Sisi, Abbas highlight 2-state solution as only way for peace

Presidents of Egypt and Palestine reiterated here Saturday the two-state solution for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict as "the only way to achieve stability in the Middle East region," the Egyptian presidential spokesman said in a statement.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi held talks on Saturday with visiting Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo to discuss bilateral ties and the Palestinian issue.

"President Sisi stressed during the meeting Egypt's constant keenness to reach a fair and comprehensive settlement that guarantees the Palestinians' right to establish their own independent state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital city," Spokesman Alaa Youssef said in the statement.

The Egyptian president also stressed the necessity for the United States, Israel's biggest supporter, to play an active role in boosting efforts to resume Palestinian-Israeli negotiations, highlighting the significance of the Arab peace initiative in this regard.

Meanwhile, Sisi called for ending the inter-Palestinian division between ruling Fatah movement and armed Hamas movement.

"Ending inter-Palestenian division and restoring national unity are indispensable to put an end to the suffering of the Palestinian people," he said.

For his part, President Abbas expressed his keenness to continue consultations with Egypt and meet with Sisi for the latest developments on this issue, hailing Egypt's major and essential role in the Palestinian cause.

The talks came ahead of Abbas' upcoming meeting with U.S. President Donald Trump in Washington, which is expected to be in May, over the U.S. anticipated role in resuming the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks.

Israel has always been blamed by the international community for the deadlock of the Middle East peace process because of its settlement expansion which is rejected even by the United States, its strongest ally.

A U.S.-sponsored peace treaty was reached between Egypt and Israel in 1979. Since then, Egypt has been working on reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process as well as mediating between rival Palestinian factions.

In February, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres held separate meetings with President Sisi and Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul-Gheit in Cairo, where the world's top diplomat underscored that "there is no plan B for the two-state solution."