Israel will return its ambassador to Cairo and its embassy will reopen soon, following a meeting between Israeli officials and the Egyptian leadership, a report says.

The Al-Quds Al-Araby newspaper reported on Wednesday that an Israeli delegation arrived in Cairo on Sunday and met with a number of Egyptian security officials to discuss the reopening after an eight-month closure.

“There is positive progress in the talks,” an Israeli official said, adding that Ambassador David Govrin would return to the Egyptian capital in the near future.

Israeli sources said the Egyptian government had approved all Israel’s demands, including strengthening the security measures around the embassy and the ambassador’s residence.

According to the report, the Israeli decision comes amid pressure by Israeli businessmen who protested that the embassy had not been closed even in times that relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv were most tense, such as the 2006 Lebanon war and the Israeli wars on the Gaza Strip and the two Palestinian Intifadas.

Israel’s embassy in Cairo has been closed for the past eight months over security issues.

Back in May, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth reported that the security situation in Egypt prompted the closure of the embassy, with Israel’s ambassador to Cairo and his diplomatic staff working from Jerusalem.

“Israel set several conditions to returning the ambassador and diplomatic staff, and Cairo’s security chiefs took these conditions very seriously and were committed to meeting them. But even following these talks, the ambassador has yet to return, and there is no date for the embassy to be reopened,” a senior Egyptian Foreign Ministry official said.

Egypt and Jordan are the only two Arab governments that have official diplomatic ties with Tel Aviv and host Israeli missions. The rest of the Arab governments have no diplomatic relations with Israel, and seek to portray themselves as Tel Aviv’s traditional adversaries.
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