US Secretary of State John Kerry, left, shakes hands with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry at the end of a joint press conference in Cairo, Egypt, on Saturday, 13 September (Photo: AP)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and US State Secretary John Kerry discussed Tuesday ways to move forward with the negotiations regarding the Palestinian matter in two phone calls, Ministry spokesperson Badr Abdel-Aty said in a statement.
The Palestinian Liberation Organization led by President Mahmoud Abbas will present a resolution to the UN Security Council Wednesday calling for the end of Israel's occupation of Palestinian territories by November 2016.
Kerry briefed Shoukry with the results of his meetings Monday with Israeli Prime Ministry Benjamin Netanyahu and French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, he said.
The State Secretary traveled to Rome on 14 December to meet with Netanyahu.
He was accompanied by special envoy for Israeli-Palestinian Negotiations Frank Lowenstein and National Security Council Director for the Levant, Israel and Egypt, Yael Lempert, among others.
The Palestinian and Israeli sides have agreed to postpone the negotiations originally scheduled for 27 October in Cairo due to Jewish and Muslim holidays.
The indirect Palestinian-Israeli negotiations were scheduled to begin under the auspices of Egypt after nearly two months of the 51-day Israel offensive on the Gaza Strip that killed 2,200 Palestinians and injured tens of thousands while also destroying thousands of housing units. Seventy-three Israelis were also killed in the offensive.
The conflict ended on 26 August with an agreement to hold future talks on solidifying the ceasefire, with the Palestinians demanding an end to Israel's eight-year blockade of Gaza.
Short link: