The two leaders, meeting in Riyadh, stressed the “need for action by the international community to reactivate the peace process and recognise the new Palestinian government,” a member of the Egyptian delegation told AFP.
The SPA state news agency said the two leaders also discussed developments in Iraq, which continues to be torn apart by deadly bombings.
The meeting came amid a recent flurry of diplomatic activity by Arab countries aimed at securing support for a new Palestinian unity government and future negotiations with Israel.
A power-sharing agreement signed in Mecca on February 8 between Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas’s Fatah party and the Islamist Hamas movement has so far failed to end a crippling Western aid boycott.
The Middle East Quartet — the United States, European Union, United Nations and Russia — has insisted the government meet three conditions before it will lift the boycott: recognise Israel’s right to exist, renounce violence and respect past peace accords signed with the Jewish state.
