CAIRO, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi said on Sunday that achieving the Palestinian internal reconciliation would help revive the stalled peace talks between the Palestinians and the Israelis.
Sisi's remarks came during his meeting in Cairo with President of the U.S.-based World Jewish Congress Ronald Lauder.
The Egyptian president stressed that restoring legitimacy in the Gaza Strip and ending the internal Palestinian division would help push forward efforts to revive the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and reach a just solution to the Palestinian issue, presidential spokesman Bassam Radi said.
Sisi also expressed support to all efforts aiming at resuming the peace process between the Palestinian and Israeli sides in accordance with international terms of reference.
Meanwhile, President Sisi highlighted his country's keenness to develop strategic relations with the United States to clarify true challenges besetting the region.
Sisi asserted Egypt's efforts to reach political solutions to current crises in a way that preserves the countries' sovereignty and integrity of their territories, the spokesman said.
The deadlock of the peace process between Palestinians and Israelis is largely attributed to Israel's settlement expansion policy, which is rejected even by its strongest ally the United States.
The United States recently moved its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem despite regional and international outcry, after President Donald Trump declared Jerusalem as the capital of Israel last December.
The Palestinians seek to establish an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital along the pre-1967 borders in the light of the UN-proposed two-state solution.
For his part, Lauder praised strong relations binding the United States and Egypt and efforts exerted by Egypt to face terrorism threatening security and stability in the Middle East and the entire world.
He paid tribute to the progress Egypt managed to achieve in a short time in many domains, saying Egypt's economic development will help lure more foreign investments to the country.
