Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit met with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat Monday to discuss Cairo's plans to help ensure security in the Gaza Strip after Israel's pullout from the territory.
Abul Gheit gave away few details of how Cairo intended to help avoid any descent into chaos on its doorsteps after the pullout.
But he said in a press conference with Arafat that he had updated the veteran leader with President Hosni Mubarak's assessment of the situation and of a measures which would soon be implemented.
"We heard the ideas of President Arafat and our Palestinian brothers and have briefed them on Cairo's evaluation of the regional and international context and of ways of putting into place a series of measures in the near future," he said.
"These measures are being co-ordinated between Egypt and Palestinians and we wish to see a united Palestinian action", he said, referring to a round of talks among the different Palestinians factions that Cairo is expected to host in the near future.
Egypt, keen to prevent chaos developing in neighbouring Gaza, has promised to help train Palestinian security services and try to broker a truce between armed factions there. While Abul Gheit did not give any details about the "measures", the head of the Palestinian police force, General Saeb al-Ajez, said 45 of his officers would soon travel to Cairo for training.
Arafat thanked Egypt for its efforts to revive the peace process and appealed for the implementation of the roadmap peace plan, the international blueprint that aims for the creation of a Palestinian state next year but has effectively run into a dead end.
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