Egypt, Israel seek resupmtin of ME peace talks
Xinhua, June 29, 2015 Adjust font size:
Senior Egyptian and Israeli diplomates met Sunday in Cairo to discuss the Israeli-Palestinian issue and the chances of resuming peace negotiations between the two sides, official MENA news agency reported.
The meeting was held between Egyptian Assistant Foreign Minister Osama Magdoub and the Israeli Foreign Ministry's Director-General Dore Gold.
Gold's short visit to Cairo is viewed as a rare trip by an Israeli senior official to a neighboring Arab country, as both countries rarely exchange diplomatic visits.
The visit came following Egypt's newly-appointed ambassador to Israel. It was the first time since 2012 when Egypt recalled its ambassador to Tel Aviv due to an Israeli deadly offensive on the Palestinian Gaza Strip.
Magdoub reaffirmed Egypt's fixed position concerning the Palestinian cause, stressing upon the necessity to reach a permanent and comprehensive resolution based on the two state-solution.
In 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a U.S.-brokered peace treaty which both sides have remained committed to, despite the fact that relations have not been normalized.
Although both Egypt and Israel view Hamas as a threat, Egypt was an instrumental mediator in reaching a truce between Israel and Hamas in August 2014.
The truce brokered by Egypt came following a 50-day Israeli war on Gaza, killing 73 Israeli soldiers at the hands of Gazan militants, compared with 2,200 mostly civilian Palestinians deaths during the offensive on Gaza. Endit