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Monday, December 12, 2011

Israel's new ambassador to Egypt arrives in Cairo

From Ha'aretz:
Israel's new ambassador to Egypt arrived in Cairo on Monday, Egyptian airport officials told the Associated Press, three months after rioters ransacked the Israeli Embassy in the Egyptian capital.

Amitai, the new envoy, replaces Yitzhak Levanon, who was ambassador when the embassy was stormed in August after six Egyptian guards were killed by Israeli troops pursuing militants responsible for the deaths of eight Israelis on the border.

Amitai, a fluent Arabic speaker who has previously served at the embassy in Cairo, will join the small Israeli diplomatic staff still on in the Egyptian capital.

Following the September incident in Cairo, Foreign Ministry officials and the Shin Bet security services decided that the building housing the embassy was unfit from a security point of view. Since then, efforts have been made to find an alternative location.

For now, Amitai is expected to work from his residence with the assistance of two Israeli diplomats.
Al Masry al Youm adds:
[Amitai] expressed the hope that peace between Egypt and Israel will continue in the future. He said, upon his arrival to Cairo on Monday afternoon, "The Egyptian revolution will succeed, God willing", expressing his pleasure to work in Egypt at this historic moment for Egypt and the Middle East, adding that he hoped that his time in Egypt in the service of peace between the two countries.

He added "The Egyptian-Israeli peace is a durable peace, because we have [strong] goals and common features, and I'm sure the peace process between the two countries will continue...My job is to consolidate the peace between Egypt and Israel."