Israeli liberal party delegation to Egypt

A delegation of Israel’s liberal Meretz party will on Sunday travel to Cairo to meet with Egyptian officials, the party said in a statement.

The delegation will be headed by party chief Yossi Beilin, a veteran Israeli dove, and is due to meet with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Ossama el-Baz, political aide to President Hosni Mubarak, it said.

The talks will touch on the situation in the Gaza Strip after militants from the Islamist Hamas movement overran forces loyal to moderate Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in the territory on June 15.

Egypt’s role in stabilising the political situation in the region and the freeing of an Israeli soldier seized by Gaza militants a year ago will also be on the agenda, it said.