Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for the resumption of Israel-Palestinian talks, which have been frozen since 2014, after he met this past week with Bahraini King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.
“The two sides confirmed the importance of working... to intensify international efforts to break the stalemate in the peace process and resume negotiations so as to resolve the Palestinian crisis based on international legitimacy resolutions,” Sisi’s office said in a statement about Wednesday’s meeting at Sharm e-Sheikh.
“The Bahraini king lauded Egypt’s recent endeavors in this file at the highest level, its tireless efforts to firm up the ceasefire between the Israelis and the Palestinians, and its initiative for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip,” Sisi’s office said.
Egypt is attempting to broker indirect talks between Israel and Hamas that would lead to a permanent ceasefire over Gaza.
Sisi has also been holding talks with relevant players on the need to resume Israeli-Palestinian talks toward a two-state resolution to the conflict based on pre-1967 lines.
At the start of September, Sisi met with Jordan’s King Abdullah and Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
At that meeting, Abbas stressed the importance of a peace process brokered by the Quartet rather than the United States, which has been in charge of the process for over four decades. The Quartet is composed of the United Nations, the European Union, Russia and the US.
Earlier this week Sisi met with Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and spoke about the need for talks.
Sisi’s office said that at the meeting with Bennett, the president confirmed that “Egypt supports all efforts exerted to achieve comprehensive peace in the Middle East, based on the two-state solution.”
He added that this “contributes to reinforcing security and achieving prosperity for all peoples of the region.”
After the meeting, Bennett told Israeli media that he was opposed to the creation of a Palestinian state and has no interest in meeting Abbas.
US President Joe Biden has spoken of the importance of a two-state resolution to the conflict but has not put forward any plan to achieve Palestinian statehood.
On Wednesday, State Department spokesman Ned Price said the US has not “explicitly” called for Israeli-Palestinian talks at this time.