CAIRO, January 5 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The head of Israel's Meretz left-wing opposition party, Yossi Sarid, and former justice minister Yossi Beilin arrived in Cairo on Sunday, January 5, to meet with senior Egyptian officials, airport sources in Cairo said.

Meanwhile, an Israeli test launch Sunday of four Arrow interceptor missiles to shoot down incoming missiles was a success, Israeli public television said.

Sarid and Beilin, who left Labor to join Meretz, are to meet with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak's main adviser Osama al-Baz, intelligence chief General Omar Suleiman and Foreign Minister Ahmed Maher, party sources said earlier in occupied Jerusalem.

The talks come three weeks before Israel's January 28 general elections, Agence France-Presse (AFP) said.

"These meetings are part of the ongoing contact that we have with Egyptian officials -- it has nothing to do with the upcoming elections in Israel," Sarid told Israel's Haaretz newspaper.

Sarid and Beilin are to hand Baz a letter signed by Israeli writers and intellectuals “thanking him” for an open letter published in Egypt's Al-Ahram daily rejecting what the party sources called anti-Semitic arguments against Israel.

Baz's letter was published following protests in Israel and the United States over the broadcasting on Egyptian television of a series called " Horseman Without a Horse", which Israel claimed is anti-Semitic.

On November 1, the Egyptian government said it embraced a policy rejecting attacks on religious values as it renewed its defense against charges that an upcoming television series is anti-Semitic.

"Our media policy is to reject a dramatic work, a documentary or a program that contains any references that harm sacred religious values," Information Minister Safwat al-Sherif told the government daily Al Ahram.

The paper said Sherif, quoted during a visit to Morocco with President Hosni Mubarak, was reacting to a U.S. campaign against plans by a private satellite channel, an Egyptian state-run channel and several Arab networks to broadcast the series, "Horseman Without a Horse."

Meanwhile, an Israeli test launch Sunday of four Arrow interceptor missiles to shoot down incoming missiles was a success, Israeli public television said.

The four missiles were launched almost simultaneously in a simulation of a potential Scud missile attack by Iraq, as Israel gears up for a potential strike in the event of an anticipated U.S.-led strike on Iraq, AFP said.

Sunday's test was witnessed by a U.S. military delegation, the television said.

The United States participated in the development of the Israeli missile defense system, which Israel says is more advanced than the U.S. Patriot missile system that failed to prevent 39 Iraqi Scuds hitting Israel in the 1991 Gulf War.

During Sunday's test, only one of the missiles was to be armed with a warhead.

The United States has already deployed two batteries of upgraded Patriot 3 missiles and a U.S. radar ship capable of detecting missile launches will also patrol the Israeli coast during the expected attack on Iraq.

In addition, two Arrow batteries will be in place to knock any Scuds out of the sky, and Germany is also to supply two more Patriot 3 units.

Israeli officials say the Arrow can intercept ballistic missiles two or three minutes after their launch from enemy territory.

Seeking more U.S. aid, an Israeli delegation is due to arrive in Washington to try to secure an emergency aid package worth $12bn, as Israel's economy is suffering from one of the worst crises in the country's history, BBC’s online services said.

The conflict with the Palestinians, together with the world economic downturn, has led to rising unemployment and falling investment.

Israel submitted the request several months ago and is now sending a senior delegation to follow it up, BBC said.

It includes the head of the prime minister's office, Dov Weisglass, as well as the directors general of the finance and defense ministries.

A third of the aid package would be for military and security spending, to help Israel fight the Palestinian uprising and boost its defense preparations for a possible U.S.-led war against Iraq, BBC said.