Egypt, Saudi Arabia discuss Palestine-Israel talks

By Viola Fahmy

CAIRO (AA) - Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry on Friday discussed with his Saudi counterpart Adel al-Jubeir efforts to revive Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

This came during their meeting on the sidelines of the third edition of the Mediterranean Dialogues Forum, hosted in the Italian capital Rome since Thursday and will conclude on Saturday.

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry said that the meeting tackled the latest developments in the region, mainly the situation in Syria, Lebanon, Yemen and Libya as well as the developments of the Ethiopian Renaissance Dam file and the Gulf crisis.

Both ministers also discussed "efforts to revive Palestinian-Israeli negotiations and ways to achieve Palestinian national reconciliation to enable the national government to carry out its tasks in the Gaza Strip," the ministry said without disclosing more details.

On Oct. 12, Palestine’s two leading political movements signed a landmark reconciliation agreement in Cairo aimed at resolving a decade of bitter political division.

The agreement also reportedly called for the Fatah-led Palestinian unity government to take control of the Gaza Strip by Dec.1.

Both groups have so far pointed out that they would make every effort to maintain the agreement.

The West Bank and the Gaza Strip have remained politically and administratively divided since 2007, when Hamas wrested control of the strip from Fatah following several days of street fighting.

The Israeli-Palestinian negotiations have stopped since April 2014, due to Israel's refusal to end settlements, the release of old detainees and the rejection of the two-state based solution with a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.