Amid all the concern about the direction Israel-Egypt ties are going under
Egypt’s new Islamic President Mohamed Morsy, the Foreign Ministry announced
Sunday that the new Egyptian ambassador will present his credentials to
President Shimon Peres on October 17.
“The big deal about the
announcement,” one diplomatic official said, “is that the relationship is
continuing and naming a new ambassador is not a big deal.”
The official
said he did not know of any Egyptian hesitancy to send a replacement for Yasser
Rada, who finished his term a few weeks ago.
The new ambassador is Ataf
Salam, who began working in that capacity on Sunday.
He previously served
as Egypt’s consul- general in Eilat.
Government officials maintain that
despite the new administration in Egypt, and the tense situation in Sinai, there
is continuous contact between Israeli and Egyptian officials at many different
levels.
The officials said the US has played a key role in facilitating
this ongoing contact.
While Egypt has sent a new ambassador, Jordan still
has not.
The Jordanian Embassy in Tel Aviv has been without an ambassador
for over two years, since King Abdullah II appointed Ali al-Ayed, the former
envoy, as Jordan’s minister of media affairs and communications in July 2010.
Amman never named a replacement.