ANKARA: At a joint press conference with his Turkish counterpart, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said on Monday that there is an open war by some satellite channels, countries and individuals against Egypt and the Egyptian people. Aboul Gheit added that the Egyptian people will stand up to such a war. The remarks were made in response to statements by Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary general of Lebanese resistance group Hezbollah, in which he urged Egyptians to take to the streets in solidarity with the people of Gaza. He also called on the Egyptian Armed Forces to take action, to which Aboul Gheit responded by saying that "this person is unaware of everything. "The Egyptian Armed Forces are entrusted with defending Egypt, he said, noting that the army is capable of defending Egypt against people like "you , referring to Nasrallah. As for demands for expelling the Israeli ambassador from Egypt and recalling Egypt's ambassador to Israel along with stopping Egyptian gas supplies, Aboul Gheit said that all these issues are under consideration bearing in mind the interests of both Egypt and Palestine. Aboul Gheit is in Turkey for talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ali Babacan and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip. He said Sunday that Egypt was trying to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas to be followed by a truce. Predominantly Muslim, non-Arab Turkey is Israel's main regional ally but also has close ties with the Palestinians. It has stepped up Middle East peace efforts in recent years. Egypt brokered a six-month truce between Hamas and Israel which expired last week and a new wave of tit-for-tat violence led to Israel's air attacks on the Gaza Strip which have claimed more than 300 lives since Saturday. - Agencies
