Poland renews diplomatic relations with Israel. First step taken,” President Andrzej Duda wrote on Twitter. The new Israeli ambassador to Poland, Yacov Livne, presented his letters of credence on Tuesday. The new ambassador said he believes there is a desire in Jerusalem and Warsaw to return to a common ground.

Yacov Livne was born in Moscow in 1967 and immigrated to Israel in 1974. He has a BA in physics, an MA in international relations, security and diplomacy and a PhD in history.

“I came here to rebuild our relations and bring our countries back to the normal good relations we had in the past. I think there are chances for this to succeed”, said Livne.

In a Twitter post, President Andrzej Duda wrote that he also hopes for the swift reinstatement of Poland’s ambassador to Israel. Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) spokesman Lukasz Jasina would not disclose details of his appointment.

“The candidacy will be disclosed only after it has been presented and when it will be debated by the foreign affairs committee of the Polish parliament”, the spokesman announced.

Poland has been without its own ambassador to Israel since last year when the Israeli Foreign Ministry recommended that the Polish representative remains in Poland. The cooling in relations between Poland and Israel emerged after the Sejm amended the Code of Administrative Procedure. The new legislation made it impossible to return property taken by state authorities after the Second World War, introducing a 30-year limit on the recognition of reprivatisation claims.

In early July, in a telephone conversation, the presidents of Poland and Israel agreed that the two countries should develop bilateral diplomatic relations. During the conversation, the presidents agreed that a Polish ambassador should be appointed to Tel Aviv.

“It was agreed that relations between the countries would be put back on track”, wrote the President’s Office.

Arkadiusz Słomczyński