Egypt threatens to boycott meet if Israelis allowed to participate

Cairo: Egyptian medical professors have threatened to stay away from a meeting — to be held in Cairo this month — if Israeli experts are allowed to participate.

"The organisers of the conference have decided to host Israelis despite our confirmation that we would not participate in the event if the Israelis were allowed to attend," Dr Mona Al Qasas, a professor at the Cairo University's Medical School, said.

The conference on haemophilia, organised by a private drug-maker, will open at a Cairo hotel on May 24. "We had earlier agreed to participate after getting assurances from the organisers that no Israeli would attend.

"However, we were surprised when we received the programme of the conference via emails including the names of two Israeli professors, one of whom served in the Israeli army for 17 years," Dr Mona said on Sunday.

She said she had urged her colleagues from the nation's medical schools to join her in boycotting the event. No official from the organising company was immediately available for comment.

Egypt was the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979.

But anti-Israel sentiment in Egypt runs high as different professional unions bar their members from having contacts with Israel.

Earlier this year, the Egyptian Press Syndicate warned Hala Mustafa, an editor at the State-run Al Ahram press institution, over meeting the former Israeli ambassador in her office in Cairo.