CAIRO — From the headquarters of the 101st Military Battalion in the city of El-Arish, North Sinai Governorate, Egypt, Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly announced a plan for economic and urban development in North Sinai worth about 363 billion pounds (about 12 billion dollars), over the next five years.

Madbouly announced at a government conference held last Tuesday the establishment of free, logistical, commercial and industrial zones in North Sinai at a cost of EGP 3.5 billion, including a logistics zone in Rafah to serve trade between Egypt and its "neighbors," as well as a plan for a logistics zone for the circulation of goods in Bir al-Abd.

Egypt has spent EGP 283 billion on more than 1000,<> Sinai development projects over the past decade, the prime minister said.

Observers believe that the mass government conference, in which Madbouly spoke in an enthusiastic tone, gave conflicting signals regarding the timing of its convening and the announcement of what was stated in it, especially as it came in the midst of what was raised about the existence of Israeli plans with American support to displace the residents of the Gaza Strip to North Sinai, which the Egyptian authorities have repeatedly rejected several times, especially by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Referring to these plans, Madbouly added that to secure any spot, this must be accompanied by development processes, and that it must be rebuilt with people to defend this land as a first line of defense against any malicious ideology that tries to exploit it, as he described it.

Regarding the significance of the date and place of the conference, Madbouly explained that he came to confirm what President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said "that Egypt will not allow the liquidation of the Palestinian cause at the expense of Egypt or at the expense of another party, a message that should be clear to all."

Madbouly stressed that the solution to the Palestinian issue is represented in what the whole world has approved, which is the two-state solution, considering it a comprehensive solution that "will guarantee peace in the region, and any other solutions, no matter how much attempts to impose them, will remain with them insecurity and instability for all countries in the region."

All scenarios are open

According to observers and politicians, the assertion of the Prime Minister and the political leadership in Egypt not to give up one meter of this land (Sinai) does not contradict opening the door for the residents of Gaza to benefit from the announced economic and urban development, and to serve the movement of trade between Egypt and its neighbors.

"The coincidence of the government conference on the development and reconstruction of North Sinai with what is happening in the Gaza Strip brings to mind the broad outlines of the Deal of the Century plan, which adopted an economic solution instead of political solutions," said Sinai political activist Hossam Fawzi Gabr.

Gabr expressed in his speech to Al Jazeera Net, his belief that the Egyptian Prime Minister's talk about the features of this economic plan or political plan, began working on it in 2014 and the removal of entire neighborhoods in the Egyptian city of Rafah, and spending hundreds of billions of pounds on infrastructure projects in a sparsely populated border area.

Gabr, who headed the North Sinai Dispute Resolution Committee, did not rule out that the aim was to open new horizons for Gaza residents to work in the new logistics, commercial and industrial zones, after providing them with factories, a free trade zone, an international air airport and a large seaport in al-Arish.

Economic displacement

In turn, the Egyptian opposition politician Ayman Nour said that "since the setback in 1967, the Gaza Strip represents a great burden on the Jewish state for security and demographic considerations, and the idea of getting rid of Gaza has not been absent from the Israelis since that time through various governments, so all the projects that have been put forward in recent decades were looking at this idea, but getting rid of the residents of Gaza is a trend that appeared at a later stage and was aborted by Egypt during the era of former presidents Anwar Sadat and Hosni Mubarak."

Regarding his assessment of the current Egyptian position, Nour explained in his interview with Al Jazeera Net, that the idea remains dangerous despite the Egyptian authorities' categorical denial of their intention to accept the displacement of the residents of Gaza to Sinai, adding, "But there remains a risk of retracting this clearly stated position, the danger is the economic crisis that Egypt is going through."

Nour believes that displacement and resettlement does not necessarily have to be in Sinai, and may be economic displacement and not forced, adding, "It is not necessary to be displaced into tents, this is an inaccurate concept, but displacement can be done to communities, if we imagine that the target is to settle one million Palestinians in Egypt, they can be distributed to 10 new cities, and I do not rule out the participation of Arab countries in this project."

Categorical Egyptian rejection

In the middle of last month, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said that his country rejects "the liquidation of the Palestinian cause, and the displacement of the Palestinians of the Gaza Strip to Sinai, pointing out that the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza to Egypt, will be followed by their displacement - also - from the West Bank to Jordan.

Sisi added that "what is happening in Gaza now is not an act against Hamas, but an attempt to push civilians to seek refuge and emigrate to Egypt," stressing that the liquidation of the Palestinian cause is "very dangerous," and continued denouncing, "If there is an idea of displacement, why not transfer the Palestinians to the Negev?"

Earlier, Israeli Intelligence Minister Gila Gamliel recommended in an internal document a plan to displace Gazans to Sinai. According to the Israeli newspaper Calcalist, this document includes 3 phases: the construction of tented cities in Sinai in the southwest of the Gaza Strip, the establishment of a humanitarian corridor to help residents, and the construction of cities in the North Sinai region. It also calls for cooperation with as many countries as possible so that they can receive Palestinians displaced from Gaza.

The Israeli document was preceded by a memorandum sent by US President Joe Biden on October 20 to the House of Representatives, approving $ 106 billion to deal with the "global humanitarian consequences" of the war in Ukraine and the Gaza Strip. It included a special section titled "Immigration and Asylum Aid," in which Biden demanded an additional $3.495 billion, which would remain available even to be spent on humanitarian needs.

According to Biden's memo, these resources would "support civilians displaced and affected by conflict, including Palestinian refugees in Gaza and the West Bank, and address the potential needs of Gazans fleeing to neighboring countries."

This vague language has left the door open for some to see as an American willingness to provide financial resources that reflect plans to displace and settle Gazans outside the Strip.