20110213
presstv
Tel Aviv says Israeli officials have made initial contacts with Egypt's new military rulers as the army is clashing with protesters that refuse to leave Cairo's Liberation Square.

An Israeli spokeswoman said on Sunday that Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak spoke by telephone with Head of Egypt's Higher Military Council Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.

The contact came two days after the US-backed dictator Hosni Mubarak was ousted from power. The Egyptian military leadership said it would respect all the country's international treaties including a peace pact with Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday welcomed the Egyptian army's stance toward the treaty.

“The peace agreement was kept by Egypt throughout the years ... it is the cornerstone of peace and stability, not only for the two countries, but for the whole region as well,” Netanyahu said during a cabinet meeting.

Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a US-brokered pact with Israel In 1979.

Soldiers on Sunday scuffled with thousands of protesters camping out in the Square, the focal point of massive rallies that brought down Mubarak on Friday, a Press TV correspondent reported.

Shouting slogans, protesters fought street battles with soldiers forcing them to back away, the report added.

The protesters, remaining in Cairo's central Liberation Square on Saturday night, warned of holding further rallies if the military fails to fulfill its promise of a peaceful transition of power to a democratic civilian system.

Eighteen days of revolution across Egypt forced the embattled Mubarak to leave office on Friday, handing over power to a military council.

The military promised "a peaceful transition of power" to an elected civilian government on Saturday in order to build "a free democratic state.”

However, the new military leadership did not set a timetable to fulfill the pledge.

Thousands of protesters vowed to remain on the major landmark until their demands are met.