Abbas to Egypt for talks with Sisi on Trump move

CAIRO — Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas is expected to meet Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah Al Sisi in Cairo Monday over US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise occupied Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, Egypt’s presidency said.

Trump’s move has drawn near universal condemnation, and Palestinian officials say Abbas will refuse to meet US Vice President Mike Pence when he travels to the region later this month.

Sisi has invited Abbas “to a bilateral summit for consultations on Monday in Cairo to discuss developments related to the United States’ recognition of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital”, said Bassam Radi, a spokesman for the Egyptian presidency.

Official Palestinian news agency WAFA said Abbas and Sisi spoke by telephone on Sunday and “continued consultations about the latest developments after the US administration’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel”.

It said that they agreed “to continue consulting to coordinate common positions”.

Egypt’s top Muslim and Christian clerics have both cancelled scheduled meetings with Pence in protest at the Jerusalem decision.

Israel seized Arab East Jerusalem in the 1967 June War and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.

The Palestinians want the eastern sector as the capital of their future state.

The international community does not recognise the ancient city as Israel’s capital, insisting that the issue can only be resolved in negotiations.