Visiting Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman met with Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman Wednesday night and invited him to come to Cairo in a sign that Egypt has decided to bury the hatchet over a negative remark the Yisrael Beiteinu leader made in the Knesset last October.
The meeting was held in the office of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu. Except for an exchange of pleasantries, few details of their discussion were released, but one subject was the fate of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit. Suleiman has played a key role as a go-between between Israel and Hamas in an effort to free Shalit, who was abducted nearly three years ago.
The invitation represented a 180-degree turnaround from chilly relations since the new Foreign Minister took office. His Egyptian counterpart Ahmed Abul Gheit said he would “keep his hands in his pockets” if Lieberman were to visit. Egypt still is angry over Liberman's remark in the Knesset that Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak “can go to hell” if he refused to visit Jerusalem.
Suleiman’s invitation to Foreign Minster Lieberman was presented on behalf of President Mubarak, who never has visited Israel as president except for attending the funeral of assassinated Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin.
Officials said that the return visit might take place in the next several weeks. Suleiman also invited Defense Minister Ehud Barak to visit Cairo.
Despite the thaw in relations, Suleiman’s meeting with the Foreign Minister was kept out of the media limelight. As recently as Wednesday morning, it was not clear if the two men would even meet.
The efforts of both countries to overcome their differences may make the Netanyahu government more acceptable to other Arab countries as well as the Western world, all of whom are trying to convince Israel to state its acceptance of the “two-state solution” that would allow the establishment of a Palestinian Authority state on the land of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.
Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu has insisted that the issue of a new Arab state is not relevant until the PA is secure socially and economically.
