Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi congratulated Abu Dhabi’s crown prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan by phone on Thursday on the historic peace move undertaken by the UAE to normalise relations with Israel.
“Such a historic peace move will advance peace process efforts and open horizons for stability in the Middle East,” Sisi said, according to an official statement.
The UAE and Israel said on Thursday that they had agreed to normalise diplomatic ties and forge a new relationship.
Under the accord, Israel has agreed to suspend the planned annexation of areas of the occupied West Bank.
U.S. President Donald Trump announced the deal, having helped to broker it.
In his statement, Sisi also praised the Israeli decision not to annex occupied Palestinian territories.
The Egyptian statement said Sheikh Mohammed had expressed the Emirati government and people’s sincere gratitude for El-Sisi’s gesture, Egypt’s continuous support for achieving security and stability in the region, and also Egypt’s pioneering efforts and historical contributions in bringing peace to the Middle East.
Egypt supports a two-state solution with a Palestinian state whose capital is East Jerusalem and which is based on the 1967 borders, according to the UN Security Council resolutions.
Cairo has repeatedly expressed its rejection of Israel’s plan to annex the West Bank and called for the revival of the peace process.
Earlier on Thursday, Sisi had hailed the agreement between the UAE and Israel on his social media accounts, saying the accord would “bring peace to the Middle East.”
“I followed with great interest and appreciation the tripartite joint statement between the United States, the fraternal United Arab Emirates, and Israel, regarding the agreement to suspend the annexation of Palestinian territories and to take steps that would bring peace to the Middle East,” Sisi wrote on his official accounts.
“I also appreciate the efforts to achieve prosperity and stability for our region by those in charge of this agreement,” the president added.
