Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Netanyahu, Mubarak meet in Cairo

(JTA) -- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met in Cairo with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

During Tuesday's meeting, which lasted less than two hours, the leaders were reportedly set to talk about restarting peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians and about negotiations on a prisoner swap that would free captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.

No details of the meeting were released when it ended Tuesday afternoon.

During an "in depth and friendly" meeting, the leaders "discussed ways to reignite the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and the efforts to retrieve kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit," said a statement released from the Prime Minister's Office following the meeting.

Netanyahu was joined on his trip to Cairo by Yitzhak Molcho, his special envoy for talks with the Obama administration. He was also accompanied by Industry, Trade and Labor Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, who met with Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.