Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry is arriving today on a visit to Israel, ending a nine-year period without any visits to Israel by the Egyptian foreign minister.
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Israel’s attorney general is looking into suspicions surrounding Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu which are reportedly linked to a large transfer of money to the Israeli leader or one of his family members.
He said the current lack of process towards peace was “neither stable nor sustainable”, and stressed the need for “serious steps to build confidence” toward the two-state vision.
Mandelblit issued a statement saying that “Following information relating, among others, to the prime minister, that was submitted to the attorney general by the Israel Police Investigation and Intelligence Department, the attorney general conducted several discussions with representtives of the State Attorney’s Office, top officials in the Justice Ministry and officials in the Police Investigation and Intelligence Department”. Mr. Shoukry’s visit comes after he already met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on June 29 in Ramallah, the de facto administrative capital of the Palestinian National Authority (PA), and after Mr. Sisi urged Israel in May in an impromptu speech to resume the mired negotiations.
Israel occupied the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories in the 1967 Mideast War.
Egypt was the first Arab country to recognize Israel after signing a peace treaty with the Jewish state in 1979.
The latest round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians ended in April 2014 without results.
“In recent days, many reports – which are inaccurate, to say the least – have been published in the media”.
“We are willing to make all efforts to help find a solution to this problem”, said Sisi.
He added that peace between Israelis and Palestinians “would have dramatic and positive results and on the situation in the entire Middle East”, and warned of maintaining the status quo, which might ignite further escalation.
Shoukry responded in the affirmative, the official said.
Netanyahu has at the same time spoken of reviving a long-dormant Arab peace initiative dating to 2002.
He has said he would seek changes to the Arab proposal.
Since September, Palestinians have killed 34 Israelis in dozens of attacks.
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However, cooperation between the two governments has strengthened under Sisi, with Egypt facing insurgents in Sinai near its eastern neighbour’s border and both countries wary of Gaza’s Hamas rulers.
