Egypt lawmakers seek damages from Israel

CAIRO, March 13 (UPI) -- Egyptian lawmakers from the ruling party Tuesday demanded that Israel pay $10 billion in compensation for killing prisoners of war in 1967.

Parliamentary sources told United Press International that 20 legislators from the ruling National Democratic Party are planning to file a law suit against Israel, demanding reparation for the families of 250 unarmed Egyptian soldiers an Israeli military unit reportedly executed at the end of the 1967 Middle East war.

They said the lawmakers will file a suit specifically against Israel's current Infrastructure Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who allegedly led the unit that killed the Egyptian soldiers.

Israeli television last month aired a documentary on the issue, triggering widespread anger across Egypt and calls to cut off ties with the Jewish state. Egypt became the first Arab country, before Jordan, to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

Egypt's official Middle East News said Foreign Minister Ahmad Abul Ghait last week sent a "strongly-worded message" to his Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni demanding an explanation in what appeared in the Israeli documentary film and insisted on launching an immediate Israeli investigation into the reports.

Israeli officials denied the film mentioned Israeli soldiers killing the Egyptian PoWs. Ben-Eliezer said he did not kill any Egyptian prisoners and that those who died were Palestinians who fought with the Egyptian army, claiming they were killed in combat.