Egypt says Israeli lobby straining its relations with US

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit on Wednesday accused the Israeli lobby of aggravating its relations with the United States by using the issue of smuggling across the Gaza border as an excuse to cut Washington's military aid to Cairo.

The remarks came hours before a scheduled meeting between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak at the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh where they are expected to discuss the cross-border weapons smuggling to Gaza militants.

"The latest months have seen the Israeli lobby's efforts to harm Egypt's interests with the Congress," Aboul Gheit told reporters, adding that since Hamas took control of Gaza in June, Israel has been trying to pressure Egypt.

The comments come during a period of heightened tension between Egypt and Israel, which claims that not enough is being done to stem the flow of weapons being smuggled across the border.

On Wednesday, Powerful US Sen. Arlen Specter said during a visit to Jerusalem he was upset by the smuggling, and revived a proposal by Congress to cut aid if the issue was not addressed.

"Egypt can do a lot more," said Specter, a member of the US Senate Appropriations Committee. "And if they don't, I think it would be appropriate to condition aid to them."

'No third-party interference'

Egypt often acts as a mediator between Israel and Hamas. That mediation, as well as arms smuggling allegations and a recent Hamas offer for a truce with Israel are also expected to be on the Mubarak-Barak talks agenda.

Aboul Gheit said Egyptian-US relations should be healthy as "both are keen to achieve stability in the (Middle East) region ... And hope that foreign parties will not succeed in harming this relationship."

"We will not allow a third party to interfere in the Egyptian-American relations which is bilateral and includes one regional power and one international power that try to discuss all issues openly and in cooperation," he said.

Egypt on Tuesday strongly rejected criticism by Israel's Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni that Cairo was doing a terrible job of securing its porous border with the Gaza Strip against smugglers. Egyptian Foreign Ministry statement said Livni did not understand the issues and should have remained silent.