Pence gets an earful during stop in Egypt
He calls talks ‘a disagreement between friends’
CAIRO — Vice President Mike Pence met with Egypt’s President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi on Saturday in a 2 ½-hour session that focused, in part, on Egypt’s anger over President Donald Trump’s decision last month to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel.
“We heard el-Sissi out,” Pence, who is making his first official trip to the Middle East, said after the meeting. He described the Egyptian leader’s complaints as “a disagreement between friends.”
Last month, Egypt urged the United Nations Security Council to pass a resolution rejecting Trump’s decision on Jerusalem, which upended hopes for a negotiated peace deal with Palestinians. The U.S. vetoed the resolution, but the General Assembly overwhelmingly passed a similar, nonbinding resolution.
Pence is likely to hear similar concerns about Trump’s Middle East policies at his next stop, in Amman, Jordan, where he arrived Saturday night for meetings with King Abdullah Sunday. He goes to Israel after that but will not meet with any Palestinian officials.
Pence said he told el-Sissi that the Trump administration would support a twostate solution for Israel and Palestine if both parties agree, long the basis for a proposed resolution of the conflict. “My perception was that he was encouraged by that message,” Pence said.
Pence is the highestranking U.S. official to visit Cairo since before the 2011 Arab Spring uprising ousted Hosni Mubarak, a longtime U.S.-backed strongman.
Pence said he and el-Sissi spoke about joint efforts to combat terrorism, including Egypt’s battle with alQaida-linked insurgents in the Sinai.
“The United States stands shoulder to shoulder with Egypt in their fight against terrorism in this country,” Pence said.
Pence also said he brought up U.S. concerns about religious freedom in Egypt and said el-Sissi assured him that he wants to promote religious diversity.