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Mubarak Invites Olmert To Cairo

This past weekend, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak invited Israel`s interim prime minister, Ehud Olmert, to visit the Egyptian capital of Cairo. According to Israeli officials, known often to speak too enthusiastically about deals before actually made, Mr. Mubarak, president since the assassination of Anwar Sadat, asked Mr. Olmert to make the visit during a telephone call between the two men. There are reports the meeting would be the first between the two countries since an Israeli-Palestinian ceasefire was negotiated at Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt in 2005.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said Thursday that Cairo hopes to broker peace talks between Mr. Olmert and Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. However, Jerusalem calls Mr. Abbas irrelevant, especially after the militant group Hamas took over leadership of the Palestinian Authority (PA). Hamas refuses to recognize Israel`s right to exist, and says it will not renounce its violent campaign against the Jewish state. President Abbas recently blocked an attempt by Hamas to install a known terrorist as a security chief for the PA.

Egypt and Israel were arch-enemies up until the Camp David Accords of the late 1970s led to the first peace treaty between Israel and a former Arab enemy. Since peace, relations have generally stayed on a cold track, though at times both countries make efforts to warm up ties. Business interests between Jerusalem and Cairo expanded after peace, including oil consortiums and other deals. Relations between Israel and much of the world warmed after Israel`s pullout from the Gaza Strip, which from 1948-1967 was occupied by Egypt.