The American-Jewish Committee (AJC), a leading Jewish advocacy group in the US, has praised Egypt's efforts to revive the Israel-Palestine peace process, offering their support during a meeting on Saturday with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry in New York. In an official statement, Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid said Shoukry met with the committee's delegation prior to wrapping up his visit to New York for the 72nd United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). Abu Zeid said the JAC appreciated Egypt's important role in the Middle East and its efforts to consolidate peace and stability in the region. The meeting also included talks on the Middle East region in general, particularly the ongoing conflicts in Libya, Syria, Iraq, and Yemen, as well as Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi's initiative to reform religious discourse as a key step to combatting extremism. Saturday's meeting comes days after El-Sisi's participation in the UNGA, where he held bilateral talks with several world leaders. During his speech at the UNGA, he called on both Palestinians and Israelis to not waste a chance for achieving peace. Egypt has been leading mediation efforts between Palestinian Islamist group Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah movement to build Palestinian unity. Following several rounds of talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo over the past months, Hamas announced last week that it had dissolved its administrative committee running Gaza and agrees to hold general elections in order to end the decade-long split, a move that was welcomed by Fatah officials.
