TEL AVIV, Israel, July 23 (UPI) -- Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak told Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon Saturday the two nations will remain united in the war against extremists.
The Israeli Prime Minister's Office said Sharon phoned Mubarak to express Israel's condolences over Saturday's Sharm el-Sheik bombing.
Some Israeli security experts maintained that in light of Egypt's failure to prevent the Sharm el-Sheik bombings, Israel should reconsider its plan to pull out of the wedge it controls between Egypt and Gaza, and trust the Egyptians to prevent arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip, Channel 1 TV reported. It did not identify its sources.
The Ha'aretz newspaper's Web site reported that Sharon told U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice Friday that Amos Gilad, the head of the Defense Ministry's Political-Security division, will go to Cairo in the coming days to close the final details for upgrading the Egyptian presence along the Egyptian-Gaza Strip border.
Sharon reportedly said Israel's decision whether to withdraw from that area will be depend on Egypt's success in preventing smuggling there.
