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Cairo-Tel Aviv bus service to resume after 10 years
2006-03-08 Israeli and Egyptian tourism ministers agree in principle to renew Tel-Aviv daily bus service suspended in 1996.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------- JERUSALEM - Israeli and Egypt agreed in principle on Wednesday to renew the Tel Aviv-Cairo daily bus service after a 10-year hiatus, public radio reported. Israeli Tourism Minister Avraham Hirschenson and his Egyptian counterpart, Mohammed Zoheir Garana, agreed to renew the symbolic service, which the Israeli public bus company Egged suspended in 1996 because it was unprofitable, the report said.
The two ministers met during a conference in Berlin and agreed that their governments would soon meet to reach a final agreement on the issue.
Jonathan Pollick, a spokesman for the Israeli tourism ministry, said the two states are "examining the possibility" of renewing the bus service.
The link was inaugurated with great fanfare in 1981 after Egypt became the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel two years earlier.
Ties between the two countries were considerably tightened after Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip last August, pulling back settlers and army forces following 38 years of occupation.
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