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Egyptians hold massive anti-Israel rally

26 August 2011 19:09 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Tens of thousands of Egyptians have staged a massive anti-Israel protest, demanding an end to the peace-accord between Cairo and Tel Aviv, APA reports quoting Press TV.

Following the Friday Prayers, protesters and activists gathered in several cities and Cairo’s Liberation Square to stage a million-man demonstration.

Egyptians called for the expulsion of the Israeli envoy and chanted anti-Israeli slogans.

Since last Thursday when the Israeli military killed five Egyptian security personnel on the Rafah border crossing, anti-Israeli protests have escalated outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979, but the situation has drastically changed since the Egyptian revolution which toppled former dictator Hosni Mubarak. A number of Egyptian political parties are now calling for changes to the peace treaty.

Under the US-backed Mubarak regime, Egypt consistently served Israeli interests and objectives by helping to impose the crippling blockade on the impoverished Gaza strip after the democratically elected Hamas government took control of the territory in 2007.

The crippling blockade on the territory has triggered a humanitarian crisis. The siege has left nearly one and a half million Gazans in dire need of basic supplies.