Israel finally approves Amira Oron as new ambassador to Egypt

CAIRO - Israel finally approved on Sunday veteran diplomat Amira Oron as new ambassador to Cairo a year and a half after her selection for the post in late 2018, the Israeli embassy in Cairo said.

Although Oron will be the first Israeli woman to serve as ambassador to Egypt, it is not her first time to serve in the Israeli embassy in Cairo.

"Ambassador Oron held several positions in the Israeli diplomatic corps, including one at the Israeli embassy in Cairo 24 years ago," the Israeli embassy in Cairo tweeted on Sunday.

She was selected for the post by Israeli Foreign Ministry in late October 2018, but a vote on her appointment was delayed as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was considering a Likud lawmaker to hold the post instead.

Oron succeeds former Israeli ambassador to Egypt David Govrin, who left the post last year and charge d'affaires Eyal Sela has been running the embassy since then.

Egypt and Israel signed a U.S.-sponsored peace treaty in 1979.

Eliyahu Ben-Elissar was the first Israeli ambassador to Cairo who held the post in 1980 for one year.

With regards to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Egypt has repeatedly reiterated support for the UN-backed two state solution and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital city.