Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry during his meeting with officials from the Palestinian group Fatah on Monday (Photo courtesy of the Egyptian Ministry of foreign affairs official Facebook page)
In a meeting with officials from the Palestinian group Fatah, Egypt's Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry reaffirmed Egypt's position regarding the Palestinian cause and Palestine's legitimate rights, the Egyptian foreign ministry said.
The meeting in Cairo comes days after Palestinian groups Fatah and Hamas announced that elections would be held in Gaza for the first time in nearly 15 years. The decision to hold the elections was reached after the Palestinian groups held talks in Turkey.
Shoukry met with leading Fatah officials Jabril Ragoob and Rawhi Fattouh on Monday during their visit to Cairo, according to the Egyptian foreign ministry.
Prior to the meeting, Ragoob said in statements to the media that Egypt had no objection to the dialogue that took place between Hamas and Fatah in Turkey.
"On the contrary, Egypt understands the importance of speaking with all regional parties to reach a political reconciliation," he said.
"We are in talks with everyone except the countries that have gone against the Arab consensus, and Egypt is to central the Palestinian cause," he stated, without referring to specific countries.
Egypt has had strained relations with Turkey since the 2013 ouster of Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi, who was a close ally of Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s government.
Tensions between the two countries ratcheted up recently over Anakara's involvement in Libya as well as the recent demarcation agreement between Egypt and Greece.
Ragood added in his media statements that he hoped the Arab countries would help Palestine on two fronts: to support the Arab peace initiative proposed by Saudi Arabia in 2002 and to support the Palestinians financially.
Egypt has long supported establishing an independent Palestinian state based on the 1967 borders with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Egypt has also supported the reconciliation efforts between the Palestinian factions, hosting several rounds of talks in recent years.
The last Palestinian parliamentary elections were held in 2006 when Hamas won an unexpected landslide.
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