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Israeli President Urges Egypt, Jordan to Send Ambassadors
Israeli President Moshe Katsav Wednesday called on Egypt and Jordan to send their ambassadors to Israel.
Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab countries that have signed peace treaties with the Jewish state, who have fought five wars with its Arab neighbors since its creation in 1948.
Egypt recalled its ambassador last November in protest of Israeli's excessive use of force against Palestinians, who staged an intifada, or mass uprising, against Israeli occupation starting late September.
Jordan suspended dispatching a replacement of its former ambassador to Israel following the outbreak of the latest spate of bloody Israeli-Palestinian clashes, trigger by hawkish politician Ariel Sharon's provocative visit to a disputed shrine in East Jerusalem.
Speaking to a delegation of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Katsav said the Israeli government is still ready to make strategic concessions for peace with its neighbors even with an imminent change of power.
The Arab world has generally adopted a wait-and-see attitude toward Sharon, now the Israeli prime minister-elect, who is known for his hardline stances on the Israeli-Arab peace negotiations.
Sharon trounced outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Barak in a landslide victory in the February 6 prime ministerial election.
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