SHARM EL-SHEIKH: Israel obtained a pledge from Egypt on Tuesday that the Arab country will not re-open its border crossing with the Hamas-run Gaza Strip until a captive Israeli soldier is set free, officials said.
The pledge came during talks between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and President Hosni Mubarak at the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh. The meeting came on the sixth day of an Egyptian-mediated truce between Israel and Hamas.
The pledge was a gesture toward Israel that Egypt would try to get Sgt. Gilad Shalit, held by gunmen affiliated with Gaza’s Hamas rulers for two years, freed soon.
Olmert’s spokesman Mark Regev told Egyptian media after more than two hours of talks here that the hosts gave assurances the “Rafah crossing will not be open and return to normal business unless Shalit is released. Hamas had wanted the crossing opened before an eventual release.
Also, an Israeli official with Olmert’s delegation said that Israel’s negotiator on prisoners was to come to Egypt by the end of the week for “intensive negotiations on Shalit. The official spoke on condition of anonymity as no formal statement was released by either side.
Before heading into talks with Olmert, Mubarak said Egypt “was making efforts for Shalit’s release and would continue to do so. Olmert, meanwhile, lauded Egypt for trying to “achieve the conditions to end the terror from Gaza toward residents of Israel.
The fragile Israel-Hamas truce has mostly held, but the Israeli military reported its first violation Tuesday, saying that Palestinians fired a mortar into southern Israel.
No casualties or damage were reported in the attack, which took place around midnight Monday from somewhere in Gaza, and Israeli troops did not retaliate, the military said. No militant faction immediately took responsibility.
In exchange for Shalit, Hamas wants Israel to release 450 prisoners it is holding. Israel has balked at freeing most of the militants Hamas wants, saying they were involved in deadly attacks on Israelis.
Egyptian presidential spokesman Suleiman Awwad described Mubarak-Olmert talks as “transparent, frank and clear and added that Egypt was “determined to strike the deal of a prisoners’ swap between the two sides.
Mubarak was to give an interview to Israeli Television later Tuesday on the talks.
Arms smuggling into the coastal Gaza Strip was also discussed by the two leaders, Awwad said. Israel has sought assurances Egypt will do more to fight the smuggling.
Olmert was quoted on Tuesday in the London-based Al-Sharq Al-Awsat daily as saying that if the Gaza smuggling of weapons did not end, then Israel would consider the truce agreement violated, and then we will be compelled to military action.
But Awwad insisted that Israel and Olmert are aware Egypt is exerting maximum efforts to control the trans-border smuggling, cautioning that during its 30 years in Gaza, Israel too had failed to control borders.
The Egyptian-brokered truce started last Thursday, with the immediate aim to end the fighting that has killed seven Israelis and more than 400 Palestinians – many of them civilians – since Hamas overran Gaza a year ago.
Egypt acted as middleman for the six-month truce because Israel, like much of the international community, shuns Hamas for refusing to recognize Israel or renounce violence.
Israel on Sunday allowed dozens of trucks to deliver food, diapers and clothes to Gaza. Further increases are expected through the week if the quiet continues, and could bring Gazans badly needed respite after a year of Israeli sanctions against the Hamas regime.
For its part, Israel needs the halt in daily rocket attacks that have disrupted the lives of thousands in the border area. Critics, however, charge the truce gives Hamas a chance to re-arm.
In agreeing to the truce, Israel dropped an earlier demand that Hamas free Shalit as a condition for the cease-fire. Hamas militants seized Shalit in a cross-border raid in 2006, killing two other members of his tank crew.
Egypt s pledge on the Gaza crossing was also a win for Shalit s parents, who petitioned Israel s Supreme Court on Saturday to block the truce deal so long as their son remains in captivity.
Noam and Aviva Shalit petitioned the court on behalf of their son, claiming that the deal included the opening of the Gaza crossing. They said this would allow their son s captors to smuggle him out and harm efforts to free him.
Other violence coincided with the Olmert-Mubarak meeting, this time in the West Bank, ruled by the more moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
Israeli troops killed a senior Islamic Jihad commander in a West Bank raid early Tuesday, and the militant faction vowed reprisal.
A neighbor said a Palestinian bystander was also shot to death by troops when he opened the door of his apartment during the raid in the town of Nablus. The Israeli military spokesman s office said the man was a militant killed during a gun battle with troops.
Islamic Jihad is party to the truce between Israel and Hamas, although that arrangement does not apply to the West Bank.
In Germany, Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad condemned the operation. Fayyad, whose government is trying to negotiate a peace deal with Israel, has said continuing military operations are undermining his efforts to restore law and order in the West Bank.
In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum accused Israel of trying to disrupt the atmosphere of calm that started five days ago with the latest incident.
Gaza is a tiny, impoverished seaside territory of 1.4 million people that Israel evacuated in 2005 after a 38-year military occupation. -AP
