Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry received on Tuesday Riyad Al-Malki, the Palestinian Foreign Minister, as part of his current visit to Cairo. Ambassador Ahmed Abu Zeid, spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, said that the Palestinian minister was keen to review the latest developments on the Palestinian arena, the ongoing consultations to form the Israeli government and their possible effects on the future of the Palestinian issue. Al-Malki highlighted the significant security deterioration in the occupied territories in light of the increasing and accelerating pace of violence against the Palestinian people, as well as repeated incursions and successive violations targeting holy sites. For his part, Minister Shoukry stressed Egypt's serious concern about the developments in the situation in the occupied territories, explaining Egypt's close follow-up to all developments on the Palestinian and Israeli arenas. Shoukry stressed that Egypt will always support all Palestinian rights, especially the right of the brotherly Palestinian people to establish their independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital, and that it will spare no effort in employing all its energies and diplomatic capabilities in order to achieve this goal. In this regard, the Foreign Minister highlighted Egypt's continuous efforts with various international and regional parties to calm the situation, stop the violence and break the current impasse in the peace process, with the aim of re-launching a serious negotiating track leading to achieving a comprehensive and just peace in accordance with the principle of the two-state solution and the relevant resolutions of international legitimacy. Minister Shoukry also referred to Egypt's efforts to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinian people in light of the difficult humanitarian economic conditions they are going through, including providing various aspects of support for the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip. The two ministers discussed coordinating efforts at the regional and international levels in order to put the Palestinian issue back at the center of international attention, including through coordinating efforts with partner Arab countries and international parties known for their support for Palestinian rights.
