By Doaa El-Bey , a former Egyptian ambassador to Israel, died on Sunday at 74. Bassiouni died at his home reading the papers. He was laid to rest after a military funeral attended by Egypt's current military ruler Field Marshal Hussein Tantawi. Bassiouni led an active career in the military, political and diplomatic fields. In the 1950s he started his career as a military officer, climbing up the ranks to brigadier general. He served as a military attaché in Damascus and Tehran. During the 1973 war, he served as coordinator between the Egyptian and Syrian armies and as a member of the joint Egyptian-Syrian command. After Egypt and Israel signed a peace deal in 1979, Bassiouni served as deputy ambassador in the Egyptian Embassy in Tel Aviv in 1982 and became ambassador in 1986. He was recalled in 2000 in protest at Israel's illegal practices during the second Palestinian uprising. During his tenure in Israel which lasted for over 18 years, Bassiouni never considered stepping down. He said that when then president Hosni Mubarak asked him to go to Tel Aviv, he considered it a war of another kind -- of political ideas, not of arms. After his return, Bassiouni was appointed deputy head of the Foreign Relations Committee in Egypt's Shura Council, parliament's upper house. He was also an expert in Israeli affairs. In 2008, Bassiouni stirred up controversy about the nature of his job in Israel. He said in a lecture in Egypt's National Library in Alexandria that he was sent to Israel as an intelligence officer rather than an ambassador. In the lecture, he described his memories of Israel as "bitter" and denied striking any friendships during his term as ambassador to the Jewish state. He did, however, mention a few people he called acquaintances. The former ambassador also criticised Israel for its treatment of Israeli Arabs, saying "there is no such thing as 'Israeli society' -- they're immigrants from all over the world." During the past decade, Bassiouni was keen on expressing his viewpoint on any development regarding Egyptian- Israeli relations. In an interview with the pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat early this year, Bassiouni said the 1979 peace accord not only returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt but brought untold benefits to both Egyptians and Israelis and must under no circumstances be annulled. He criticised the Israeli killing of Egyptian soldiers on the border in August. The New York Times quoted Bassiouni last week as calling the episode a lesson to Israel about the new politics of a post-revolution, more democratic Egypt, where the ruling military council and aspiring political candidates are eager to stay in step. "The Egyptians do not accept what has happened, and it means that Israel should take care. If they continue their behaviour towards the Palestinians and the peace process, it means that the situation will escalate more," he told the newspaper. Bassiouni was quoted by Al-Ahram Weekly last week as saying that a review of the Egypt-Israel peace treaty could placate the Egyptian street after the attack on the Israeli embassy in Cairo two weeks ago. He said the treaty gave either signatory the right to request an amendment of the treaty provided that both parties consent to the change. He suggested increasing the size of the security forces protecting areas B and C in the Sinai Peninsula as a required amendment at present in order to help Egyptian forces deal with any danger in Sinai.
