Sisi denies offering Egyptian land to Palestinians

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has denied reports that he agreed to give Egyptian land to the Palestinians, MENA reported Monday.

In a public address commemorating Teachers’ Day, Sisi addressed the growing rumors about a land swap, saying that “no one has the power to do that.”

Reports circulated in Israeli media that Sisi offered Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas 1,600 square-kilometers in northern Sinai to expand the Gaza Strip to five times its current size, in return for their demand of a state within the 1967 borders.

The Palestinian Presidency also issued a statement denying these claims, saying such an offer would be off the table to begin with.

“We will not accept any offer that does not meet the ambitions of the Palestinian people of freedom, independence, and the establishment of an independent state within the borders of 1967, whose capital is Jerusalem,” presidential spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh said, according to MENA.

Secretary-General of the Palestinian Presidency, Tayeb Abdul Rahim, also denied these claims, saying there is no alternative to the establishment of a Palestinian state, with Jerusalem as its capital.