Arabic press review: US shows its hand in 'deal of the century'

Deal, no deal

The US has begun to advise Arab and Western countries about the "deal of the century" to be offered to Palestinians in preparation for its official launch, according to the UK-based newspaper al-Quds al-Arabi.

The newspaper quoted sources as saying the Palestinian leadership, which has already rejected the proposals, was told the details were being given to other countries.

The sources said the US hoped the details would then be conveyed to the Palestinians, who have broken contact with the US over Donald Trump's decision to move the US embassy to Israel to Jerusalem.

The Palestinian presidency has said the deal would be doomed to failure in the absence of Palestinian approval.

Secret Cairo 

Fayez al-Sarraj, the chairman of the presidential council of Libya's Government of National Accord, left Cairo on Wednesday after an "undeclared" two-day visit, according to the Cairo-based newspaper al-Mesryoon.

Sarraj met several Libyan figures, including members of the former government of Muammar Gaddafi, according to the newspaper.

During his stay in the Egyptian capital, Sarraj held discussions concerning the upcoming changes in the next government of national accord.

He left on a private plane, according to the report.

Defections & clarifications

A wave of resignations and transfers has swept Egyptian political parties, according to the Saudi newspaper Asharq al-Awsat.

This wave of resignations mostly affected two main parties, al-Wafd and Free Egyptians. The vice-president of al-Wafd, Husam al-Khouli, resigned and announced his shift toward Nation’s Future party, in which he assumed a leadership position.

The former president of the party, al-Sayyed al-Badawi, has resigned as a member of the advisory council.

Wafd meanwhile announced Egypt's once-time military spokesman, Mohammed Samir, has joined the party and assumed the position of deputy head for youth affairs.

Alaa Abed, the head of the Free Egyptians' parliamentary body, resigned amid expectations that he, and several other parliamentarians, would join Nation’s Future party.

Salaam aleikum, al-Robot

A Saudi inventor has designed a robot that can speak Arabic and read Quranic verses, according to Arabi21.

Faisal al-Serhid, the director of science and technology at the Saudi Electronic University, said his creation can understand different dialects.

"This is a prototype of my research project supported by the Saudi E-university, which is the first in the world to understand and speak in Arabic, especially the colloquial language," he said.

"We are working on the robot’s body so that it is more aware of its surroundings in a way that it enables it to move its limbs and make its own decisions."

Let's hope those decisions are not as worrying as another Saudi-made robot, named "Sofia", who once said in response to a question: "Okay, I will destroy humans".

* Arabic press review is a digest of reports that are not independently verified as accurate by Middle East Eye.