Egyptians not so impressed about strained relations with Israel

The Egyptian population is divided over warming Egyptian-Israeli relations.

Egypt’s foreign minister paid a rare visit to Israel on Sunday offering Cairo’s help to revive peace talks with the Palestinians, in a sign of strengthened ties between two countries sharing deep concern over regional unrest.

In the streets of Egypt, some people questioned the motives behind the warming relations implied by the visit.

‘From the visit they are trying to improve Egyptian-Israeli relations, but the citizens do not like this visit and they are rejecting the Egyptian-Israeli relations.

‘‘There is no understanding with [Israel], and the negotiations are on hold and Israel is being arrogant. What is the reason for the visit at the moment? There is no reason for it. On the contrary, it is inappropriate. In order to open negotiations with Israel it needed to be based on whether Israel is willing to go in an actual peace negotiations. Is it ready to retreat to the borders of 1967, ‘’ said another man, who spoke on the basis of anonymity.

However, some residents like Saber Abdelmegahed applauded the visit as a good move which might encourage Arab nations to unite

“We need to seek, we need to seek it first and provide to the Arab countries a means to unify with us and tell them we want peace. There is nothing better than peace,” he said

In a report published on July 1, the Quartet of Middle East peace sponsors – the United States, European Union, Russia and United Nations – hailed the Arab peace initiative’s “vision for comprehensive settlement” of the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Egypt says it is only offering “all possible forms of support” to achieve peace and security in the Middle East.