Egypt And Israel Discuss Blockade
Joseph S. Mayton - All Headline News Middle East Correspondent Beirut, Lebanon (AHN) - Egypt invited Israel's ambassador to the country for a meeting to discuss the current blockade of Lebanon by the Jewish state. The meeting between Shalom Cohen, the ambassador, and Egypt's deputy minister for Arab world affairs Hani Khalaf, discussed the issue. Egypt expressed its opposition to what they referred to as "the continuation of the Israeli blockade, naval and aerial." Egypt was representing Lebanon and was asking Israel to lift the blockade. The meeting came following United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's call for Israel to remove the air and sea blockade on their northern neighbor. Israel said they took the comments from Egypt seriously, but stressed that the conversation was not unusual in the relations between Cairo and Tel Aviv. Egypt is one of two Arab nations that have a peace treaty with Israel. Jordan being the second. "They sent us their message and we sent our message. The Egyptians claimed that the aerial and naval blockades stood in opposition to UN Resolution 1701 and we claim that the failure to release the kidnapped soldiers also stood in contradiction to the Security Council resolution. I added that we hoped the Egyptians would help us release the kidnapped soldiers," Cohen told reporters after meeting with Khalaf.
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