President's office clarifies Sisi comment on sending troops to Palestinian state

El-Sisi said in an interview on Sunday that Egypt could send troops to stabilise an independent Palestinian state

Egypt's President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi (second from the right) meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (third from the right) at the presidential palace in Cairo, on September 7, 2014. Presidency handout

The office of Egyptian Preisdent Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi issued a clarification Sunday evening about El-Sisi’s statement to Italian daily Corriere della Sera that Egypt would send troops to a future Palestinian state.

"Regarding the statement about the possibility of sending troops from Egypt and the Arab countries to secure a future Palestinian state, these statements were made to encourage Israel to move towards the two-state solution," said Ambassador Alaa Youssef. 

El-Sisi said in the interview published Sunday that he would be prepared to send troops to a future Palestinian state to help stabilise it.

"We are ready to send military forces into a Palestinian state," he said in the interview.

"We would help the local police and reassure the Israelis through our role as guarantor. Not forever, of course but for the time necessary to re-establish confidence. But first a Palestinian state must exist where troops can be sent to," ge added. 

El-Sisi said he had spoken of the idea with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas.

On Monday President El-Sisi will start his first European tour as president, visiting Italy.