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Riyadh: King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz and President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt yesterday discussed ways of jointly containing the deteriorating situation in Palestine following Israeli atrocities and kidnapping 64 Palestinian ministers and lawmakers. Mubarak was received by King Abdullah in the Red Sea city of Jeddah, the diplomat in the Egyptian delegation told AFP. The two leaders were to discuss "the situation in the Palestinian territories and Israel's threats to launch an all-out assault on the Gaza Strip" to force the release of an Israeli soldier held by Palestinian militants, according to a Riyadh-based Arab diplomat. The pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat reported that an Egyptian delegation had met the captive corporal at an undisclosed location in the Gaza Strip.
The soldier was seized by Palestinian militants in a deadly raid on an army post on the Gaza-Israel border on June 25, triggering a major Israeli offensive. Meanwhile, Nabeel Shaath, personal envoy of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, told Gulf News from Jeddah that Egypt had sent three senior security officers to Gaza to discuss with Palestinian militant groups which are holding the Israeli soldier, ways of solving the crisis. "Hamas does not know the identity of the abductors," Shaath said. Shaath also said Egypt has tools to contact the Israelis and stressed the significance of the Egyptian role in stopping the escalation of hostilities by Israel and easing the tension between the two sides, besides lifting the military and economic siege. Flow of aid Also, Shaath said he discussed accelerating the flow of aid to Palestinians with OIC Secretary-General Akmal Al Deen Ihsanoglo. Shaath handed over a message to Prince Saud Al Faisal, the Saudi Foreign Minister from Abbas, which he sent to the Saudi King. Conflict Saudi Arabia yesterday condemned Israel's offensive in Gaza as "collective punishment" against the Palestinians, the state news agency SPA reported. "The [Saudi] cabinet condemned this Israeli policy which will only lead to heightened violence, conflict and animosity," Information Minister Ayad Madani said after a cabinet meeting quoted by SPA.
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