EGYPT: Europe's Foreign Policy chief Javier Solana continues efforts to secure a prisoner exchange between Israel and Palestinians while on visit to Egypt

Europe's foreign policy chief, Javier Solana, traveled to Cairo today to continue efforts to secure a prisoner exchange between Israel and the Palestinians, and an Egyptian spokesperson confirmed that the leader of Hamas would soon travel to the Egyptian capital to move the efforts forward as well. Solana met with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak while on a six-day tour of the Middle East in an effort to restart peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians. At a news conference in Cairo, Solana said he was continuing to try and help organize a meeting between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen), but that the meeting was conditional on the release of an Israeli solider captured in June in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel. "Of course after the events of the summer, the tragic events of the summer, the situation in Israel is very different than today," said Solana. "And the programme on which they are going to move on is, at this point, unknown. There is a debate on how they are going to continue. For that it would be necessary a meeting between Prime Minister Olmert and President Abu Mazen, and for that to have a significant result President Abu Mazen will probably not accept that meeting until he can guarantee that some prisoners will be released -- and for that it will be very important to release also of the kidnapped soldier that is now in the hands of Hamas," he added. While visiting Jordan on Saturday, Solana said that the EU and Arab states backed the idea of a Palestinian government of technocrats to try to end an international aid embargo on the Hamas-led Palestinian government. Talks on a coalition collapsed because rivals Hamas and Fatah could not agree on terms that might have led to an easing of a Western aid embargo, which is designed to push Hamas to recognise Israel, renounce violence and accept past accords. While visiting Israel, Solana noted the dire situation in the Gaza Strip that has resulted from an Israeli blockade that includes the closure of the Rafah border crossing to Egypt which is the Palestinians' only gate from Gaza to the outside world. Also today Suleiman Awad, President Mubarak's spokesman, confirmed that Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal will visit Cairo for talks on the prisoner exchange issue. Awad told a news conference that during the visit Egypt would also press its attempt to bring about agreement on a Palestinian government of national unity. "Mr Meshaal has an invitation to come to Cairo, Egypt's never ceased communication on this issue and other issues," said Awad. "Egypt's communications go beyond the release of the Israeli prisoner, which would be reciprocated with the release of Palestinian prisoners. The Egyptian and Presidential communications go beyond this topic to the current situation between Palestinians and Israelis in the general sense," he added. Awad did not say when the visit would take place. Palestinian militants from Gaza captured an Israeli soldier on June 25 and have offered to release him in return for many hundreds of Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Awad also confirmed press reports that several thousand Egyptian soldiers have been deployed to Egypt's border with Gaza, after speculation that Israel was planning to bomb tunnels used for smuggling weapons into the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Earlier in the day an Egyptian official told Reuters that more than 5,000 additional troops have been moved to the border. "Egypt has security forces on the border between Egypt and Palestine, as I said before," said Awad. "The borders near Rafah is the Egyptian-Palestinian border and Egypt is committed to all its obligations towards the Palestinian side and is committed also towards the peace between Egypt and Israel. And we expect that Israel will also reciprocate its commitments and obligations," he added. The 5,000 Egyptians were members of the police's central security force. They joined about 750 border guards already deployed along the area known as the Philadelphi Corridor, fearing the possible operation's impact on civilians living on the Egyptian side of the border. The Israeli daily newspaper Maariv reported on Friday that precision-guided weapons would be used to penetrate deep underground in the hope of destroying the tunnel network that Israel says riddles the area.

ITN Source | October 29, 2006

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