Justice Minister Tzipi Livni, who heads the Israeli team in peace talks with the Palestinians, said late Saturday in Washington that a two-state solution was in her country's best interest.

"The only way to keep Israeli values as a democratic state is by adopting the idea of two states for two people," one for Israelis and the other for Palestinians, Livni said at a conference held by J Street, a leftist pro-Israel lobbying group.

At least 14 Egyptians were killed when a truck and a minibus collided head-on near the Suez Canal city of Ismailiya on Saturday, medics said.

Bad driving and lax enforcement of traffic regulations are often blamed for the high frequency of road accidents in Egypt.

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon held his first meeting Saturday with the head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition in a bid to press for a Syria peace conference.

The meeting is likely to infuriate President Bashar Assad's government, which is still recognized by the United Nations and routinely calls the coalition and other opposition groups "terrorists."

Syria is "comfortable" with a U.N. Security Council resolution on destroying its chemical weapons and will not discuss the future of President Bashar Assad, the country's foreign minister said Saturday.

Walid Muallem told reporters the resolution voted by the 15-nation council late Friday meant the opposition could be the target of U.N. sanctions.

Germany is ready to give finance and technical support to the international operation to destroy Syria's chemical weapons, Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle said Saturday.

Speaking at the U.N. General Assembly, however, he demanded that chemical attacks in Syria be investigated by the International Criminal Court.

Egypt's army-backed government pleaded Saturday for support for its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, warning that the world must not justify "terrorism."

Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy made his appeal in a speech at the annual United Nations General Assembly as hundreds of flag-waving protesters staged a noisy rally against him outside the global body's headquarters.

The UGTT trade union confederation mediating crisis talks in Tunisia said Saturday that the ruling Islamist Ennahda party had agreed to a plan for talks on a new government.

The country's largest union confederation called on the Islamists and the secular opposition to agree on a date next week for a "national dialogue" aimed at ending a crisis sparked by the murder of a prominent opposition MP in July.

Egypt recalled its ambassador from Tunisia on Saturday after the Tunisian president demanded the release of deposed leader Mohammed Morsi, state television reported.

The Egyptian foreign ministry recalled its ambassador for "consultations," state television reported.

Gunmen shot dead an Egyptian soldier in Sinai on Saturday as army helicopters carried out air strikes on suspected militant hideouts, medics and witnesses said.

The 22-year-old conscript died of a chest wound after the attack in the northern town of Sheikh Zuwayid, medics said.

A rocket fired from the Gaza Strip hit southern Israel overnight, the army said on Saturday, but no casualties or damage were reported.

A tweet from the official military account said the rocket struck open ground near the port city of Ashkelon just northeast of the Islamist Hamas-ruled Palestinian enclave.