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PM Lee affirms bilateral ties with Israeli president, meets opposition leader

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday (April 20) and both sides affirmed close and long-standing bilateral relations, as Mr Lee entered the second day of his visit to the Middle Eastern nation.

PM Lee Hsien Loong meets Israeli President President Reuven Rivlin at the presidential compound in Jerusalem on April 20, 2016. Photo: AFP

PM Lee Hsien Loong meets Israeli President President Reuven Rivlin at the presidential compound in Jerusalem on April 20, 2016. Photo: AFP

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JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong called on Israeli President Reuven Rivlin on Wednesday (April 20) and both sides affirmed close and long-standing bilateral relations, as Mr Lee entered the second day of his visit to the Middle Eastern nation.

“PM Lee expressed his appreciation to President Rivlin for his presence at the state funeral of founding PM Lee Kuan Yew (last year),” said Mr Lee’s Press Secretary Chang Li Lin.  
Earlier in the day, Israeli opposition leader Isaac Herzog called on Mr Lee in Jerusalem.

They had an exchange of views on developments in Israel and the region, said Ms Chang.

“Mr Herzog agreed that the two-state solution remains the only viable option to achieve a just and durable peace for Israel and Palestine,” she said.

Multiple efforts have been made to broker an agreement on a “two-state solution” in which Israel would exist peacefully alongside a new Palestinian state created in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, lands seized by Israel in the 1967 war.

However, such a solution appears remote because of ongoing Jewish settlement building; a split between the Palestinian Fatah and Hamas factions; preoccupation within the Palestinian National Authority about who may succeed ageing President Mahmoud Abbas; and a wave of Palestinian stabbings, shootings and car rammings of Israelis.

Efforts led by the United States to broker peace between Israel and Palestine collapsed in April 2014, although France is making another push by convening an international peace summit to work towards a two-state solution.

Mr Lee has urged both sides to resume direct talks towards a two-state solution, saying that as friends of both parties, Singapore is concerned about the situation and wish them well.

At a welcome ceremony on Tuesday by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Mr Lee expressed hope that both sides “will be able to resume negotiations and make progress towards a just and durable solution to a longstanding and complex conflict.”

“We hope to see a two-state solution with both Israel and Palestine living side by side in peace and security one day,” Mr Lee had said.

Mr Lee will wrap up his visit to the region on Thursday as he meets former Israeli President and Nobel Laureate Shimon Peres.

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