JERUSALEM: Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Monday invited Israel s new Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit his country for talks, the premier s office said.
Mubarak in a telephone call invited the prime minister to a meeting in the near future in Sharm El-Sheikh, Netanyahu s office said in a statement.
The prime minister welcomed the invitation and the meeting will apparently take place before long, it said, without giving a date.
It said Netanyahu stressed to Mubarak that the peace between the two countries is of great importance and the two countries have a common interest in deepening and expanding the peace so as to rebuff threats against it.
The invitation comes at a time of tensions between the two countries which have a 1979 peace treaty.
Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit said he would not shake hands with his Israeli counterpart Avigdor Lieberman if he encountered him at a meeting, Egypt s state news agency MENA reported last week.
Lieberman, a far-right member of Netanyau s new government, once said Mubarak could go to hell if he did not visit Israel. But he has adopted a conciliatory tone toward Cairo since taking up the post. -AFP
