Israeli PM meets Egypt’s president in Sharm el-Sheikh

dpa Cairo For the first time in 10 years, an Israeli prime minister is an official guest of Egypt. Naftali Bennett was meeting President Abdel Fattah al-S...

dpaCairo For the first time in 10 years, an Israeli prime minister is an official guest of Egypt.Naftali Bennett was meeting President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in the Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on Monday, the Egyptian presidency’s website said, alongside a picture of the two men seated side by side. One of the topics to be discussed is the revival of the peace process between Israel and the Palestinians.Egypt often acts as a mediator in the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Most recently, Cairo brokered a ceasefire between Israel and the Islamist Palestinian organization Hamas, which rules Gaza.The ceasefire came into effect on May 21, ending an 11-day military ceasefire between Israel and militant Palestinians in the Gaza Strip in which 13 people were killed in Israel, and 255 people died in the Gaza Strip, according to official figures given by the Israeli and Palestinian authorities.Peace talks between Israel and the Palestinian leadership under US mediation have been on hold since 2014. The Palestinians accused former US president Donald Trump of unilaterally taking sides with Israel.Israel has been governed since mid-June by a broad eight-party coalition under Prime Minister Bennett of the ultra-right Yamina party.Currently, according to Israeli media reports, the Egyptian government is preparing for new indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas on a prisoner exchange.Israel has been trying for years to secure the release of two Israeli civilians and to hand over the bodies of two Israeli soldiers killed in the Gaza war in 2014. Hamas had in the past demanded the release of dozens of Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails in return.Egyptian Presidency Spokesperson Bassam Radi said the leaders will “discuss a number of bilateral issues between the two sides in various fields, ways and efforts to revive the peace process, as well as the latest developments on the regional and international arenas.”  There had already been speculation in December about a possible visit by Bennett’s predecessor Benjamin Netanyahu to al-Sisi. The two first met in 2017 on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York, and in 2018 there were also reports of a secret visit by Netanyahu to the Egyptian capital.