EGYPT:Egypt rejected Israeli complaints about weapons smuggling into Gaza yesterday and accused Israel of trying to distract attention from its building activities at Jewish settlements.
After talks between Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak and Israeli defence minister Ehud Barak, an Egyptian spokesman said Israeli actions had undone the achievements of the Annapolis peace conference last month.
Mr Barak came to Egypt on Wednesday to discuss Israeli allegations that Egypt was doing too little to prevent arms smuggling to the Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
He had talks with Egyptian defence minister Mohamed Hussein Tantawi, intelligence chief Omar Suleiman and then with Mr Mubarak.
Egyptian presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said Israel's charges were "a smokescreen to shift attention from settlement construction and the follow-up on Annapolis".
"We are exerting 100 per cent effort but cannot guarantee 100 per cent results. No state can totally seal off its border," he said.
Proposals to build new homes for Jews near Jerusalem "undermine the only achievement of the Annapolis meeting - that is the launch of negotiations," he added.
The settlement question has been the main immediate obstacle in Israeli-Palestinian talks this month. The Palestinian side argues that building plans violate the peace "road map".
Israel and Egypt have at times differed on how to handle the Gaza Strip but Egypt has largely gone along with the US and Israeli policy of sealing off the volatile territory.
Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni said on Tuesday Egypt's efforts to prevent arms smuggling into Gaza were "terrible" and risked strengthening Hamas over Fatah, which is backed by Western nations and Israel.
Egypt has asked Israel to let it deploy more guards on the Egypt-Gaza border but the Israelis have said the number is not the problem. The number was fixed in their 1979 peace treaty and adjusted when Israel withdrew from the Gaza Strip in 2005.
"Egypt is a country of 72 million people, and they (the authorities) maintain absolute quiet. We expect the same on the Gaza border," senior Barak aide Amos Gilad told reporters.