Israel’s foreign ministry on Friday summoned the Egyptian ambassador after statements by Prime Minister Essam Sharaf, who said the peace treaty between the two states is “not sacred”, Israeli website Ynet reported. Foreign Ministry Director General Rafi Barak summoned Ambassador Yasser Reda to express Israel’s “irritation over the recurrent calls from senior Egyptian officials over the need for modification to the peace treaty,” Ynet reported.
During the 30-minute interview at the foreign ministry headquarters in Jerusalem, Barak told Reda that “from Israel’s perspective, there are no intentions whatsoever to reopen the peace treaty and the step cannot be taken unilaterally.” On Thursday, Sharaf said the 1979 peace deal with Israel “is not sacred” in an interview with Turkish television. “The Camp David treaty is always open to discussion or for modification if that is beneficial for the region and for a just peace.
The peace treaty is not something sacred and there can be changes made to it,” the official MENA agency quoted Sharaf as saying. The premier’s statement comes a week after protesters ransacked the Israeli embassy in Cairo, forcing the evacuation of staff and the departure of the ambassador.
