Egyptian Foreign Minister Nabil al-Araby has called on the United States to sponsor an international peace conference aimed at finding a solution to the Israel-Palestine issue. Araby said that the stances of the two sides were known to everyone and that there was no time to waste in seeking a solution.
During a meeting with a US Congress delegation on Sunday, the Egyptian foreign minister said that the recognition of a Palestinian state was consistent with US support for a two-state solution, as mentioned in President Barack Obama’s recent speech on the Middle East.
The delegation, led by Congressman Steve Cohen, and organized by the dovish Jewish American group J Street, was in Cairo at the start of a mini-tour of the Middle East, stopping at Egypt, Israel and the Palestinian Territories.
Cohen said he did not think there was anything new about Obama's statements concerning an Israeli withdrawal back to 1967 borders. He said the US had previously stated that any solution must be based on an Israeli withdrawal combined with land swaps, which would take place through negotiations.
In response to calls for a peace conference sponsored by the French government, Cohen said: "We believe that the peace process cannot be pushed forward at the moment except through an international peace conference, via the French or any other initiative.”
Aside from discussions on the Israel-Palestine issue, the US delegation called on Araby to review the Egyptian stance toward unfolding events in Sudan, the Gulf, Libya, Syria, Yemen and Palestine.
Translated from the Arabic Edition
