Israel PM hails Egyptian president's call to expand peace with Arab countries

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday lauded the Egyptian president's comments on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as well as reaching peace deals with other Arab countries.

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told The Associated Press in an interview published earlier on Sunday that Israel should resolve its conflict with the Palestinians, charging that such an achievement would "change the face of the region" and improve the situation in the Middle East.

Sisi also said Israel should follow the example of its nearly 40-year peace treaty with Egypt, and strike peace deals with other Arab countries in the Middle East. Israel and Egypt signed a peace deal in 1979, and Israel has a peace treaty with Jordan since 1994.

"The government of Israel welcomes Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's call to expand the peace with Israel to include Arab countries," a statement issued by the Israeli Prime Minister's Office on Sunday read.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu again calls on Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to return immediately to the negotiating table in order to advance the diplomatic process," it added.

The last round of peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian Authority took place between July 2013 and April 2014. Israel withdrew from the talks following the establishment of the Palestinian National Unity government, amid the reconciliation of Fatah and Hamas, Israel's staunch enemy, against which it fought several rounds of fighting in the past years in the Gaza Strip.

The Palestinians, however, said Israel was dragging its feet throughout the talks, making stern security demands, including a demilitarized Palestinian state with Israeli soldiers' presence in the Jordan Valley area, and amid Israel's ongoing settlement construction in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Netanyahu had stated in recent months he would be willing to resume negotiations with Palestinian President Abbas "right away," with talks based on the two-state solution.

The Israeli prime minister said last month he has "no pre-conditions" to meet Abbas, but had in the past stated the Palestinian president must accept a demilitarized Palestinian state and recognize Israel as a Jewish state.

There have been some reports in Israeli and international media of a secret channel between Netanyahu and Abbas. Both Israeli and Palestinian officials denied the claims.

The Palestinian president had taken on some international initiatives, with relative success, promoting unilateral measures to end the Israeli occupation over Palestinian territories, amid the Palestinians' frustration with the deadlock in talks, which had also brought about escalating tension in the West Bank and in Jerusalem in particular.

Israel occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem territories, home to more than two million Palestinians, in the 1967 Mideast War. Israeli settlements are considered illegal by the international community, as they hamper the prospects of the two-state solution, which is the basis for the recent rounds of peace talks.

Source: XINHUA