Mahmoud Abbas has praised the Egyptian government’s efforts

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has praised the Egyptian government’s efforts to achieve national reconciliation between rival Palestinian factions Fatah and Hamas, stating that Egypt is the only country allowed to intervene in Palestinian internal affairs. Abbas made the comments on Monday in an interview in Ramallah with anchor Lamis El-Hadidi on the Egyptian CBC TV show Hona El-Asama. “We do not accept any interference from any country in our internal Palestinian affairs, except for Egypt, because its interference is accepted by all parties involved, whether us [Fatah] or Hamas”, he said. The comments follow the arrival on Sunday of a delegation of Fatah and Palestinian unity government officials in Gaza for the first time in three years to launch a unity government, a development resulting from talks with Egyptian officials in Cairo over several months. Two weeks ago, Hamas dissolved its administrative committee running Gaza, making way for a Hamas-Fatah unity government in Gaza.