Egypt anger over 1967 'massacre'

The claims were aired last week in an Israeli documentary, described by its director as a "self-examination" of Israel's use of force during the war.

"In Egypt, the opposition is taking the story and distorting it into an issue to disrupt the peace," film-maker Ron Edelist said on Israel Army Radio.

The Egyptian media reports said the documentary showed that Mr Ben-Eliezer's unit killed 250 Egyptian prisoners of war in the Sinai peninsula rather than taking them to POW camps.

The affair has dominated Egyptian headlines for two days and it sparked an angry debate in parliament.

Egyptian foreign ministry officials have requested a copy of the film from the Israeli government and summon its ambassador in Cairo to explain Israel's position.

Israel captured the arid Sinai peninsula from Egypt in the Six Day war of 1967. The two sides signed a peace treaty in 1979 which saw the territory returned.

Claims that Israeli troops massacred about 1,000 Egyptian POWs in several incidents in Sinai were first raised in 1995 by Israeli military researcher Aryeh Yitzhaki.

At the time Mr Ben-Eliezer said he was not aware of any POW killings by his troops. The story soured relations between Israel and Egypt for months.