The Ambassador of Israel left Nouakchott

The Israeli ambassador in Nouakchott, Michael Arbel, left Nouakchott on Saturday night after the decision of the Mauritanian authorities to close the embassy a month after the freezing of relations between the two countries, according to diplomatic sources.

•     According to these sources, the ambassador and his wife took the Air France flight to Tel Aviv via Paris and were accompanied to the airport by the State Protocol and welcomed by the Ambassador of Germany and a diplomat of the French embassy in Nouakchott according to the same source.
  
      The embassy was closed Friday by the Mauritanian authorities, according to a release of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
  
      The Mauritanian government has not officially decided on the closure, but a source close to the presidency of the High Council of State indicated that the closure “is the logical continuation of the suspension of relations between the two countries” in January.
  
      Mr. Arbel who arrived in Mauritania on the eve of the coup that toppled Mauritanian President Sidi Ould Cheikh Abdallah on 6 August has never presented his credentials to the new military authorities who “did not want to offend public opinion openly hostile”, said the government source.
  
      Mauritania, along with Qatar, two Muslim countries, decided in mid-January to suspend its relations with Israel in protest against the Zionist offensive Ghaza.
  
      Mauritania maintained diplomatic relations with Israel and Qatar hosted a trade office in Israel.
  
      Egypt and Jordan signed a peace treaty with Israel, receiving embassies of the Hebrew state.
  
   
      
  Ennaharonline /M. O. / news agencies