Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held talks Monday with visiting Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shimon Peres in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh, the official MENA news agency reported.

Mubarak received Peres, who arrived at the resort early Monday, and discussed with him Israel's planned withdrawal of troops and Jewish settlers from all 21 settlements in the Gaza Strip and four out of 120 in the West Bank in mid-August.

Before his visit to Egypt, Peres met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit in Jerusalem for talks on the pullout.

During their talks, Abul Gheit urged Israel to open Palestinian land, air and sea exits from Gaza and asked Israel to sanction the reopening of the airport in the southern part of the territory.

Egypt and Israel have reached agreements in late 2004 for Egypt to deploy 750 troops along its border with the Gaza Strip ahead of Israel's planned withdrawal.

Details of the Egyptian troop deployment, including the placement of the soldiers and the types of weapons they will be allowed to carry, will be decided at future meetings.

The two sides said the deployment would not require a change in the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty of 1979, which forbids the presence of Egyptian troops adjacent to Gaza.

Israel has been enlisting Egyptian help for fear a Gaza withdrawal will leave a security vacuum.

Source: Xinhua