By Ihab el-Zalaqi

In an unprecedented move, Cairo's Court of Appeals last week ordered Israel to pay $10 million to the family of Amer Saad, an Egyptian soldier killed by Israeli tank fire on the Egypt-Israel border five years ago.

The incident occurred on 17 November 2004, when three Egyptian soldiers in the frontier city of Rafah came under fire from an Israeli tank stationed across the border. Two of the soldiers were killed instantly, while the third succumbed to injuries shortly afterward.

Saad's parents subsequently filed a lawsuit against both the Egyptian Interior Minister and the Israeli ambassador, in which they demanded $10 million in compensation. The case was initially rejected on the basis that the incident was deemed accidental and because the ambassador enjoys diplomatic immunity from prosecution.

Saad's family, however, appealed the verdict, claiming the shooting was deliberate and constituted a violation of the Egypt-Israel Camp David peace agreement. The judge therefore ordered monetary compensation to be paid out in the same amount -- $10 million -- as that set for Libyan agents convicted in the recently-concluded Lockerby airline bombing case.

According to the Court of Appeals, Article 31 of the Vienna Agreement regarding diplomatic immunity does not apply in this case. The court also found that the 1979 peace treaty bans either side from the use of force.

The appeals court also cited reports revealing that the Israeli tank crew that committed the offense consisted of religious, anti-Arab extremists, and that, while the Israeli government did not order the shooting, it remains responsible for it.

The court also absolved the Interior Ministry of all responsibility for the incident since the Camp David accord strictly limits Egyptian military forces deployed on the border, preventing the Interior Ministry from supervising the area.

"The minister cannot protect himself when he goes to the border, let alone his soldiers," the presiding judge stated.