an administrative attache at the Embassy, was killed by unknown gunmen while driving through the Maadi section of Cairo. His Killers were never found.
In June, 1984, Zvi kedar, also an administrative official, was wounded in the shoulder and hand. The assailants escaped. A little-known group calling itself “Egypt’s Revolution” claimed credit for all three attacks.
The group sent letters to Western news agencies in Cairo after the shooting Wednesday night stating: “Our Nasserite armed avant-garde today answered back by sending the bodies of some members of Israeli intelligence Mossad to hell.” The letter went on to condemn President Hosni Mubarak for “accepting repeated insults directed against the Egyptian people by the American and Israeli governments.”
TIMING OF THE ATTACK
The attack came at a time when the Israeli and Egyptian governments are attempting to resolve serious issues which have caused tension and strained relations between the two countries since Egypt recalled its Ambassador from Tel Aviv in 1982 in protest against Israel’s invasion of Lebanon.
A high-level Israeli delegation is presently in Cairo for the latest in a long series of talks aimed at settling the Taba border dispute and advancing normal relations. Israelis, moreover, are still upset over the incident at Ras Burka in eastern Sinai last October when an Egyptian soldier, Suleiman khater, suddenly opened fire on a group of Israeli tourists, killing seven, four of them children.
Although khater was sentenced to life imprisonment and subsequently hanged himself, many Israelis are still not satisfied with the report of the Egyptian investigation of the shooting and the delay in providing medical attention to the victims.
Mubarak himself is in a delicate position. Two days of rioting in Cairo by disaffected police recruits, though quelled, have raised questions about the stability of his regime.
NO IMMEDIATE OFFICIAL REACTION
There was no immediate official reaction by the Israel government to the attack in Cairo Wednesday night. But Peres, addressing veteran Labor Party members here Thursday, said he was sure Mubarak would do everything possible to find the killers and bring them to justice. He said the real victims of Arab terrorism are the Arab people and their leaders, who fear for their lives.
“It is not surprising that there are terrorists and organizations that want to ignite a large fire in the Middle East by terrorism, by murder, by violence. They will not dictate to us our efforts on behalf of peace. We hope to attain peace–not because they oppose it but despite their opposition, despite the acts of murder,” Peres said.
He added that President Mubarak “must, like us, cut off the arm of violence which is trying to threaten the hope of peace in our region. I am certain, and I hope, that the government of Egypt will take all necessary measures to find the guilty, to bring them to trial, will take the necessary measures so that such acts will not recur in the future. This is its obligation and its responsibility,” Peres said.
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