Israeli sources reported that the Israeli Ambassador to Egypt will be returning to his office in the near future, with Israeli officials arriving in Cairo Wednesday to hold meetings with Egyptian officials.Israeli Daily, Haaretz, reported that General Rafael Barak, Israel’s Foreign Ministry Deputy Director-General, will arrive on Wednesday to hold talks regarding the return of the Israeli Ambassador.
Barak will be holding meetings with Egyptian security and foreign ministry officials, while talks attempting to arrange a meeting between Barak and his Egyptian counterpart, Kamel Amr, are still ongoing.
The Israeli embassy in Cairo was evacuated two months ago after Egyptian protestors held massive protests in front of the embassy, demanding that their country cut off all of its diplomatic ties with Israel. This came shortly after Israeli soldiers killed five Egyptian Border Police near Eilat, following a shooting by gunmen from the Egyptian side of the borderwhich led to the death of three Israeli soldiers and five civilians, which the Egyptian border police had nothing to do with. After conducting an internal investigation, the Israeli Military recognized its mistake, and issued a formal apology to Egypt.
The Israeli ambassador, Yitzhak Levanon, has not returned to Egypt since the embassy was evacuated, and Israel has appointed Yaacov Amitai to replace him. Egypt approved the appointment.
Israel claims that the ambassador did not leave to Cairo due to what was described as insufficient Egyptian security arrangements, and expects Egypt to present an adequate plan to secure the embassy. Embassy staff will also remain in Tel Aviv until then.
It is worth mentioning that the Israeli Government also decided to move the embassy to a new location, but is still trying to locate another building that is geographically and structurally suitable, with a higher security presence.
