BICOM

An offer by Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, to hand the Palestinian Authority (PA) a significant portion of the Sinai Peninsula adjoining the Gaza Strip, to form a Palestinian state has reportedly been rejected.

Reports of the offer surfaced in recent days in the Arab media and was covered yesterday by Israel’s Army Radio. Apparently, al-Sisi said that he would hand over 625 square miles of Sinai land, equivalent to five times the size of the Gaza Strip. The land would form a contiguous territory with Gaza under the sole control of the PA as a demilitarised Palestinian state. Al-Sisi apparently envisages the territory as a haven for Palestinian refugees. Reports said that al-Sisi’s plan would see the PA remain in control of civilian life in Palestinian West Bank cities. However, the PA would need to give up on its demand that Israel withdraw to the pre-1967 borders.

A similar idea was floated several years ago by Israel’s former-National Security Adviser, Giora Eiland, but has not until now been supported by Egypt. However, according to Middle East Monitor, PA President Mahmoud Abbas said, “The plan is being proposed again, but we refused it,” adding that the idea was “absolutely unacceptable.”

In Israel, al-Sisi’s apparent offer was greeted with some surprise but also a degree of support. Yesh Atid’s Science and Technology Minister Yaakov Peri said that the proposal is “worth discussing seriously,” adding, “This could solve problems that weren’t given a response in talks between Israel and the Palestinians so far.”

Likud’s coalition chairman Yariv Levin called al-Sisi’s initiative “a very generous offer.” Meanwhile, Jewish Home faction head Ayelet Shaked said that Egypt’s president had “discerned what the Israeli Left has refused to understand” that, “The solution to the Palestinian problem must be regional and cannot fall on Israel’s shoulders alone.”