CAIRO: Egypt said Thursday its efforts to secure the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants had not yet achieved results and denied reports that the conscript was inside Egypt. There is an Egyptian effort to reach an agreement for the release of the soldier in exchange for hundreds of Palestinians … but we have not yet, at this moment, achieved what was required, said Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit. He is not in Egypt, said Abul Gheit, denying press reports that Corporal Gilad Shalit, captured by Palestinian militants on June 25, was inside the country. Egypt has been mediating between Israel and the Palestinians to release the soldier in exchange for freeing Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails. Abul-Gheit spoke at a news conference in Cairo with his British counterpart Margaret Beckett, on her first trip to Egypt in the capacity of foreign secretary. Beckett said she was deeply concerned about the situation in the occupied territories and Israel. There is no doubt that a negotiated solution is the only way forward. The conflict between Israel and the Palestinians is the root cause of a great deal of instability right across the region, she said. Beckett also expressed her country s desire to see the Middle East peace process move forward through the diplomatic quartet – made up of the European Union, the United Nations, the United States and Russia – despite calls by the Arab League to hand the file back to the UN Security Council. We are very keen to see the quartet to continue working with Arab partners to try and find a lasting solution to the conflict, she said. In an emergency meeting on July 15, the Arab League declared the Middle East peace process dead after the launch of a twin Israeli offensive in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip. On Wednesday, at a meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, the 22-member body decided to ask for a new mechanism to break the impasse in the peace process and urged the Security Council to meet later this month on the Arab-Israeli conflict. AFP
Egypt still trying to release captured Israeli soldier
