ael was founded on murder, terrorism and violence.

The extent of these crimes wasn't revealed until August 1995 when the Israeli press lifted the veil in its interviews with a number of witnesses and members of the military who took part in the crime.

Starting in 1996, a number of Egyptian groups began to work to bring the war criminals to justice. While the Egyptian government brandished documentary evidence it also announced that it would defer the case in the hopes that this would drive the Israeli leadership to begin working for peace with the Palestinians.

The Israeli leadership, then consisting of Ezer Weitzman, Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Perez, Ehud Barak and Benjamin Netanyahu and their "gang leader" Ariel Sharon most of whom were implicated in these massacres - didn't accept that official Egyptian forbearance and continued in their policy of annihilating and driving the Palestinians out of their land.

Egypt continued in its attempt to prosecute the war criminals, receiving in 1996 the go ahead from the International Court in Geneva to convene a special court in Sinai where the crimes were committed. American and European pressure on those responsible for adjudicating the case however resulted in its indefinite postponement. The court was only the first step, after which the case would have been brought to the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

Israel persisted on its murderous path, committing massacres against the Palestinian people in Sabra and Shatilla, Qana and Jenin, and a deathly silence continued to reign over the world. Meanwhile Egyptian lawyer Mahmoud Saeed Lutfi brought a suit against the person of the prime minister of Israel at the Al-Areesh Criminal Court. He demanded that since Sharon had taken part in the massacre, he should make a civil restitution amounting to 60 billion Egyptian pounds.

On Sept. 23, the court indicted Sharon both personally and on the basis of his government post. The International Red Cross and human rights organizations that are part of the United Nations were notified and asked to come to Egypt to see the mass graves in Sinai.

The great Egyptian interest in this case enabled those following it up to gather 1,000 documents that implicate Israel, its leadership and its army. They were also able to determine the number of Egyptian prisoners who were killed or buried alive in the 12 mass graves - 2,700 in total.

Egypt's right to prosecute the war criminals no matter what their status in Israeli society stands because the accusation has not been refuted - as evidenced by the Israeli press and a number of Jewish military personnel who witnessed or took part in the slaughter.

This matter reveals the ugly side of Zionist extremism. It also reveals the sham that is the democracy of Israel, a country the US considers the sole oasis of democracy in the Middle East.

Is it then required that Arab countries follow the Israeli brand of democracy? To become expert killers, to turn into monsters like Ariel Sharon so that we may become democratic?

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