Abbas meets with Egyptian interim gov't leaders in Cairo

PA official says visit meant to reassure Egyptians that the Palestinians are not meddling in the country’s affairs.

By KHALED ABU TOAMEH
Adli Mansour and Mahmoud Abbas 370 (photo credit: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dals)
Adli Mansour and Mahmoud Abbas 370
(photo credit: REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dals)
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Cairo on Monday for his first visit to Egypt since the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi.
Abbas is the second Arab leader, after Jordan’s King Abdullah, to visit the country following the Egyptian army’s removal of Morsi from power. The PA president was one of the first Arab leaders to congratulate Egyptian interim President Adli Mansour on his appointment.
Upon arriving in Cairo, Abbas and his aides met with Mansour and Deputy President Mohamed ElBaradei.
The two sides discussed the latest developments surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian peace process and bilateral Palestinian-Egyptian relations, said a PA official, who added that the two sides also discussed the situation in the Hamas-controlled Gaza Strip and “threats to Egypt’s national security.”
According to the official, Abbas traveled to Cairo to reassure the Egyptians that the Palestinians are not meddling in the country’s affairs and will not do so in the future.
Abbas’s visit comes amid increased tensions between Egypt and Hamas. The discord reached its peak over the weekend when Egyptian authorities said they had launched an investigation into suspicions that Morsi had been collaborating with Hamas.
The destruction of nearly 80 percent of the smuggling tunnels along the border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip has also escalated tensions between the two parties.
Hamas officials said that the new Egyptian measures were part of a “plot” to undermine their rule in the Gaza Strip.
On the eve of Abbas’s visit, Hamas released what it said were classified documents allegedly showing that the PA president and his security forces have been inciting the Egyptians against the Palestinian Islamist movement.