The Foreign Ministry announced its concern about new settlements and roads leading to Israel in the West Bank, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesman Badr Abdel Atty said on Monday on the ministry's Facebook page. Egypt urged Israel to not take any more measures in seizing new lands that would prevent a "geographically contiguous Palestine," Abdel Atty said. "What's important now is to focus on providing the conditions to resume the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations to lead to the establishment of an independent Palestinian state on the 4 June 1967 lines," the spokesman said, adding that Palestine's capital would be East Jerusalem. He said that these stipulations, which are based on the peace process and the United Nations resolutions as well as international legitimacy, would allow for an end of the Arab-Israeli conflict. United States Secretary of State John Kerry said in a press statement on Friday that the US has reached an agreement "that establishes a basis for resuming direct final status negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis." European Union (EU) High Representative Catherine Ashton said in a press release on Friday that the EU supports Kerry's efforts to resume negotiations, but that "bilateral agreements with Israel do not cover the territory that came under Israel's administration in June 1967." However Ashton added that the EU's stance on the borders wouldn't predetermine the outcome of the peace negotiations. Russia's foreign ministry also welcomed Kerry's announcement and said that all parties must "agree about all aspects of the Palestine-Israel Peace Process at a known international legal basis," including pre-1967 lines, according to a press release on Monday.
