CAIRO — Egypt's recent announcement that it will attend a US-arranged conference on the Palestinian economy next week in Manama, Bahrain, is causing consternation among Palestinians who fear Cairo will abandon their cause. President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has stressed, however, that his country will not agree to any US plan the Palestinians reject.
The United States says the June 25-26 conference is designed to support the Palestinian economy within the framework of the US peace plan — despite the Palestinian Authority's boycott of the meeting and rejection of the plan, which it says favors Israel.
US officials said Cairo, Jordan and Morocco informed the US administration June 11 that they will attend, though some media reported that Morocco denied the White House statement. Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates have said they will participate.
The same day as the White House announcement, the Palestinian government said it regretted that Cairo and Jordan had decided to participate and called on them to change their decisions. READ MORE
