Egypt says more work needs to be done to bridge the gap between Israel and the Palestinians before they can move to direct peace talks, according to AP. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met separately with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo Sunday. None of them spoke to the press afterward. But Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters the basis to move from indirect to direct talks is still «lacking.» Abbas has said he won't negotiate directly with Netanyahu unless Israel agrees to recognize its 1967 frontier as a basis for drawing the borders of a future Palestinian state and accepts the deployment of an international force to guard them. Netanyahu has refused to be pinned down on a framework for negotiations. -- SPA
