Bassiouni, Muhammad Abdul Aziz (1937–)

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BASSIOUNI, MUHAMMAD ABDUL AZIZ (1937–)

Egyptian military and diplomatic figure. Between 1968 and 1976, Muhammad Bassiouni was a military attaché in Syria. In 1979 he retired from twenty-six years of service with the rank of general and joined the ministry of foreign affairs. First assigned to Tehran, Iran, where he witnessed the fall of the shah in 1980, he was sent to Israel, where he was chargé d'affaires at the Egyptian Embassy. In 1982 he replaced the head of the Egyptian Mission in Tel Aviv, who was recalled to Cairo after the massacres of Palestinians in the Lebanese refugee camps of Sabra and Shatila. On 12 September 1986, Bassiouni was named Egyptian ambassador to Israel. In November 2000 he was recalled in protest over the Israeli response to the al-Aqsa Intifada and is now serving in the Egyptian legislature.

SEE ALSO Sabra and Shatila.