JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Egypt to meet President Hosni Mubarak on Monday in his first official trip abroad, a senior official told AFP on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Netanyahu will hold talks with President Mubarak, probably in Sharm El-Sheikh, on the 11th, the official said on condition of anonymity.
It will be Netanyahu s first trip abroad since he was sworn in as prime minister on March 31.
Netanyahu will greet Pope Benedict XVI, who will arrive in Israel on Monday from Jordan as part of a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, before flying to Egypt, the official said.
Egypt is one of only two Arab countries, along with Jordan, to have signed a peace treaty with Israel.
Cairo has played a key role as mediator in the Jewish state s dealings with Palestinian militant groups, notably Hamas which controls the Gaza Strip.
But relations have become more difficult since Netanyahu took power at the head of a mainly right-wing government with controversial ultra-nationalist firebrand Avigdor Lieberman as his foreign minister.
Lieberman sparked Cairo s ire last year when he said Mubarak could go to hell if he continued to refuse to visit Israel. -AFP
