Abbas and Al-Sisi (archive)
Abbas and Al-Sisi (archive)Reuters

Palestinian Authority (PA) chairman Mahmoud Abbas met on Monday in Cairo with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.

During the meeting, reported the Daily News Egypt website, the two spoke of the necessity of all Arab nations to coordinate their support for the Palestinian cause.

They also stressed the importance of the two-state solution and Abbas expressed his gratitude for the role Egypt plays in supporting the Palestinian people and its efforts exerted to put an end to the division between the different Palestinian factions, the report said.

The meeting was attended by the Egyptian and PA heads of intelligence, as well as by Egypt’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Sameh Shoukry.

Egypt has been among the leaders in the efforts to restart stalled peace talks between Israel and the PA.

Sisi several months ago urged Israelis and Palestinian Arabs to seize what he said was a "real opportunity" for peace and hailed his own country's peace deal with Israel.

Shoukry made a rare visit to Israel this past July, during which he met with Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and stressed that his country is committed “to supporting a just, comprehensive and sustainable resolution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict”.

The meeting between Abbas and Sisi comes amid recent tensions between Egypt and Abbas’s Fatah faction. Last month, Egyptian airport security denied entry to senior Fatah official Jibril Rajoub and deported him.

While Egypt's foreign ministry would not comment on the incident, subsequent reports said the tensions were caused by Abbas’s recent refusal to launch a regional peace initiative with the participation of Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.