JERUSALEM: Egyptian Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman on Wednesday extended invitations to Israel's right-wing Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman to visit Egypt, signaling an improvement in bilateral ties that have been on the slide since Lieberman was named as foreign minister in Israel's new government.
During the first meeting between a high-level Egyptian official and the new Israeli leader since Netanyahu took office on March 31, Suleiman issued the invitation on behalf of Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak. The visit could take place in the "coming weeks," an official said.
Netanyahu underlined "the common interests between Egypt and Israel, starting with peace" between their countries in a two-hour meeting with Suleiman, the official added.
Netanyahu’s expected visit to Cairo is part of efforts to restart prisoner-exchange talks with Hamas, which has been holding an Israeli soldier captive for three years.
Netanyahu’s refusal to publicly endorse the creation of a Palestinian state has raised fears that Israel’s new cabinet is on a collision course with the new U.S. administration, which has vowed to push ahead with the peace process.
Outspoken politician
Suleiman, who is a key mediator with Palestinian Hamas Islamists controlling the Gaza Strip, also invited the far-right nationalist Lieberman to visit Cairo during their 30 minutes of talks, an Israeli political source said. No date was set.
Several Israeli leaders have visited Egypt since the two countries signed a peace treaty in 1979, but Mubarak has never been on an official trip to the Jewish state, except for one brief visit to Tel Aviv, during 27 years of power, for the 1995 funeral of slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry said in a statement that Lieberman "expressed his respect and appreciation for Egypt’s leading role in the region and his personal respect for Mubarak and Minister Suleiman," adding that the meeting was "important and constructive."
Lieberman heads the ultranationalist Yisrael Beitenu party and his appointment as Israel’s top diplomat under a coalition pact with Netanyahu was an affront to Egypt, the first Arab state to make peace with the Jewish state.
As a political newcomer, Lieberman suggested Egypt’s Aswan Dam might be bombed should it fight another war with Israel.
He stirred controversy last year as an opposition lawmaker when he said Mubarak could "go to hell" if he did not visit Israel.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said last week that Cairo would not deal with Lieberman nor invite him to visit "as long as his positions remain unchanged."
Gaza blockade
Egypt, like Israel, borders Gaza and has been involved in a blockade aimed at pressuring Hamas into softening its opposition to peace talks led by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. It has also been trying to broker rapprochement between Hamas and Abbas’s secular Fatah, which fought a brief civil war in 2007.
Israel has in the past complained about Cairo’s handling of arms-smuggling to Gaza from the Sinai Peninsula. However, Israeli analysts saw relations warming after Egypt this month announced it had cracked a gunrunner ring working for Iranian-backed Shiite Lebanese opposition Hezbollah.
Suleiman also invited Defense Minister Ehud Barak to Egypt during a separate meeting and likewise held talks with President Shimon Peres, Israeli officials said.