Egypt foreign minister heads to Israel for rare visit

“The peace process is the key issue for the Egyptians”. Israel says most were assailants.

Daily News Egypt states that the meeting was born out of Mr. Sisi’s commitment to achieving peace in the Middle East. He cited the track records of both Egypt and Jordan as an example for the P.A.to follow.

The Egyptian initiative is based on the 2002 Saudi Peace Initiative, according to which Arab states will sign peace deals with Israel if it ends its conflict with the Palestinians with a peace accord.

After president Hosni Mubarak’s ouster in the 2011 revolution, protesters stormed Israel’s embassy in September that year amid clashes with police.

It was the first high level meeting between top officials of the two countries in almost a decade and comes as Israel’s military has saluted the “unprecedented” intelligence cooperation with Egypt to combat Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL).

One indication of Israel’s increased acceptance, Netanyahu said, was a phone call he had on the trip with the leader of an unnamed Muslim country, during which they agreed to meet. Netanyahu returned home Friday from a tour of east Africa, where he praised El-Sisi and expressed hope that Egypt would help Israel widen its circle of alliances.

Emphasising that Egypt was keen to promote peace, Shoukry thanked the two sides for showing faith in Cairo.

There has been a push in recent months by the so-called Mideast Quartet and the French government to restart the peace process.

Finally, al-Hayat al-Jadida reported Secretary-General of PLO Executive Committee Saeb Erekat as holding the Israeli government responsible for the outcomes of disseminating the culture of incitement, violence and racism. He urged both sides to seize what he said was a “real opportunity” and hailed Egypt’s peace deal with Israel. Following a meeting in Rome with Kerry and other foreign representatives two weeks ago, he reiterated his position. He said terrorism now represents “an existential threat to the peoples of the region and the world at large”.

Egypt is the first Arab country to establish official relations with Israel following its 1979 peace treaty.

“We’re familiar with the American position; we don’t accept it. Building in Jerusalem and Maale Adumim is not, with all due respect, distancing peace”, Netanyahu said on Wednesday at a press conference in Rwanda, referring to an illegal settlement near Jerusalem.

USA negotiators had earlier proposed a total of $3.5 billion to $3.7 billion annually for Israel under the new MOU, but did not say whether this might include missile defense funds.