Defense Minister Ehud Barak told Egyptian President Husni Mubarak on Tuesday that Israel views Egypt as a central factor in the return of kidnapped Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit.
Shalit was abducted by Gaza militants in a cross-border raid in 2006. Egyptian-mediated talks with Hamas for his release have apparently reached a standstill.
"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."
The pair 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.
Gazans have been using tunnels to bring in money and weapons as well as high-value consumer goods such as cigarettes.
Egypt has discovered dozens of tunnels and recently started filling them with water, gases and explosives to prevent them being reused. At least eight Palestinians have died as a result.
"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.
"We raised our expectations that even more will be done in order to close it both on the ground and on the sea," he added.
On the issue of the cease-fire, Barak told Mubarak that Israel will not accept any violation of it, even sporadic or isolated ones, and added that while Egypt's efforts to curb the smuggling of arms from Sinai into the Gaza Strip are bearing fruit, additional steps must be taken to reduce the amount of weaponry smuggled into the coastal territory.
Deputy Defense 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."
On Monday, Vilnai visited the Kerem Shalom border crossing with Gaza, which reopened this week after a four-month closure. It was shut down in April after Hamas launched a massive attack on the crossing that involved several trucks laden with explosives. The attack killed 13 Israeli soldiers and seriously damaged the crossing.
During the four months, cargo had to cross through the Sufa checkpoint instead. Now, Sufa has been closed, and cargo shipments are again going through Kerem Shalom.
The rebuilt crossing was relocated to a point 500 meters from the border, with the goal of preventing another attack like that in April. Various other safety features, lessons of numerous previous attacks on the border crossings, were also added. The work cost some NIS 4.5 million.
According to Vilnai, about 110 cargo trucks a day are currently entering Gaza - roughly double the average before the truce began. However, this is still significantly less than the number of trucks that entered the Strip before Hamas seized control of it last year.
Despite the truce, Palestinians fired another Qassam rocket at Israel yesterday. It landed in an open area of the Negev and caused no damage.
Normally, Israel responds to such violations by briefly shutting the border crossings. However, due to his planned visit to Egypt Tuesday, Barak was still considering as of Monday night whether to do so Tuesday as well or whether to let the incident pass without a response.
Also Monday, the defense establishment began installing mini-shelters in Sderot that people can hide inside if caught in the open when a rocket is fired.
Also on Monday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke on the phone to Transportation Minister Shaul Mofaz before departing from Israel.
Mofaz told her that the Iranian nuclear program poses an existential threat to Israel. They agreed to hold a strategic dialogue session next month, where further diplomatic efforts to curb Iran's nuclear aspirations will be reviewed.
Referring to a United Nations Security Council resolution as one possible measure, Mofaz said that it might be hindered by the recent crisis in Georgia, as it requires a unanimous approval of all members of the Council, including Russia.
"Time is of the essence," Mofaz said, "and we should form a unified and firm alliance against Iran."
Mofaz also said that "the most urgent issue for Israel right now is [abducted IDF soldier] Gilad Shalit, who this week is celebrating his birthday in the captivity of terror organizations in Gaza. Alongside our military efforts, we must dedicate no less time and effort to bring him home.
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