Contrasting justifications were given about the reasons why an Egyptian trade delegation returned to Egypt from Tel Aviv. Israeli Haaretz newspaper said yesterday that the Egyptian delegation was recalled after Egypt's Ambassador to Tel Aviv Yasser Reda phoned its members and called on them to cut the talks and get on the first plane for Egypt. The newspaper reported on the three delegation members as saying that they had been forced to leave based on orders from up high and that they had had to obey. The newspaper linked this decision to the declarations made by the official spokesman of the Egyptian foreign minister Hossam Zaki, who said that linking the truce to the release of Israeli soldier Shalit was a blow to the Egyptian mediation. Mr. Zaki also said the delegation had been recalled for technical reasons, but denied it being a withdrawal. Other sources at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, though, said the delegation's withdrawal was due first and foremost to political reasons and was indeed a reaction to Israel's obstinacy regarding the Egyptian mediation and to the thwarting of the endeavors aimed to reach a truce between Hamas and Israel. To the contrary, an official source at the Egyptian Ministry of Trade said the delegation returned to hold technical consultations with the ministry officials and the factories registered in the QIZ agreement. US Radio Sawa reported on officials at the office of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as denying any diplomatic crisis between Israel and Egypt. Meanwhile, the Israeli foreign affairs ministry said in a press release that it regretted the decision to halt the trade negotiations held every three months at the headquarters of the Israeli trade ministry in Jerusalem. Following the press release, Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper said in a report that Egypt's Ambassador Yasser Reda called officials at the Israeli foreign affairs ministry to tell them that the Egyptian delegation would return to Jerusalem next week after holding technical consultations in Cairo.
