By NNN-KUNA
Sharm El-Sheikh (Egypt) : Following his meeting with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Wednesday, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said the talks were aimed at reducing rising tensions with Egypt over what he called “arms smuggling into Palestine’s Gaza Strip”.
Barak deemed the talks, also attended by Egyptian Defense Minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi and intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Omar Suleiman, as “very positive.”
The talks with the Egyptian side are part of the “direct dialogue” pursued by the two countries in good-will when differences appear, Barak told reporters here in the Egyptian Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
Reacting to reports on Israel’s attempts to damage Egyptian-U.S. ties over the issue of arms smuggling, Barak denied charges that Israel had pushed the US Congress to withhold part of the annual aid to Egypt.
Israel claims that large quantities of explosives and weapons have been smuggled from Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula into the Gaza Strip through tunnels under Egypt’s border with Gaza Strip since Israel’s withdrawal from the strip in 2005.
Meanwhile, Egypt rejects the accusations of laxity, saying the peace treaty with the Jewish state does not allow it to increase troops on the border.
Egypt seized more than 100 tons of explosives destined for Gaza during 2007. The two sides agreed to continue the talks over weapons smuggling in the future, Barak asserted.