20120722
Press TV
Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi has held a meeting with Hamas Political Bureau Chief Khaled Meshaal in the capital city of Cairo, Press TV reports.

The Egyptian president met Meshaal on Thursday and the two officials discussed the Palestinian reconciliation process and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with Al-Quds (Jerusalem) as its capital.

“In our meeting today with President Morsi we discussed several issues among which is the way to achieve a reconciliation deal and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state,” Meshaal said after the meeting.

The Palestinian official also added that Morsi has offered Cairo’s support for Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip which “confirms a new era in relations between Egypt and the Palestinian cause.”


The meeting came one day after the Egyptian president held talks with Acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas in the capital of Cairo, affirming that he will take a tougher stance toward Israel.

In a press conference after the meeting, Abbas said “I affirmed to Morsi that doors for peace process with Israel are all closed, no bilateral connections between both sides right now.”

Abbas also said the issue of Rafah Crossing was discussed during the meeting, urging to relive deteriorating situation in the blockaded Gaza Strip under Israeli siege.

Morsi had said he would adopt a firmer stance on Israel than ousted president Hosni Mubarak.


This is while Hamas movement has called on Morsi to end the Gaza blockade permanently by reopening the Rafah crossing, Gaza’s only gate to the outside world bypassing Israel.

Ever since the election of President Morsi, the number of people allowed to leave Gaza through the Rafah crossing located at the southern tip of the Gaza Strip has doubled.

Former dictator Mubarak backed the Israeli blockage of Gaza by maintaining the Rafah crossing closed at all times.