Abbas-Sissi meeting planned for this weekend, Palestinian official says

Arrangements are being made for a meeting between Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi in Sharm al-Sheikh this weekend, a Palestinian diplomat said on Thursday.

The last known time Abbas and Sissi held a bilateral meeting was some 10 months ago.

“Arrangements are ongoing to hold a meeting between President Mahmoud Abbas and his brother President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi about the latest developments in the Palestinian issue and matters of mutual interest,” Palestinian Ambassador to Cairo Diab al-Louh said in a statement posted to the embassy’s Facebook page.

Abbas will be attending the World Youth Forum in Sharm el-Sheikh, a government-organized conference, at the invitation of Sissi, Louh added. The PA president also attended last year’s conference.

Egypt has recently made efforts to revive the reconciliation process between Hamas and Fatah, meeting with leaders from the two rival parties for separate talks in the past several weeks.

In October 2017, Hamas and Fatah signed an Egyptian-brokered deal to advance reconciliation and bring the West Bank and Gaza under one government, but they failed to implement it.

Hamas has controlled Gaza since ousting the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority from the territory in 2007.

Egypt, alongside United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process Nikolay Mladenov, has also recently played a key role in attempts to mediate a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel.

Arabic media reports have said that if achieved, a ceasefire would include at least a partial lifting of Israel’s restrictions on the movement of goods and people into and out of Gaza.

Israel holds that its restrictions on movement serve security purposes including preventing the entry of weapons into the Strip.

Ramallah-based Palestinian officials have said Fatah-Hamas reconciliation should precede any possible ceasefire. They have also contended that the Palestine Liberation Organization is the sole party with the legitimacy to negotiate a ceasefire with Israel.

The Ramallah-based officials have almost entirely refrained from public criticism of Egypt for attempting to facilitate a ceasefire, but excoriated Mladenov.

“Mladenov has stepped outside of his role, which is to work on the peace process, not making peace between Hamas and Israel,” PLO Executive Committee member Ahmad Majdalani said in October. “We will still work with other UN officials, but we will not meet with Mladenov or his office. The problem is specifically with him.”

At a recent United Nations Security Council briefing, however, Mladenov received wide backing from major international players, including the European Union, the United Kingdom, France and other countries, for his work.