Is the Trump administration looking to Sinai as the lynchpin of its Middle East peace plan? White House adviser Jared Kushner and special envoy Jason Greenblatt met with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi on Thursday for the third leg of a Middle East tour to promote the Trump administration’s new peace plan for the region. The meeting looked at increasing cooperation between Washington and Cairo and the need to facilitate humanitarian relief to Gaza, a White House statement said. This appears to validate reports in the Israeli press that the plan, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, could see the GCC invest up to USD 1 bn in Gaza’s economy. The plan, which has yet to be announced, could establish a freetrade zone between the Gaza Strip and Al Arish in Sinai where five large industrial projects will be built, according to Haaretz.

Palestinian officials are not at all happy with the proposed plan, which they see as an “Israeli, American, Saudi and Egyptian conspiracy,” that ultimately aims to “[avoid] diplomatic negotiations over the future of Palestine,” a senior Palestinian Authority (PA) official tells Haaretz.

At the meeting with Kushner, Sisi reportedly continued to push for a two-state solution with East Jerusalem as Palestine’s capital,Ittihadiya said in a statement.