Egypt, the informal leader of the Arab world, is again championing the inter-Arab policy decision-making process. An Israeli official from the Foreign Ministry’s political research center told Al-Monitor on the condition of anonymity that Cairo has been holding intense deliberations with the Arab League, Saudi Arabia, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority in view of the upcoming meeting between US President Donald Trump and Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. The official noted that the deliberations focus on the strategic approach to be presented at that meeting.
From the Egyptian side, the agenda for the meeting should include the rise of Shiite power in the region as a result of increased influence by Iran and its surrogates, the Iran deal, the fight against the Islamic State (also in the Sinai Peninsula), the Palestinian-Israeli two-state solution and last, but probably most important, the level of American aid to Egypt on the backdrop of hints by Trump about cutting assistance to Middle Eastern countries.
