The prime minister and Egyptian foreign minister also also expected to discuss the returning of debris from EgyptAir Flight 804, which crashed into the Mediterranean last May, to Egypt after it washed on the coast of Netanya, as well as any security issues the two countries share.
Advertisement
But Israeli officials have said only direct talks can end the decades-old conflict.
“Egypt remains ready to contribute toward achieving this goal”, he added, saying that “the vision of the two-state solution is not far-fetched”, requiring “steps to build confidence”.
“The current state of affairs unfortunately is neither stable nor sustainable”, he said.
He repeated his call for Palestinians to resume direct negotiations with Israel. “The plight of the Palestinian people becomes more arduous every day”, Shoukry said.
The ministry spokesperson Ahmed Abou Zaid said earlier that Shoukry will hold extensive discussions with Netanyahu. After the Arab Spring in 2011, in which Mr. Mubarak was deposed, Egypt continued passing messages between Israel and the Palestinian group Hamas, but stopped in 2014.
Palestinians seek the establishment of an independent state in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, which were all captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.
A diplomatic source close to the Egyptian foreign ministry told Asharq Al-Awsat: “The Turkish-Israeli rapprochement might not concern Egypt as much as Cairo is looking for a possibility to achieve progress in the region, which needs quick action”.
Egypt under former president Hosni Mubarak had long played a mediating role, hosting talks as recently as September 2010.
Co-operation between Israel and Egypt has intensified under Egyptian President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi. The rest will go toward educational programming, a youth center and other community initiatives, The Times of Israel reported.
“It’s something that opens the gates for engagement with the entire 54 countries of Africa, and it can also herald a change in much broader voting patterns in global bodies”, Netanyahu said.
Following Al-Sisi ” s declarations in May, Netanyahu expressed a willingness to participate in peace talks with the Palestinians and any other Arab country that can take part in the negotiations.
There were indeed attempts two months ago by Sisi to mediate between Netanyahu and Herzog in order to create a coalition that could advance a regional approach to solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
Also on Sunday, Israeli forces arrested at least 16 Palestinians in occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the West Bank, local media reported.
A career diplomat, Shoukry served as Egypt’s ambassador to the United States from 2008 to 2012.
Advertisement
In April, Israel’s deputy chief of staff spoke of an “unprecedented level of cooperation” with Egypt, mainly regarding intelligence. He said terrorism now represents “an existential threat to the peoples of the region and the world at large”.
