Egypt says it never really thought of withdrawing its ambassador to Israel
Tell me this doesn't make you feel all warm and fuzzy. Egypt now says that its Saturday morning threat to withdraw its ambassador to Israel - which threat prompted an apology from Israel for 'accidentally killing' three Egyptian police officers while pursuing terrorists - was never really meant to be carried out. Egypt’s foreign minister, Mohammed Amr, said Monday that the plan to recall the nation’s ambassador to Israel “was never on the table,” confirming the government’s decision to disavow a threat that generated widespread popular support at home but brought the government under intense diplomatic pressure to back off.Anyone else feel that the Israeli government was manipulated to make sure that it did what Egypt wanted it to do? It seems to me that Israel's government is afraid of its own shadow right now.
The call to withdraw the ambassador, initially announced on state television and posted briefly on the cabinet’s Web site, was issued Saturday after three Egyptian security officers were inadvertently killed by Israeli forces chasing down militants who staged a cross-border attack and then fled into Egypt. The killings set off the most serious diplomatic crisis between Egypt and Israel since the historic Camp David peace accords three decades ago, prompting diplomats from other nations to scramble to persuade both sides to cool tensions.
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The final word on the matter came from Mr. Amr on Monday.
“It was never on the table,” he said as he left a news conference devoted to Libya. “Look at the official statements.”
Indeed, the official statements make no mention of the recall threat.
Labels: Egyptian ambassador to Israel, Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, Israeli embassy
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 5:20 AM
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