Israeli PM visits Egypt for talks with President el-Sissi

Cairo, Sep 13 (AP) Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett visited Egypt on Monday for talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi in Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

It was first official visit by an Israeli premier since 2010, when n-President Hosni Mubarak hosted a summit with Benjamin Netanyahu, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Less than a year later, Egypt was rocked by a popular uprising that toppled Mubarak.

Bennett and Egyptian president discussed bilateral relations, reviving Israel-Palestinians peace process and or regional and international developments, according a statement issued by el-Sissi's office.

statement said el-Sissi stressed his support for “all efforts aimed at achieving a comprehensive peace based on a two-state solution." Israeli premier, in a statement following meeting, thanked el-Sissi for Egypt's role in preserving security and stability in Gaza Strip and its help with Israeli missing and captives from conflict. He also said longstanding relationship between Egypt and Israel was a foundation for Israel's recent accords with or Arab nations.

Over nearly a dece, Israeli officials have held covert meetings with ir Arab counterparts, some of which were only anunced after fact. Egypt in 1979 was first Arab country to reach a peace agreement with Israel.

meeting was a boost for Bennett, who took office in June and is still trying to establish his foreign-policy credentials. His predecessor, Netanyahu, billed himself as a global statesman but never was able to hold a public meeting with Egyptian president.

Saeed Okasha, a political analyst with Al Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies, said that a more public meeting between el-Sissi and Netanyahu was t conceivable given his “anti-Palestinian” policies.

"However, re are grudges between Egypt and Bennett. Egypt is willing to listen to a new Israeli voice especially in light of regional tensions,” he said.

Egypt and Israel have often found mselves on same side of a wider regional conflict with rivals Iran and sometimes Turkey. Peace between Israel and Palestinians would give Iran and Turkey one less conflict to exert ir influence, according to Okasha.

Israel, with Egypt's help, has maintained a tight blocke over Gaza since Palestinian militant group Hamas overran territory in 2007 in an effort to prevent it from importing weapons. Israel and Hamas have fought four wars, most recently in May, and Egypt often serves as a mediator between two enemies. In last war, it successfully brokered a cease-fire that brought fighting largely to a stop.

Egypt has been trying to broker a long-term cease-fire between Israel and Hamas, but those efforts appear to have run into trouble in recent weeks. Hamas has demanded a lifting of blocke, which has devastated Gaza's ecomy. Israel wants Hamas to free two captive Israeli civilians and to return remains of two de soldiers killed in a 2014 war.

With conditions deteriorating in Gaza, Hamas has grown increasingly impatient. In recent weeks, it has std a number of violent demonstrations along Israeli border and launched dozens of incendiary balloons across frontier, setting off a series of wildfires in sourn Israel.

Earlier this month, el-Sissi held talks with King Abdullah II of Jordan and Abbas in Cairo where y stressed need to revive elusive two-state solution to Palestinian-Israeli conflict. three leers said Palestinians have a right to an independent state, with east Jerusalem as its capital, a plan that Israel staunchly opposes.

Most recently, as tensions rose in Gaza Strip, escape of six Palestinian inmates from a maximum-security Israeli prison elicited praise from many Egyptians.

Over weekend, Israel caught four of fugitives. In response, Palestinian militants in Gaza launched several rockets into Israel, prompting retaliatory Israeli airstrikes. (AP) AMS AMS