Netanyahu, Mubarak: Mideast peace requires cooperation

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak on Sunday agreed that Israel, the Palestinians, the Arab world and the international community must all do their part to help advance the Middle East peace process, the Prime Minister's Bureau said in a statement.

The two leaders met in Cairo to discuss progress in the region, amid speculation that a deal to free abducted Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit would top their agenda.

The meeting was closed to the press, and Egypt's official Middle East News Agency reported only that the two had met at Mubarak's residence, and that they had "discussed the peace process, specifically the Palestinian track."

Netanyahu's trip to Cairo came as U.S. special Mideast envoy George Mitchell visited Jerusalem, as part of what White House officials have promised will be a new push for a Middle East peace plan this month.

Addressing a cabinet meeting ahead of his departure, Netanyahu said he hoped the gaps between the sides preventing a renewal of peace talks could be narrowed, "perhaps even bridged, in order to restart the diplomatic process."

Israeli and Egyptian analysts however said efforts to secure the release of Shalit, who was captured by the militant Palestinian Hamas movement in a 2006 cross-border raid from the Gaza Strip, would likely dominate the talks between Netanyahu and Mubarak.

Reports in the Egyptian and Israeli press that exiled Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshal would also be in Cairo on Sunday for talks with Egypt's intelligence chief Omar Suleiman fueled that speculation.

A spokesman from Meshal's office would not confirm the reports, saying only that the Hamas leader would travel to Saudi Arabia on pilgrimage on Tuesday.

Meshal was in Cairo last week for talks with the Egyptians about a deal with Hamas to release Shalit.

"Netanyahu's visit to Cairo, so soon after Meshaal's, means something significant will be happening soon," Imad Gad, an Israel expert at Cairo's government-funded al-Ahram Centre Strategic and Political Studies, told the German Press Agency.

"But his visit should not be blown out of proportion. It will have nothing to do with the peace process, but more likely with the Shalit deal," he added.

The independent Egyptian daily al-Shuruq quoted unnamed diplomatic sources as saying that Netanyahu would discuss a deal to free Shalit, as well as Egypt's efforts to curb smuggling from Sinai to the Gaza Strip.

Netanyahu would also push Cairo to convince Abbas "to gradually start peace talks with Israel, and in return, Israel will gradually halt building new settlements," al-Shuruq's source said.

Egypt, which in 1979 became the first Arab country to sign a peace deal with Israel, has been an active mediator in resolving the conflict between Israelis and Palestinians, and between rival Palestinian factions Hamas and Fatah.