Egypt and France Discuss Palestinian State and Settlement Expansion

CAIRO — Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and French envoy for supporting the Palestinian state André Parrand met in Cairo on Monday, according to the Egyptian foreign ministry's spokesperson, Nader Zaki, in a statement published on the ministry's official website. The two sides discussed ways to support the establishment of an independent Palestinian state and to counter Israeli settlement expansion and annexation attempts in the occupied territories, according to the statement.

According to the statement, both sides stressed the need to preserve the foundations of the Palestinian state. They also agreed to keep consulting and coordinating to back international efforts to establish an independent Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

The statement said both sides stressed the need to implement the next steps of the comprehensive peace plan of US President Donald Trump for the Gaza Strip. The source does not give further details on those steps.

Abdelatty praised joint efforts by France and Saudi Arabia to support a two-state solution and build international backing for recognising a Palestinian state, according to the statement. He said Egypt was ready to keep cooperating toward a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian question.

The statement also recalled that on the 14th of the current month, the Egyptian foreign ministry rejected any move that undermines peace efforts or imposes facts on the ground that affect the legal and historical status of occupied Jerusalem. It said unilateral measures aimed at changing the city's status are void.

The report comes from a single source, the Syrian state news agency SANA, which published an account of the statement in Arabic. The source does not report any independent confirmation, and it gives no comment from Israel or from the French side.

Background

Egypt and France have both backed a two-state solution for the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The Egyptian ministry has repeatedly said that East Jerusalem must be the capital of a future Palestinian state, and it has opposed Israeli measures in the occupied territories. The meeting took place as the wider Gaza plan remains under discussion, according to the source.