Israeli presence in Egypt (civilian and academic, that is..)

I first wondered about that when I heard of the “First International Conference of Jews from Egypt”, to be organised by the Tel-Aviv based “Association Pour l’Amitié Israel Egypte” (God knows why they have a French name...)
To be held, guess where? Cairo, Egypt. At the Marriot Hotel, from May 25^th to May 29^th 2008.

In the programme: archeological and religious visits, prayers, as well as a day at the “Israeli Academic Center in Cairo” (there’s an Israeli academic center in Cairo? Really?)

The most amusing thing is that the flyer mentions the participation of the Israeli ambassador, “and Egyptian personalities”. I love their secrecy... I mean, people, it’s in the fucking Marriott!
Which, by the way, will be making lots of money since residency there is compulsory for all participants to the conference. I wonder whether there was a financial-political balance to strike within the hotel to host this conference...

Anyways.
0.14 seconds after typing in "Israeli academic center in Cairo" in my Google toolbar, I read that it's an organisation, located in the Dokki neighbourhood, "which assists Israeli scholars with research into Egypt and Egyptian culture, and facilitates cooperation with Egyptian academics."

A long and interesting article on the center is here, published in the NYC-based Jewish daily "Forward". A rather dumb article posted on a random website calls it a 'spy center in Cairo', as expected.

Not quite sure what I think about it. You make up your own mind - and let me know what you think about it.