Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi meet on September 13, 2021. Photo: Office of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi

i24 News – Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi welcomed Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett on Monday for talks in Sharm el-Sheikh, a seaside town in the Sinai Peninsula.

The visit marks the first time an Israeli prime minister has traveled to Egypt in more than ten years.

Their discussion was to focus on “efforts to relaunch the peace process” between Israelis and Palestinians, according to a press release from presidential spokesman Bassam Radi.

The meeting comes hours after the reopening of the Taba crossing point between Israel and Sinai with no limit on the number of entry permits.

Israel has also reduced its security advisory for travelers to the country for the first time in years, a decision taken after Egyptian intelligence chief Abbas Kamel visited Israel for high-level talks on the Gaza Strip.

The visit comes following talks held earlier this month in Cairo with the King of Jordan, Abdullah II, and the President of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, where discussions focused on relaunching the peace process in the Middle East.

The parties also touched on ways to strengthen the ceasefire that ended last May’s conflict between Israel and Hamas.

The last meeting between an Egyptian president and an Israeli prime minister took place in January 2011, when the late Hosni Mubarak received then Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu.