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Israeli PM lauds Egypt's calls for peace between Israel, Palestinians

Xinhua, May 18, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed on Tuesday the remarks by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on the necessity of peace between Israel and the Palestinians.

Netanyahu said he "welcomed" al-Sisi's remarks, as well as "his willingness to make every effort to advance a future peace and security between us and the Palestinians," according to a statement sent from his office.

"Israel is ready to participate with Egypt and other Arab states in advancing the diplomatic process and stability in the region," the Israeli Prime Minister said.

Earlier on Tuesday, Egyptian President Sisi said there is a "real chance" to establish true peace between Israel and the Palestinians if the sides respond to Arab and international peacemaking efforts, according to the official MENA news agency in Egypt.

He had referred to a Saudi-led Arab peace initiative in 2002 which urged Israel to fully withdraw from the Palestinian territories that Israel had occupied since the 1967 Mideast War in the West Bank, east Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip, in exchange for normalizing Israel's ties with Arab countries.

The Egyptian president also said his country is "willing to play a mediating role between the Palestinians and Israel," and the ties between Israel and Egypt will become warmer following the resumption of peace talks between the parties.

Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in 1979. The last round of peace talks between Israel and Palestinians took place between July 2013 and April 2014, ending without results.

Netanyahu objected a recent French initiative to host a multilateral Middle East peace conference later this year in order to start diplomatic contacts.

He told visiting French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault on Sunday that Israel opposes the initiative, claiming that the convention will prevent the Palestinians from engaging in full direct talks with Israel by setting preconditions to the negotiations.

The French peace initiative, launched amid frustrations in the absence of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians, comes amid an ongoing wave of violence in the region which started in October and has claimed the lives of 28 Israelis and 203 Palestinians over the past few months. Endit