El Sisi agreeing to meet Pence would reaffirm Egypt’s weakness on internal and external issues

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi agreeing to meet US Vice President Mike Pence would reaffirm Egypt’s weak position on both external and internal issues, say Al Shorouk’s Emad El Din Hussein and El Watan’s Hazem Mounir. In light of the ongoing troubles over Jerusalem, El Sisi’s planned meeting with Pence would be a continuation of decades of allowing the US and Israel to maintain the upper hand in the Palestinian issue, Hussein says. On the domestic front, Pence has publicly announced that his trip is aimed at lobbying for Christian rights in the region, and El Sisi meeting with him under that subject header could be perceived as Egypt agreeing to allow the US to meddle in our internal affairs, Mounir claims. Cairo needs to tell Washington to back off on both files, the two say.