Egyptian Prez, Israeli PM discuss bilateral ties, Palestine

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi and visiting Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett discussed the developments of bilateral relations in various fields, as well as the Palestinian issue, according to authorities in Cairo.
The visit marked the first by an Israeli Prime Minister to Egypt in a decade.

During their meeting on Monday in the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El-Sheikh, Sisi and Bennett also discussed the recent developments on the regional and international arenas, Xinhua news agency quoted Bassam Rady, spokesperson of the Egyptian presidency, as saying.

Meanwhile, Sisi affirmed Egypt's support for all efforts to achieve comprehensive peace in the Middle East, based on the two-state solution and the international legitimacy resolutions.

He also stressed the importance of the international community's support for Egypt's efforts to rebuild the Palestinian territories, in addition to the need to maintain calm between the Palestinian and Israeli sides amid Cairo's continuous moves to ease tension in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

According to a statement released by Bennett's office after the talks, the Prime Minister said that he and Sisi "created a foundation for deep ties in the future".

"We discussed a series of issues in the diplomatic, security and economic spheres, as well as ways to deepen ties and strengthen the interests of our countries," he was quoted as saying in the statement.


Bennett was invited by Sisi on August 21 during the visit of Chief of Egypt's General Intelligence Service Abbas Kamel to Palestine and Israel to discuss the ceasefire deal between the Jewish state and Hamas.

The last time an Israeli Prime Minister visited Cairo was in 2011, when Benjamin Netanyahu, the country's longest serving premier, met former Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak just over a month before the latter was ousted by a popular uprising.

Egypt became the first Arab country to sign a peace treaty with Israel in 1979 - ians