EGYPT: Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak meets with Egyptian ministers in Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss border security

Record ID: 811301

  • Title: EGYPT: Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak meets with Egyptian ministers in Sharm el-Sheikh to discuss border security
  • Date: 26th December 2007
  • Summary: (BN10)SHARM EL SHEIKH, EGYPT (DECEMBER 26, 2007) (REUTERS) ISRAELI DEFENCE MINISTER EHUD BARAK WALKS DOWN STEPS OF PLANE BARAK SHAKING HANDS WITH OFFICIALS BARAK ENTERS CAR
  • Embargoed: 10th January 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Egypt
  • Country: Egypt
  • Topics: International Relations,Defence / Military
  • Reuters ID: LVA7KRURP5V7KVWITUSR5XVLCSII
  • Story Text: Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak visited Egypt on Wednesday (December 26) to discuss Israeli allegations that Egypt was doing too little to prevent arms smuggling to the Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
    "Peace with Egypt is a strategic asset for both sides ... and, as in the past when there are disputes, they have to be worked out," Barak told Reuters before talks with President Hosni Mubarak in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
    Barak held separate meetings with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and Egyptian defence Minister Mohamed Hossein Tantawi.
    Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni has accused Cairo of risking stability by not stopping arms and money from reaching Gaza, which Hamas seized from the rival Fatah party in June.
    Egypt reacted by accusing Israel of encouraging support groups in the United States to lobby members of the U.S. Congress to the detriment of Egyptian interests.
    Two U.S. lawmakers on key congressional panels said in Jerusalem on Wednesday the United States could make future aid to Egypt conditional on Cairo doing more to halt the smuggling.
    Israel and Egypt have at times differed on how to handle the volatile territory, but Egypt has largely gone along with the U.S. and Israeli policy of sealing off the Gaza Strip.
    Egypt has asked Israel to let it deploy more guards on the Egypt-Gaza border, but the Israelis have said the number is not the problem. The number was fixed in their 1979 peace treaty and adjusted when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
    A senior Western diplomat familiar with the negotiations said the Israelis opposed an increase in the number of border guards because they felt that in the long term it could pave the way for an end to the demilitarisation of Sinai, which Israel gave back to Egypt under the peace treaty.
    The diplomat said the Egyptian government had no interest in allowing arms and money to reach Hamas, but some Egyptian officers on the ground might turn a blind eye to smugglers.
    Barak's talks in Egypt were also expected to deal with Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, who was abducted in the Gaza Strip in 2006 and whom Hamas has refused to free unless Israel releases hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
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