High-level Israeli diplomat in Cairo to discuss peace process

Sunday 28-06-2015 04:41 PM
High-level Israeli diplomat in Cairo to discuss peace process

The border that divides Egypt and Israel - Mohamed Abdel Wahab/Reuters

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CAIRO, Jun 28 (Aswat Masriya) - An Israeli diplomat visited Cairo on Sunday for consultations with Egyptian officials, the spokesman for Egypt's Foreign Ministry told Aswat Masriya. 

The Director-General of Israel's Foreign Ministry Dore Gold met with Egypt's Assistant Foreign Minister for neighbouring countries' affairs Osama Majdoub to discuss advancing the peace process between Palestine and Israel, spokesman Badr Abdelatty said. 

Majdoub asserted Egypt's "principles and positions" on establishing a Palestinian state and on the two-state solution, Abdelatty added.

The last round of peace talks collapsed in April 2014, upon reaching a pre-planned deadline. 

Cairo has typically been involved in peace talks as a mediator. 

The Israeli diplomat's visit comes at a significant time for both Egyptian-Israeli relations and the peace process, as international efforts are once again poured into reviving talks. 

French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius visited Cairo earlier this month, in his first stop on a regional tour to push for talks. After Cairo, the french minister visited, Jordan, the Palestinian territories and Israel. 

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told Fabius that "a comprehensive and permanent settlement would involve the creation of a Palestinian state with the 1967 borders, with east Jerusalem as its capital."

Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in 1979 after months of negotiations, ending a state of war and normalising ties. 

Yet despite the passing of decades since, tensions have not completely faded away. 

In September 2011, Egyptian protesters marched onto the Israeli Embassy in Cairo's twin city Giza, with some storming the building which housed the embassy. The embassy staff had to be evacuated.

Nearly a year afterwards, Egypt recalled its ambassador to Israel in November 2012, under the reign of Muslim Brotherhood politician and then-president Mohamed Mursi.

The move was in objection to deadly Israeli military operations in the Gaza Strip, to which armed groups in Gaza responded by rocket firing.   

A week ago, Egypt appointed an ambassador to Israel for the first time in three years. 

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the move, saying that this as an important piece of news, according to a statement on the Israeli Foreign Ministry's website. 

"We appreciate it," the Israeli premier added. 

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