OCCUPIED JERUSALEM — Israel's prime minister says he hopes peace with Egypt will remain intact after it chose an Islamist president. Israel has been apprehensive about the possibility of the Muslim Brotherhood taking the top spot in neighboring Egypt, because the veteran Islamist group does not formally recognize Israel. Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979. Reacting to the announcement that the Muslim Brotherhood candidate won, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hoped the treaty would stand. “Israel expects to continue cooperation with the Egyptian government on the basis of the peace agreement between the two countries, which is of interest to the two peoples and contributes to regional stability,” Netanyahu said in a statement Sunday. Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood has said it would maintain the treaty but would demand changes in it. An Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Netanyahu government hoped Mursi and the Muslim Brotherhood's parliamentary bloc would put the need to tend to Egypt's ailing economy ahead of any revision of bilateral ties. US aid to Cairo hinges on keeping the peace with Israel. “Looks like we were right when we said the Arab Spring would become an ‘Islamic Winter', even though Western nations laughed us off at the time,” the Israeli official said. But he added that he hoped the Egyptian government would “try to be more statesmanly, by working in the interests of the country”. Eli Shaked, a former Israeli ambassador to Cairo, told Israel's Army Radio that Mursi's authority would likely be diluted by the powerful Egyptian army, which relies on Washington's defense grants. Israel Hasson, a lawmaker with the centrist Kadima party who has served as envoy to Cairo, said the possibility of already chilly bilateral relations going into a deeper freeze meant Israel had to revive its peace partnership with the Palestinians after months of diplomatic stalemate. — Agencies
