09 May 2016•Update: 09 May 2016
By Hussein Mahmoud
CAIRO
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas held talks in Cairo on Monday with Egyptian counterpart Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi during which the two men discussed the moribund Israeli-Palestinian peace process.
According to a statement released by the Palestinian embassy in Cairo, discussions also tackled recent developments in the Palestinian territories and the wider Middle East region.
The embassy statement went on to note that Abbas and al-Sisi had both acknowledged the need to convene an international peace conference with a view to ending Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land.
The Egyptian Presidency, for its part, said al-Sisi had reiterated Egypt’s longstanding support for the Palestinian cause and efforts aimed at establishing a Palestinian state on land occupied by Israel since 1967.
Both men, according to a statement released by the presidency, had also underlined the need to halt Israeli settlement building in the occupied West Bank and end all practices that fuel tension in the occupied territories.
Abbas arrived in Cairo on Sunday for a three-day visit, during which he is also expected to hold talks with Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi.
France plans to host a meeting on May 30 to discuss proposals for holding an international Middle East peace conference.
While Abbas’ Palestinian Authority has welcomed the French initiative, Israel has criticized the plan.
Peace talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators broke down in April 2014 over the Jewish state’s refusal to release a group of Palestinian political prisoners despite earlier pledges to do so.
Since then, all attempts to revive negotiations between the two sides have failed, due mainly to Israel's insistence on maintaining its policy of unbridled settlement construction on occupied Arab land.
Palestinian negotiators, for their part, insist that Israeli settlement building on Palestinian land must stop before a comprehensive peace agreement can be reached.
