By: Barak Ravid – Haaretz

Thirty years after prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat signed their historic peace agreement, few are interested in representing Israel in Cairo.

The term of Israel’s current ambassador to Egypt, Shalom Cohen, was extended for three months last week because no senior diplomat or other qualified public figure has so far been willing to take the post. Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and ministry director general Aharon Abramovitz decided to lengthen Cohen’s term after ruling out the two leading candidates for his replacement.

Livni nixed the candidacies of seven mid-level diplomats because of doubts over their qualifications. She also considered appointing a caretaker ambassador, but ruled out that option for fear of harming relations with Egypt.

In recent years, the Defense Ministry has taken the lead in nurturing ties between the two governments, mainly through Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman. The Prime Minister’s Office has also played a dominant role. The Israeli embassy in Cairo has served as little more than a symbol, and has recently been left out of much of the communication between Jerusalem and Cairo.

However, Egypt has recently taken various steps to strengthen its relationship with the Foreign Ministry, due in part to its assessment that Livni was likely to replace Ehud Olmert as prime minister. Abramovitz even visited the Egyptian capital several weeks ago for a rare meeting with Suleiman, and Livni’s election as Kadima’s new leader is expected to aid in warming relations.

Livni had hoped to replace Cohen with another prominent senior diplomat, or barring that, a well-known public figure or politician. She had also hoped the selection process would send a message to Egypt that its relationship with Israel was a priority for Jerusalem.

However, she soon discovered that eligible candidates were hardly jumping at the vacancy. She and Abramovitz offered the position to four of the ministry’s deputy directors general, and all four turned it down.

Several diplomats said that while they would like to see the position of ambassador given more responsibility, they saw no chance of this actually happening, as the ambassador, however senior he may be, will remain isolated and overlooked by the Egyptian leadership.

Livni also searched for a recognizable public figure or academic, but all the candidates she considered were eliminated due to either lack of experience or their own refusal to take the job. Veteran diplomat Oded Eran, who represented Israel for years to the European Union before his recent retirement, also refused the foreign minister’s offer.

The daily Yedioth Ahronoth reported recently that the ambassadorship was offered to journalist Ehud Ya’ari. Livni’s office denied this report.

The post of Egypt’s ambassador to Israel is hardly a picnic either. In August, a furor erupted in Israel after the Egyptian media reported that former ambassador Mohammad Bassiouni had actually been a spy, a charge Bassiouni vehemently denied.

The former ambassador says he still has many personal friends in Israel, and is cautious in voicing opinions as to which politicians would best advance the peace process. He does say he believes that Yisrael Beiteinu leader Avigdor Lieberman is a “radical right-winger.” However, he added, “we made peace with a right-wing party, with Menachem Begin. We believed then and we believe now that peace can be made only with a strong leader.”