(AFP/File Petras Malukas)
Foreign Minister Nabil Fahmy met Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Saturday to discuss the ongoing Palestinian peace process while the Palestinian president was in Cairo for president-elect Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s inauguration.
According to a statement released by the Egyptian foreign ministry, the pair discussed the current peace process and “the need for commitment to the Israeli side”, adding that “the rules of international law and international legitimacy resolutions reject the continued Israeli occupation of the Palestinian territories”.
Fahmy reiterated Egypt’s desire for a two state solution with Palestinian borders along the 1967 boundaries with a capital in East Jerusalem. “Egypt will spare no effort to help our Palestinian brothers to get their legitimate rights and establish their independent state,” the statement read.
Fahmy then assured Abbas of Egyptian support for the revival of the peace process and “in particular, the need to stop settlement activity” on occupied Palestinian land.
Egypt has voiced its support for the joint Hamas and PLO unity government agreed upon in late April. In the text of the unity deal, which aims to “form a government of national consensus”, both Hamas and the PLO expressed “the value of and their appreciation for the Egyptian role in overseeing the reconciliation agreement”, adding that Cairo’s involvement “will continue”.
Israel, which views Hamas as a terrorist organisation, has refused to recognize the government. Peace talks take place between the PLO and Israelis.
Egypt has also had its issues with Hamas recently, as the group has close ties with the Muslim Brotherhood, which has been declared a terrorist organisation. Hamas has been accused by Egypt of taking part in the militant insurgency in North Sinai that intensified following Morsi’s ouster last year, which Hamas has denied.
