Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egypt’s ambassador to Palestine Wael Nasr El-Din Attia discussed efforts to encourage the United Nations’ Security Council to “put a time limit” on the establishment of a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Abbas and Attia also discussed on Saturday evening the efforts to stop Israeli “aggression and violations” of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, according to Egyptian state media agency, MENA.
Egypt has repeatedly condemned the clashes between Palestinians and Israeli security forces at Islam’s third holiest site, which is also a site of great religious significance in Judaism.
The pair met at Abbas’ headquarters in Ramallah amid Egypt’s concern over a new rift between the Palestinian factions of Fatah and Hamas, which threatens the Palestinian unity government that was formed in April this year. Egypt’s foreign ministry spokesman said that Palestinian unity is a “very important objective of Egyptian policy”.
The two main Palestinian factions have had a cold relationship since Hamas seized control of Gaza Strip in 2007 after a series of bloody clashes with Fatah.
Fatah-aligned Abbas accused Hamas leaders of ordering 10 bomb attacks on Fatah targets in the Gaza Strip earlier this month.
Abbas announced in August his intention to pressure the UN Security Council to impose a deadline for the establishment of a Palestinian state along the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
The two-state solution along the 1967 borders is the most widely proposed solution to the decades old conflict and supported internationally. The presence of Israeli settlements in areas of the West Bank infringe upon the territorial line, also known as the Green Line.
