Muslim Brotherhood: Morsi visit in Israel impossible
Official in Egypt's ruling party says president unlikely to accept FM Lieberman's invitation to visit Israel
A senior official in the Muslim Brotherhood's Freedom and Justice Party came out against Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman on Wednesday describing his invitation of President Mohammed Morsi to Israel as "diplomatic rebelliousness." He stressed that "there is no possibility for Morsi to visit the Zionist entity."
In an article published by Egyptian online magazine al-Wafd, Gamal Heshmat said that "accepting Israel's invitation would be unimaginable."
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He noted that even ousted president Hosni Mubarak only visited Israel once, to attend Yitzhak Rabin's funeral, despite the fact he considered Israel a "strategic asset."
"If Mubarak never held such a visit, how could Morsi do it?" he said. According to Heshmat, the presidential palace will decline the offer as "President Morsi's patriotism will not allow him to do so."
Lieberman had called on Morsi to visit Israel on Tuesday saying he was encouraged by the Egyptian leader's recent statement whereby the Israel-Egypt peace treaty was secure and invited the Egyptian president to visit the Jewish state.
Heshmat addressed Lieberman's attempt to compare the visit in Israel with Morsi's scheduled visit to Iran and said, "There is a huge difference between the two cases. Iran does not plunder land and is not an occupying force.
"It is a sovereign state and our relations with it do not affect our neighbors."
The Muslim Brotherhood's lawyer also said a visit is not likely.
Meanwhile, reports suggest that there is a possibility that Israel's Ouda Tarabin, who has been held in Egypt for the past 12 years on espionage charges, will be released soon.
Al-Masry al-Youm quoted an Egyptian intelligence source as saying that negotiations are ongoing. He added that Tarabin's release is possible as the Israeli has no value any longer.
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