Morsi’s Egypt sends new ambassador to Israel
Career diplomat Atef Salem to present his credentials in Jerusalem next month
September 2, 2012, 6:15 pm
President
Shimon Peres attends a ceremony welcoming Egypt's former ambassador to
Israel, Yasser Reda in 2008 (photo credit: Michal Fattal/Flash90)
A year after Cairo recalled its
ambassador to Israel amid regional turmoil, a new ambassador arrived in
the country on Sunday. Atef Salem, a career diplomat, is expected to
present his credentials to President Shimon Peres on October 17,
according to the Ministry.
There
hasn’t been an ambassador serving in Israel since August 2011, when
Cairo recalled Yasser Reda from Tel Aviv to protest the deaths of five
Egyptian servicemen who died in a border incident.
“He has been appointed and has already arrived
in Israel. We welcome him and wish him good luck,” Foreign Ministry
spokesman Paul Hirschson told The Times of Israel.
Atef Salem served previously as Egypt’s consul-general in Eilat.
Bilateral relations have been frosty for
months now and have been nearly frozen since the Islamist Mohammed Morsi
became the Arab Republic’s new president in June.
In February, when Egypt was still controlled
by the country’s military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi
accepted the credentials of Israel’s incoming ambassador to Egypt,
Yaacov Amitai.
“The presentation of credentials was held in a
cordial atmosphere,” the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem said at the time
in a statement. Amitai, who arrived in Cairo in December 2011, and
Tantawi spoke to each other, reiterating “the importance of the peace
agreement and cooperation” for both countries,” according to the
statement.
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