Sisi welcomes Israeli ambassador among 7 others

Wednesday 31-08-2016 03:57 PM

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (R) meets Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in Jerusalem July 10, 2016 REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

CAIRO, Aug. 31 (Aswat Masriya) -Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi received eight new ambassadors on Wednesday, including Israeli ambassador David Govrin, the presidency said in a statement.

The other ambassadors Sisi received represented the Emirates, Mexico, Myanmar, Holland, Belgium, Greece, and Somalia.

Govrin said in a statement posted on the page "Israel in Egypt" that he seeks more fruitful cooperation between the two countries, "in hope that peace, safety, and security will spread throughout the Middle East, and that's what we all need."

Israel's new ambassador to Egypt has arrived in Cairo earlier in July to take up his post, after his predecessor had asked to  step down after only two years of service. 

Govrin, a professor of Middle East history, has served in a series of positions throughout the Middle East, including at the Cairo embassy in the 1990s. He was most recently the head of the Jordan desk at the Israeli foreign ministry.

Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry made a rare visit to Israel in July, where he met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and pushed for renewed peace talks between Israel and Palestine.

In March, controversial TV anchor Tawfik Okasha was expelled from Egypt's House of Representatives after receiving then-Israeli ambassador Haim Koren for dinner at his house, where they reportedly discussed Ethiopia's Grand Renaissance Dam and the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Okasha was expelled after a majority of House members, 465 out of 596, voted in favour of revoking his parliamentary membership.

The Israeli Embassy in Cairo reopened in September 2015, after being closed for four years.

The Tel Aviv mission in Egypt closed its doors in September 2011, when a group of Egyptian protesters stormed into the embassy’s Giza building, as thousands demonstrated against Israel's killing of five Egyptian soldiers in Sinai.

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