Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul- Gheit said on Sunday that both Iran and Israel are members of the United Nations, in reaction to remarks by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on wiping Israel off the world map.

"Iran and Israel are two United Nations member states, and such phenomenon as the disappearance of a member state was never seen in history," Abul-Gheit told reporters.

He said that Egypt and Israel were tied by their 1979 peace deal, the first ever signed between the Jewish state and an Arab country.

Egypt has then spared no effort to help bring about the establishment of an independent Palestinian state along the 1967 borders.

The minister said the Palestinian state may co-exist side by side with the state of Israel in peace within secure, established and recognized borders.

Ahmadinejad's wording sparked an international outcry but he justified it by citing Israel's oppression of the Palestinians.

Source: Xinhua