Dichter meets with US Sec of State Rice in Washington

Interior Security Minister Avi Dichter met with US Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice in Washington Tuesday. At the end of the meeting, US State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack referred to Israel's plans to cut off electricity to Gaza and said that the US does not intend to abandon the Palestinians living in the Strip.

McCormack also discussed the issue of smuggling from Egypt into Gaza and said that Rice had brought the matter up several times with the Egyptians and that they had promised that they were doing all they could to prevent the smuggling of money, arms and terrorists into the coastal strip. (Yitzhak Benhorin)