Egypt raises possibility of restarting stalled talks

Egypt's foreign minister raised the possibility on Tuesday of restarting stalled peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians as part of negotiating a cease-fire in the war that has broken out on the Gaza Strip.

At the start of a meeting with US Secretary of State John Kerry, Foreign Minister Sameh Shukri said he planned to work with US and other world leaders "to not only resolve this issue but also to set in motion once again the peace process that Secretary Kerry has been so actively involved in so as to end this ongoing conflict between the Palestinians and the Israelis".

Kerry said his discussions with Shukri sought to "hopefully find not only a way to a cease-fire, but a way to deal with the underlying issues, which are very complicated". But he stopped short of agreeing to reopen the peace talks that abruptly broke off last year after nearly nine months of his personal attention.

Kerry has invested much of his tenure in an unsuccessful bid for a lasting Middle East peace agreement, and said he would discuss the Egyptian proposal.

Meanwhile, Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal and Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas held talks in Doha, vowing to work together for a cease-fire and to lift the blockade on Gaza.

"Hamas and Abbas agreed that all Palestinian factions should work as a team toward a cease-fire," Azzam al-Ahmed, a senior official in Abbas's Fatah party, told AFP.

AP-AFP