This is not the first time reports about establishing a Palestinian state in Gaza and the Sinai Peninsula instead of in the West Bank circulate in the Egyptian and Israeli media. This is one way to test the waters, said a diplomat who preferred not to mention his name. “Israel —and some other parties — use media reports to see how people react to one plan or another. Generally speaking, the US supports this sort of Sinai scenario though Egypt and the Palestinians categorically reject it. Nor does the international community welcome it,” he said. That issue was back in the spotlight last week when Ayoub Kara, a member of Israeli Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyahu's cabinet, claimed on his Twitter account that Netantahu planned to discuss “an Egyptian proposal” to establish a Palestinian state in Sinai during his meeting with US President Donald Trump. Egypt's Foreign Ministry has denied any foreign official spoke with Egyptian officials about establishing a Palestinian state in Sinai. Egypt's position on the two-state solution is known to all parties, said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ahmed Abu Zeid. “The two-state solution satisfies the Palestinian people's aspiration to establish an independent state on their own land with East Jerusalem as the capital.” Palestinian peace negotiator Saeb Erekat described Kora's statement as “silly”. In a press conference held in Jericho Erekat said that to consider the Sinai Peninsula as an alternative to the Palestinian territories is “ridiculous”. He went on to ask the US administration to urge Israel to suspend settlement building inside the Palestinian territories. Netanyahu also dismissed Kara's claims. “This idea was not even a point of discussion during the meeting, everything mentioned in so far have been false claims,” Netanyahu told reporters in Washington last week. Kara wrote last week on Twitter: “Trump and Netanyahu will adopt the plan of Egypt's [President Abdel-Fattah] Al-Sisi, a Palestinian state in Gaza and Sinai instead of Judea and Samaria. This is how we will pave a path to peace, including with the Sunni coalition.” Israeli media quoted Kara claiming he had discussed the issue with Netanyahu before the Israeli prime minister's meeting with Trump. Kara describes the plan as the only realistic option and claimed Netanyahu agreed with him and promised to bring up the issue with Trump. Kara, a veteran Likud member of Knesset, was appointed minister without portfolio in the Prime Minister's Office last month after having served as deputy minister of regional cooperation since 2015. This is not the first suggestion that has been mooted. In June social media was full of rumours the French peace initiative would include Egypt ceding parts of Sinai for Palestinian resettlement, rumours Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri strenuously denied. In 2014 Israeli media claimed Al-Sisi had offered to annex 1,600 sq km in Sinai to Gaza. According to the reports, the area would become a demilitarised Palestinian state to which Palestinian refugees would be allowed to return. In return, Palestinians would have to give up the right to a state in the rest of the West Bank and East Jerusalem. The existence of any such plan was denied by Egyptian and Palestinian officials. In the same year Giora Eiland, Israel's national security adviser, revealed a purported plan under which Egypt would agree to expand Gaza into Sinai in return for Israel ceding Egypt land in the Negev. A similar plan was put to former president Mohamed Morsi when he came to power in 2012. A delegation of Muslim Brotherhood leaders travelled to Washington where White House officials proposed that Egypt cede a third of Sinai to Gaza in a two-stage process spanning four to five years. US officials were said to have promised to fully support a Palestinian state in Sinai, including building seaports and an airport and the Brotherhood was urged to prepare Egyptian public opinion for the deal. Towards the end of his rule president Hosni Mubarak came under repeated pressure from the US to cede territory in Sinai to the Palestinians to help them establish a state. Israel has long floated plans to create a Palestinian state outside historic Palestine, in either Jordan or Sinai. Sinai became the favoured option following the outbreak of the second Intifada in 2000. Support appears to have intensified after Hamas' victory in the Palestinian national elections in 2006. In 2004 Uzi Arad, an adviser to Netanyahu, proposed a three-way exchange in which the Palestinians would get part of Sinai, Israel would get most of the West Bank and Egypt would be given a land passage across the Negev to connect it with Jordan. “Sinai is, in the minds of Israelis, an easy option to resolve the Palestinian issue and establish a Palestinian demilitarised state without concessions. They will continue to bring it up every now and then. But it is not something the Egyptian people or the Palestinians will accept,” says the diplomat.
