Yediot Ahronot: Mubarak receives credentials of Israeli ambassador

The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot said yesterday that the new Israeli ambassador to Cairo, Eli Shakid, on Monday submitted his credentials to the Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

The paper quoted a high ranking official at the Egyptian foreign ministry as saying "relations between us started to take a positive attitude. Whenever we feel a tangible progress in the Palestinian issue, relations between Egypt and Israel will improve greatly."

He added " telephone contacts made in the few past days between Mubarak and the Israeli prime minister, Ariel Sharon, resulted in a positive progress." The paper said that the "coming phase in the improvement of relations between the two countries will be reflected during the visit of the Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom to Egypt next month. By the end of the visit, Egypt is expected to extend an official invitation to Sharon to visit Egypt and meet with the Egyptian President for the first time."

As for releasing the Israeli spy Azzam Azzam, the official Egyptian source said that "this matter is discussed seriously among the intelligence sides concerned.."