Gaza, ALRAY - Egypt's interim President Adly Mansour will meet Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas Sunday, an Egyptian diplomat said.

Abbas's visit, the source says, comes to reaffirm the strength of relations between the two sides.

Egyptian ambassador to the Palestinian Authority (PA) Yasser Othman said we invited the PA President Mahmoud Abbas to Cairo to confirm the Egyptian support for President Abbas and to thank him on his stance in support of the Egyptian people's June 30 revolution,"

In a statement to the Al-Ayyam daily, Othman said "we appreciate the PA's position and certainly will forget those who stood with and backed Egypt,..."

"The visit comes up a critical phase of the peace process and thus we would confirm our stance siding with the President Abbas's stance and rejecting Israeli measures particularly the settlement activities...," he added, stressing that "Egypt had sent an official invitation to Abbas,"

It also, he pointed out, will take on Palestinian reconciliation and ways to push it forward; moreover, the visit will discuss the situation in Gaza and how to work regarding the siege imposed on it and make it easier for our Palestinian brothers,"

"Egypt and the Palestinian leadership are keen to lift the Gaza siege and thus will be put on the table every possible action may help the Palestinian citizens [in Gaza]," he said.

Al Jazeera Arabic had quoted European diplomatic sources as saying that "President Abbas devoted his last tour in Europe to warn of any decline in support of the July coup in Egypt led by Army Chief General Abdel Fattah al-Sisi,"

Aljazeera.net reported Thursday well-informed European diplomats as saying "Abbas solid firmly defended the Egyptian state after the July 3 coup,"

"Italian officials were surprised by Abbas's 'fierce defense' of the coup in Egypt and his statement on the need to support it during the current period, while condoning even mentioning the plight of the Palestinian refugees drowned off the Maltese shores after fleeing Syria," according to the Qatari Network.