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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak
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| By Associated Press September 5, 2005 |
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Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak plans to visit Israel in November, an Israeli official said Monday, in what would be just his second trip to the Jewish state.
The official said Mubarak would attend ceremonies marking the 10th anniversary of the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to make a formal announcement.
Earlier Monday, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said a visit to Mubarak was likely -- part of his push to improve Israel's contacts with the Arab world.
"The Egyptian president is expected to arrive. We think he will probably come at the time of the marking of the decade since Rabin's murder. But we want the visit to have also bilateral implications," Shalom told reporters at the Israeli parliament.
In 1979, Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace agreement with Israel. But relations have often been cool. Mubarak's only other visit to Israel during his 24-year reign was to attend Rabin's funeral.
There was no immediate comment from Egyptian officials.
Mohammed Habib, deputy leader of the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, said at a news conference in Cairo that the opposition group rejects Mubarak's planned visit to Israel.
"We demand that diplomatic ties with the Zionist entity be severed at least until the Palestinian people regain their rights," he said, adding that the Egyptian people oppose "normalization with the Zionist entity."
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