CAIRO - A senior Israeli Defence Ministry official arrived in Cairo Sunday for talks on regional developments, as protests were held against Israel's 63th anniversary. Amos Gilad, the Director of Policy and Political-Military Affairs at the Israel Ministry of Defense, will have talks with Egyptian officials on the latest developments in the region, after a recent Palestinian reconciliation agreement by Egypt, the official MENA news agency reported. This is the first visit by a top Israeli official to Cairo since a popular revolt overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in February. Earlier this month, the two Palestinian rival factions Fatah and Hamas ended a four-year feud at a reconciliation ceremony in Cairo. Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the agreement was "a tremendous blow to peace." The accord, signed by the two movements, and other 11 factions, seeks to put an end to the animosity that split the Palestinian territories into opposing camps since 2007. It envisages Hamas and Fatah working to put together an interim government of candidates who are unaffiliated with either faction, who would govern until presidential and legislative elections within a year. Meanwhile, a demonstration was held Sunday outside the Israeli Embassy in Cairo to protest at Israel's occupation of Palestinian land and to demand the release of Palestinian prisoners. The protests coincided with the establishment of Israel 63 years ago, in what is commonly referred to in Arabic as the "Nakba" or "catastrophe”. Over the past three days, several protests by different Egyptian powers were staged outside the Israeli Embassy.
