President of Egypt, Abdel Fattah Al Sisi addresses the United Nations General Assembly on September 20, 2016 in New York City. Heads of state gathered to address global issues at the 71st annual meeting at the UN headquarters in New York.
UNITED NATIONS, United States - Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Tuesday urged Israel to "write a bright page" in Middle East history and make peace with the Palestinians.
Speaking at the United Nations, Sisi said the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was at "the core of regional instability" and called for a settlement based on a two-state solution leading to a Palestinian state.
"Permit me to deviate from the written statement to address an appeal to the Israeli leadership and Israeli people," Sisi told the UN General Assembly.
"We have a real opportunity to write a bright page in the history of our region, to move toward peace," he said.
The first Arab country to make peace with Israel, Egypt has stepped up its diplomacy over recent months to try to re-start Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations.
The peace process has been comatose since the collapse of a US-led initiative in April 2014.
