Defence Minister Barak meets Egyptian president to discuss Shalit release

Defence Minister Ehud Barak told Egyptian President Husni Mubarak yesterday that Israel views Egypt as a central factor in the return of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit. "We hope it will not take very long before we see concrete intensive negotiations leading to [Shalit's] release," Barak said at the meeting in Alexandria. He stressed that the release of the abducted soldier occupies a place of prime importance on Israel's national agenda and said "all efforts should go toward making the negotiations a success and bringing the soldier back home."

Barak and Mubarak also discussed the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, and efforts by Egypt to curb arms smuggling into the coastal strip. Barak said that Egyptian authorities had cracked down on smuggling across the border into the Gaza Strip in recent weeks but the measures were still not enough. "There is a certain improvement in this arena in the last few weeks. The measures have been tightened but the results are still far from satisfying because there are still smuggling tunnels," Barak told reporters after the talks.

Deputy Defence Minister Matan Vilnai, who accompanied Barak to Egypt, told Haaretz before the meeting that Israel ascribes great importance to its ties with Egypt, and to Cairo's efforts to keep the Gaza border quiet. However, he acknowledged, no real progress has been made on a deal for Shalit. "I had hoped that after two months of a truce [with Hamas], our situation [regarding Shalit] would be better," he said. "Unfortunately, that hasn't happened so far."

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