国际英语新闻:Egypt's Sisi reaffirms constant support for Palestinian cause

CAIRO, July 9 (Xinhua) -- Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi on Sunday reaffirmed Egypt's constant support for a fair and comprehensive settlement for the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

Sisi promised to guarantee the rights of the Palestinians to build their own independent state in the conflict between Palestine and Israel, the Egyptian presidential spokesman said in a statement following Sisi's meeting with the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Cairo.

"President Sisi asserted that the Palestinian cause always comes on top of Egypt's priorities and reaching a solution for it is a key pillar for restoring security and stability in the Middle East region," the president's spokesman Alaa Youssef added.

The Egyptian president also vowed to continue efforts to resume negotiations between the Palestinians and the Israelis to come to a resolution for their conflict.

For his part, Abbas offered his condolences to Sisi over the Egyptian army's loss in the recent deadly attack in the checkpoints of North Sinai province bordering Israel and the Palestinian Gaza Strip.

"President Abbas reiterated Palestine's solidarity with Egypt in its war against terrorism and against those who try to undermine its security and stability," said the Egyptian spokesman.

Abbas also updated the Egyptian president with the recent Palestinian efforts to mobilize international support for a two-state solution and with the U.S. efforts to revive the idle Middle East peace process between the Palestinians and the Israelis.

The meeting came on the second day of Abbas' visit to Cairo which started on Saturday evening with holding separate talks with Arab League Secretary General Ahmed Aboul-Gheit and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry.

Abbas and his ruling Fatah movement are facing rebellion from Hamas movement that controls Gaza.

He is seeking Egyptian-brokered inter-Palestinian unity particularly after relations between Egypt and Hamas have relatively improved this year through high-profile meetings and further security coordination.

A U.S.-sponsored peace treaty was reached between Egypt and Israel in 1979, after which Egypt has been working on reviving the Israeli-Palestinian peace process as well as mediating between rival Palestinian factions for reconciliation and national unity.

Israel is blamed by the international community for the deadlock of the peace process due to its settlement expansion which is rejected even by its strongest ally, the United States.