President Mahmoud Abbas arrived in Egypt on Tuesday evening to meet with newly elected Egyptian President Muhammad Mursi.

The president will update Mursi, Egypt's first democratically elected leader and Islamist in power, on the situation of Israeli settlements, and other activities in the occupied territories, a Fatah statement said.

He will tell Mursi of the pressure put on Palestinian leaders to return to negotiations without conditions.

They will also discuss the stalled reconciliation process between Abbas' Fatah faction and Islamist rivals Hamas.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton visited Mursi on Saturday, before moving to Israel to assure officials that the Arab Spring which brought him to power is "a time of uncertainty but also of opportunity."

Israeli news site Inyan Merkazi ('Central Issues') said Clinton also secured a promise from Mursi not to fully open the Rafah crossing into the Gaza Strip, the sole entry and exit point not controlled by Israel for Palestinians there.

Officials in the Gaza Strip have expressed optimism that Mursi, whose Muslim Brotherhood party is close to Gaza rulers Hamas, would break a hole in the Israeli blockade of the coastal enclave by fully opening the Rafah border.