PA President Mahmoud Abbas on Tuesday urged the Egyptians to deal only with one representative of the Palestinian people, either the PLO or the Palestinian Authority.

During a meeting in his office in Ramallah with the Egyptian ambassador, Yasser Othman, Abbas highlighted that “there have been attempts to mess with this decisive issue.”

Abbas' remarks came a day after Hamas Prime Minister in Gaza Ismail Haniyeh and the party chief-in-exile Khaled Mashaal arrived in Cairo for talks with Egyptian officials.

Senior Fatah official Tayyib Abdul-Rahim attended the meeting in which Abbas pointed out to the Egyptian ambassador that any alteration to the representation issue would amount to “disagreement plans and suspicious solutions to the question of Palestine.”

The president updated Othman on the moves PA leaders are taking to obtain UN recognition of a Palestinian state based on the pre-1967 borders, and the future plans after recognition.

The ambassador, for his part, asserted that Egypt would deal only with one representative of the Palestinian people, and would support the Palestinian national project leading to a Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Othman also told Abbas that Egypt would always comply with easing the suffering of the Palestinian people, especially in the besieged Gaza Strip.

Asked by Ma’an about Abbas’ request, Othman said, “I assert that Egypt who exerts efforts to end the state of disagreement will never do anything which harms the Palestinian national project.”

Othman also said there had not been tension in the relations between Egypt and the PA, and the relations are very solid as they are based on mutual respect.

“Protecting Palestinian unity is an unchangeable principle for the Egyptians. There are no crises, and the meeting with president Abu Mazen was part of regular consultations. I confirmed to the president that Egypt will never take any move that might harm Palestinian unity.”

(Ma'an)