Defense Minister Ehud Barak met on Tuesday afternoon with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Barak told his host that Israel views Egypt as vital and central to the efforts to release of kidnapped soldier Gilad Shalit.

The two met in Alexandria, while in Israel preparations are underway to mark Shalit's third birthday in captivity. On Monday Barak said Israel "considers Egypt to be the sole mediator in the negotiations for Shalit's release.

Barak's trip to Egypt apparently indicates that the negotiations for the IDF soldier's release are returning to the hands of Israel's highest-ranking officials; however, the defense minister is not expected to inform the Egyptians of any developments regarding Israel's willingness to comply with Hamas' current demands for a prisoner exchange deal.

It has been reported that Hamas has toughened its stance ahead of a possible resumption of the negotiations for the Israeli soldier's release, and now demands that the opening of the Rafah crossing as a gesture.

Barak also stressed to Mubarak that more must be done to prevent the smuggling of arms into the Gaza Strip via the Egyptian border, and that Israel would not tolerate any violation of the ceasefire by the Palestinian side.

"There is a certain improvement in this arena in the last few weeks. The measures have been tightened but the results are still far from satisfying because there are still smuggling tunnels," Barak told reporters after the talks.

"We raised our expectations that even more will be done in order to close it both on the ground and on the sea," he added.

Barak and Mubarak also talked about the status of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority, which the United States would like to see concluded this year.

"We wish to see a breakthrough in the negotiations with the Palestinians before the end of 2008, but I cannot tell you that I feel confident that it can be accomplished within this timeframe," Barak said.

Hoping for more

The two discussed Egyptian efforts to mediate the release of Gilad Shalit, and Barak explained that "we hope it will not take very long before we see concrete intensive negotiations leading to his release," Barak said.

Alongside Shalit, the two also discussed recent political and diplomatic developments in the region. Barak

thanked Mubarak for Cairo's efforts towards securing a ceasefire in Gaza and stemming the flow of arms into the Strip from Egypt. The defense minister urged Mubarak, however, to "do more" towards that end.

Later on in the afternoon the two were joined for lunch by Deputy Defense Minister Matan Vilnai, Ambassador Shalom Cohen and Amos Gilad, head of the Defense Ministry's Security-Diplomatic Bureau, as well as Egypt's foreign, intelligence and defense ministers.