Egypt’s intelligence chief ‘Umar Suleiman is meeting Palestinian Authority Chairman Yassir Arafat on Wednesday.
Egypt is trying to persuade Arafat to surrender control of the Palestinian armed forces.
Cairo and Washington are leading the push for the control to be handed over to the Palestinian premier and interior minister.
Suleiman is also scheduled to meet Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei’.
After his talks in Ramallah, Suleiman travels the short distance to Jerusalem for meetings with Israel’s Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom and Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz.
The visits come as Egypt makes public its proposed plan for the future of the Gaza Strip.
By late July, Cairo wants the various Palestinian organizations, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad, to agree to Egyptian security forces entering Gaza.
In November, Egyptians would move into Gaza and begin training some 30,000 Palestinian security officers in how to restore and ensure calm in Gaza.
During 2005, Israeli civilians and soldiers would leave Gaza, after a continuous presence of 37 years.
At that point an international peacekeeping force would move into the strip.
Once all these steps have been implemented, the Egyptians hope the Palestinians and Israelis will resume full peace talks, after a break of some five years.