Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak vowed on Thursday to rekindle Cairo's stalled efforts to broker a prisoner swap with Hamas, after talks with Israeli President Shimon Peres. Peres, welcomed in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, said Mubarak promised to step up efforts to secure the release of an Israeli soldier captured by Gaza militants more than two years ago.
Mubarak "promised me to increase the efforts to release Gilad Shalit that would effect not only one family but the entire people of the region," Peres said, according to AFP. "I hope the efforts to bring about his release will be increased and yield results."
Mubarak "confirmed Egypt's efforts to bringing positions closer that would lead to the agreement for the release of Shalit and Palestinian prisoners."
The Egyptian leader said the talks also dealt with "supporting peace talks between the Palestinian Authority and Israel, and stabilising calm in Gaza and raising the siege on the inhabitants of the Strip." However, he slammed ongoing Jewish settlement building in the occupied West Bank, saying that has "a negative impact on building trust and pushing peace process forward."
They also raised a Saudi-brokered peace initiative, under which Israel would get Arab recognition in return for withdrawing from occupied Arab land. "We accept the Arab peace initiative in order to bring peace to the entire region," Peres said, reiterating the Jewish state's apparent rising openness to the initiative.
"Over the past century there hasn't been any period where reaching peace was more possible than now. It would be a mistake to miss it," Peres said.
