Senior Palestinian official denied permission to enter Egypt

Security officers at Cairo International Airport denied entry yesterday to Jibril al-Rajoub, “a confidant of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and a high-ranking member of the central committee of Abbas's Fatah movement,” Reuters reports, explaining that the reason for al-Rajoub being sent back to Palestine were unclear, as Egypt typically has better relations with Fatah than Hamas. Al-Rajoub was traveling to Cairo to attend a conference on terrorism at the invitation of the Arab League; the Palestinian delegation pulled out of the gathering in protest.