Netanyahu to pay homage to Mubarak

Netanyahu will visit Mubarak on Mubarak's terms. Of course, if Lieberman had not told Mubarak to go to hell, it would have been less fun, but it would not have provided Egypt with an opportunity to humiliate Israel.

 

Last update - 23:35 30/04/2009       
Netanyahu to meet Mubarak before U.S. visit
By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent, and Reuters

 

Benjamin Netanyahu will make his first trip to Egypt as Israeli prime minister during the first half of May for talks with President Hosni Mubarak, before his scheduled visit to the U.S. to meet President Barack Obama.

 

In the month since Netanyahu took office, there have been signs of strain between Israel and Egypt, mostly over the appointment of hard-liner Avigdor Lieberman as foreign minister.

 

Lieberman once cursed Mubarak from the parliament podium for refusing to visit Israel.

 

Mubarak last week said Lieberman would not accompany Netanyahu on any visit to Egypt.

 

Speaking at a ceremony to mark 27 years since Israel's withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula under the terms of the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, Mubarak said that "the Israeli prime minister will come only with the head of his bureau, and will not bring any extra ministers."

 

A communique issued by the prime minister's bureau said he accepted an invitation from Mubarak for talks before Netanyahu's trip to Washington to see President Barack Obama, set tentatively for May 18.

 

An exact place and date for the Mubarak-Netanyahu meeting have not been set, the statement said...