Egypt prepares to reopen mission in Gaza

 The Egyptian embassy in Gaza is reportedly preparing to reopen its office in Gaza city as a high-profile delegation from the Egyptian intelligence is set to visit the Gaza Strip soon, Egyptian and Palestinian sources said.

Quds Press quoted eyewitnesses and local sources in Gaza city talking about activity inside the embassy’s compound in the city’s suburb of Remal that was closed for the past five years.

According to the sources, workers where seen cleaning inside the embassy and rearranging everything inside in order to make it ready once the Egyptian government decides to reopen it.

In Cairo, Egyptian sources said that the embassy will open its doors again and would transfer its office to Gaza city permanently once the new Palestinian unity government is established.

Egypt’s Mubarak has transferred the embassy from the Gaza Strip to the West Bank in the aftermath of the internal clashes between Hamas and Fatah in 2007 in clear sign of support to Fatah leader Mahmoud Abbas.

The source also added that Lt. General Mohammed Ibrahim, the deputy-chief of Egypt’s intelligence apparatus would pay a visit to the coastal Strip to follow up the implementation of the Palestinian national reconciliation agreement that Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah have signed in Cairo a couple of weeks ago. No schedule yet was set yet for Ibrahim’s visit to the Strip.

Ibrahim is the Egyptian official in charge of the Palestinian file in the Egyptian intelligence department and he was on top of the Egyptian security delegation to Gaza prior to the unfortunate events in 2007.