Egypt to prevent weapons smuggling into Palestinian territories

The Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said that President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt has informed Israel's Defense Minister Benyamin Ben Eliezer during their meeting in Alexandria on Monday that Egypt will work for halting weapons smuggling operations from the Egyptian side to the Palestinian authority territories in Rafah.

On the other hand, Peres criticized in a speech he delivered at the economic club in Jerusalem on Monday evening of which the Israeli radio quoted excerpts, the decision taken by the Israeli internal security official Ozi Landao to close the offices of Salem Thabet at al-Quds University. Peres said that this decision was not debated at the Israeli mini cabinet before its implementation.

For his part, Israel’s minister of agriculture Shalom Simchon urged the President Mubarak to strengthen agricultural relations between Israel and Egypt and to continue the implementation of joint scientific projects in this regard.

The Israeli radio indicated that Simchon who accompanied the Israeli defense minister to Egypt on Monday reviewed before Mubarak the existing cooperation relations between Israel and the Palestinian authority in the area of agriculture, noting that this cooperation was not suspended during the Intifada time.