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Abbas arrives in Cairo ahead of meeting with Sisi

July 9, 2017 at 12:27 pm

Reported purchase follows major reduction of US financial assistance to Mahmoud Abbas’s Palestinian Authority

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Cairo on Saturday on an official visit to Egypt, and will meet with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday.

Palestinian Authority-owned Wafa news agency reported that Abbas was received at Cairo International Airport by Egyptian Electricity Minister Muhammad Shakir al-Marqabi and other Egyptian officials, along with PA ambassador to Egypt and to the Arab League Jamal Shubaki.

Accompanying Abbas on his visit was his official spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeina, head of the Fatah bloc at the Palestinian parliament Azzam al-Ahmad, Abbas’ diplomatic advisor Majdi al-Khalidi, and chief of the PA general intelligence Majid Faraj.

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According to Wafa, Abbas met with Egyptian Foreign Minister Samih Shukri at the presidential palace Cairo, when the Palestinian president updated Shukri “on the latest developments of the Palestinian cause,” as well as “ongoing efforts to recruit international support” for ending the Israeli practices in the occupied Palestinian territory, particularly escalating settlement expansion.

Abbas also affirmed that the PA would continue to support Egypt in its “war on terrorism” and against “whoever attempts to harm Egypt’s national security,” Wafa reported.

Abbas later met with secretary-general of the Arab League Ahmad Abu al-Gheit and other Arab League officials. Wafa said the president updated Abu al-Gheit on PA efforts to end the Israeli occupation, highlighting the recent UNESCO decision to inscribe Hebron’s Old City and Hebron’s Ibrahimi Mosque on the World Heritage in Danger list, after the issue was submitted by the Palestinians.

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Coinciding with Abbas’ arrival to Cairo on Saturday, Gaza’s power authority accused the PA of freezing all money transfers from Palestinian banks to Egypt, which resulted in Egyptian authorities halting the fuel deliveries for want of payment, thus reducing total power supply in Gaza by between 33 and 50 percent.

The PA has also been the center of widespread condemnation in recent weeks for a list of other detrimental policies in Gaza aimed at putting pressure on Hamas to relinquish control of the besieged coastal enclave and hand over the territory to the PA.