EGYPT’S ambassador to Israel was in Tel Aviv for less than a month before he was called back to Cairo in November 2012. His government, then led by Muhammad Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, was incensed over Israel’s bombing of the Gaza Strip, which is controlled by Hamas, a Brotherhood affiliate. Mr Morsi also summoned Israel’s ambassador in Cairo, where a year earlier protesters had stormed the Israeli embassy.
What a difference a few years make. In February Egypt’s current president, Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, who toppled Mr Morsi in a coup, sent a new ambassador to Israel, the first since 2012. Mr Sisi has closed Egypt’s border with Gaza, to great Palestinian dismay, and vilified Hamas. To complete the turnabout, there are now rumours that Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel’s prime minister, will soon visit Mr Sisi in Egypt.
Israel’s warmer relations with Egypt are a sign of a broader rapprochement with the Arab world. Mr Netanyahu may be stretching things when he says that Arab leaders now see the Jewish state as an ally, but their priorities, such as countering Iran and combating Islamic terrorism, are increasingly aligned. The shift...Continue reading
Source: Middle East and Africa http://ift.tt/29XxeJd
EmoticonEmoticon