Trump special envoy Greenblatt denies plans to give part of Sinai to Gaza

Ahram Online , Wednesday 8 May 2019

Jason Greenblatt
File Photo: Jason Greenblatt (C), U.S. President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, is reflected in a mirror as he enters a room to hold a news conference in Jerusalem July 13, 2017 (Photo: Reuters)

For the second time in less than a month, Jason D. Greenblatt—US President Donald Trump's Assistant and Special Representative for International Negotiations—denied reports that a portion of Egypt's Sinai would be given to Gaza as part of a Middle East peace deal.                     

"Oddly, I am still hearing reports about this – my original tweet still stands", Greenblatt tweeted on Wednesday, referring to a tweet he posted last month.

"Hearing reports our plan includes the concept that we will give a portion of Sinai (which is Egypt’s) to Gaza. False! Please don’t believe everything you read. Surprising & sad to see how people who don’t know what’s in the plan make up & spread fake stories," Greenblatt wrote on Twitter on 19 April.

The new tweet by Greenblatt came after a report by Israel Hayom, an Israeli newspaper, which claimed that it received a copy of the deal proposed by Trump's administration, widely known as the "deal of the century."

Egypt, according to Hayom, would lease new lands to a new Palestinian state, and that an airport, factories and agricultural and trade areas will be built.

However, the Palestinians would not be allowed to build homes on these lands.

The size of the lands and their price would be in accordance with an agreement between the parties involved in the deal.

The newspaper also added that the document stipulates that the borders of the Gaza Strip with Egypt and Israel would be opened for the movement of goods and people.  

Greenblatt has visited several countries in the Middle East in the last two years as an envoy of President Trump to push the US president's view for comprehensive peace in the region.

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