Algeria, EU discuss efforts to achieve ceasefire in Gaza

ALGIERS, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Algerian Foreign Minister Ahmed Attaf, and the European Union's Special Representative for the Middle East Peace Process Sven Koopmans, discussed here on Wednesday efforts to achieve a ceasefire and facilitate humanitarian actions in the Gaza Strip, said a statement by the Algerian Foreign Ministry.

According to the statement, the two sides discussed developments in the occupied Palestinian territories in light of the ongoing Israeli aggression against Gaza, and called on the international community to "find a permanent, just and final solution to the Palestinian issue that guarantees the establishment of a sovereign and independent Palestinian state."

Since the beginning of its non-permanent membership in the UN Security Council in January, Algeria has been working to pass a draft resolution toward a ceasefire in Gaza.