Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday in his first visit to Israel since 2007.
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The Prime Minister’s Office said in response to the report: “Whether on not this issue was raised [with the Egyptian foreign minister], Israel says that it is always ready for direct, bilateral negotiations without pre-conditions”.
But the two countries have been strengthening their ties while sharing deep concern over regional unrest. “The plight of the Palestinian people becomes more arduous every day”, Shoukry said.
The Palestinians and most of the worldwide community opposes settlement construction in these areas, where the Palestinians hope to establish an independent state. “And the dream of peace and security moves further out of the Israeli people’s reach as long as the conflict continues”.
He added that the vision of two states living side by side was “not far-fetched” and called for confidence-building measures that could lead to renewed peace talks.
Egypt’s support for the two-state solution is “steadfast and unwavering”, according to Egyptian daily Al-Ahram.
Egypt and Israel have cooperated in other areas, particularly after jihadists in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula pledged allegiance in November 2014 to the Islamic State group.
At the press conference, Netanyahu called on Palestinians “to follow the courageous example of Egypt and Jordan and join us for direct negotiations”.
In 1979, Egypt was the first Arab state to sign a peace treaty with Israel after years of conflict, and it remains an influential player in the region.
Sisi recently made a high-profile speech calling for a resumption of efforts to bring peace between Israelis and Palestinians.
Under this plan, hundreds of new houses will be constructed in Hebron city of the West Bank and east Jerusalem’s Kiryat Arba settlement. The initiative comes amid an increase in violence in the past month in which Palestinians killed six Israeli civilians – four in the Tel Aviv Sarona market, one in a shooting in the West Bank, and one in which 13-year-old Hallel Ariel was stabbed in her bed by a 17-year-old Palestinian. At least 200 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli fire in the same period.
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On Saturday, a gunman shot and wounded an Israeli traveling in a vehicle north of Hebron, according to the Israeli military.
