Abbas heads to Cairo, Istanbul to rally region over Jerusalem
Palestinian president to meet with al-Sisi in Egypt to discuss response to Trump's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital; he will also make a speech in Turkey; 'Daring Palestinian and Arab decisions are required in the coming stage, which is very important,' says Abbas's spokesman.
CAIRO - Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Monday intensified efforts to rally Middle Eastern countries against US recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, setting up talks with Arab leaders beginning in Cairo.
Abbas will meet President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi of Egypt, which has been a key broker in past peace talks with Israel and between fighting Palestinian factions, before heading for Istanbul to give a speech, his office said.
Arab states condemned US President Donald Trump's Jerusalem decision last week, and vowed to press international bodies to take action against it, without announcing any concrete measures. The Arab League held an emergency meeting on the issue in Cairo on Monday.
"Daring Palestinian and Arab decisions are required in the coming stage, which is very important," Abbas's spokesman Nabil Abu Rdainah told Palestinian official news agency WAFA.
World powers have warned the US move will impede peace efforts in the decades-long Israeli-Palestinian conflict as anger spreads across the region.
Abbas will not meet Mike Pence during the US Vice President's visit to the region later this month, Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Saturday.
Egypt's top Muslim and Christian religious leaders also said they would not meet Pence.
Abbas is expected to make a statement after his meeting with Sisi, the Palestinian embassy in Cairo said, without giving details.
Egypt, along with Jordan a key US ally in the region which has helped broker past peace deals and has good relations with Israel, has said the Jerusalem move undermines efforts to end the conflict.
It has also brokered reconciliation deals between Abbas's Fatah party and Gaza-based Islamist group Hamas, which called for a new uprising against Israel last week.
The planned handover of control of Gaza to the Fatah-dominated Palestinian Authority under the latest deal hit another delay on Sunday over "obstacles," a Hamas spokesman said, without elaborating.
