Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi urged both sides in May to seize the opportunity to make a historic peace, offering Israel the tantalizing prospect of warmer ties if this were achieved.
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Shoukry offers help in reviving Israeli-Palestinian talks, in first visit by an Egyptian official to Israel since 2007.
The trip came amid talk of renewing an Arab peace initiative and with Israel’s military having recently saluted “unprecedented” intelligence cooperation with Egypt to combat the Islamic State group.
Israel’s government on Sunday approved almost $13 million in financing for the West Bank settlements of Kiryat Arba and within Hebron, officials said.
Support for a two-state solution has been a mainstay of all Republican administrations and although little progress has been made to realize this solution, it has always been the cornerstone of both Republican and Democratic parties’ approach to the conflict.
Concerning the Syrian file, the source said that the picture is still unclear, and that it might be clearer in the next weeks, if President Bashar Assad shows certain responsiveness to solving the crisis. “This is the only way we can address all the outstanding problems between us, and turn the vision of peace based on two states for two peoples into a reality”.
Elie Podeh, a professor of Middle Eastern studies at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, said that Shoukry may be trying to soften Israel’s resistance to the French sponsored peace initiative.
He repeated his call for Palestinians to resume direct negotiations with Israel. Netanyahu has endorsed the idea of an independent Palestinian state, but he opposes a return to Israel’s pre-1967 borders and has continued to build Jewish settlements on occupied lands.
It comes as a renewed push led by France to put the peace efforts back on the itinerary with the global peace conference on June 3.
JERUSALEM (AP) 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.
Palestinian leaders say years of direct talks with Israel have not ended the almost 50-year occupation of Palestinian territories, and they have instead chosen to pursue global diplomacy to reach a deal.
“Such a monumental achievement would have far-reaching, dramatic and positive impact on the overall conditions in the Middle East region…” As a peace broker, Egypt would have an advantage in that it is able to speak for a majority of Arab states.
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“Government offices, I must note, have all been recruited to assist the residents who stand heroically in the face of vicious terrorism”, Netanyahu said ahead of the approval.
