TEL AVIV - Israel's foreign ministry called in the Egyptian ambassador on Friday to stress the importance of the two countries' historic 1979 peace treaty, an Israeli official said, after Egypt's prime minister said the accord was not "sacred". Relations between Egypt and Israel, strained since President Hosni Mubarak was ousted in February, spiralled into crisis last Saturday when protesters in Cairo stormed a building where the Jewish state's embassy is based, forcing most of its diplomats to flee Egypt. An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said Foreign Ministry Director General Rafi Barak told Egyptian envoy Yasser Reda that treaties must be honoured to the letter. An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman was not immediately available for comment. Egyptian Prime Minister Essam Sharaf told Turkish television on Thursday that the peace accord with Israel could be changed for the benefit of the region. Egypt's state news agency MENA confirmed Friday's meeting and said Israeli officials wanted "clarifications over what had been attributed to some Egyptian officials concerning the peace treaty between the two countries". It quoted a Foreign Ministry official in Cairo as saying that Egypt respected all its international obligations and was committed to the agreements it had signed, "including the Vienna Treaty concerning diplomatic relations and the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, so long that the other party abides by the letter and spirit of its commitments". The Israeli side has also asked for help to enable its Cairo embassy to return to normal operations, MENA added.
