By AFP
CAIRO: A senior Israeli defense ministry official arrived Sunday in Cairo on the first visit by a top official from the Jewish state since a popular uprising toppled president Hosni Mubarak in February.
“Amos Gilad will hold talks with several Egyptian officials to discuss the latest developments in the region, in light of the Palestinian reconciliation agreement,” the official MENA news agency reported.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal ended a four-year feud at a reconciliation ceremony in Cairo earlier this month, which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu termed “a tremendous blow to peace.”
The surprise accord, inked by the two rivals among 13 factions, aims to put a stop to the animosity which has split the Palestinian territories into opposing camps since 2007.
The agreement envisages Hamas and Fatah working to put together an interim government of candidates who are unaffiliated with either faction, who would govern until presidential and legislative elections within a year.
Meanwhile, a demonstration has been planned later on Sunday outside the Israeli embassy in Cairo to protest Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land and to demand the release of Palestinian prisoners.
The protest has been timed to coincide with the establishment of the state of Israel 63 years ago, in what is commonly referred to in Arabic as the “Nakba” or “catastrophe.”
