Across Asia: Israel

PM fires peace talks envoy

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has replaced Israel's lead envoy to Egyptian-brokered truce talks with Hamas after he publicly criticized the government's negotiating strategy, officials said yesterday.

Amos Gilad shuttled to Cairo to try to consolidate the Jan 18 ceasefire that ended a three-week Israeli assault in Gaza. Progress has been stymied by renewed violence and a demand by Olmert that an easing of a blockade on the Palestinian territory be preceded by an agreement from Hamas to free a captive Israeli soldier. In a critique quoted by an Israeli newspaper last week, Gilad said the Olmert government had an inconsistent approach to the talks that risked "insulting" the Egyptians.