Egypt said on Monday it expected Israel and the Palestinians to resume contacts quickly because it was the only way to overcome problems. "We must not accept that the mechanism of the Israeli-Palestinian dialogue has come to a halt," presidential spokesman Suleiman Awad said after talks between Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Monday that Israel was suspending security contacts with the Palestinian Authority after Palestinian gunmen killed three Jewish settlers in a drive-by shooting in the West Bank. Awad said: "This (the report of a suspension) is something we hear from time to time... but the two sides quickly go back to talking because that is the only way to remove the problems pending and push the peace process forward." Abbas, who was passing through Egypt on his way to France, Spain and the United States, asked Mubarak for political and economic support for the Palestinian Authority, Awad added. "The Palestinian Authority and the Palestinian people need as much support as they can obtain from regional and international partners, including Israel. President Mubarak emphasises that in his contacts with the Israeli side and his contacts with the European and U.S. side," he said. Egypt, which has been helping the Palestinian Authority to assert its authority in Gaza after Israeli withdrawal, wants Israel to fulfill commitments dating back to a summit meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in February. These include releasing more Palestinian prisoners, giving the Palestinian security control of three West Bank towns and letting more Palestinians work in Israel, he was quoted as saying by Reuters.
