Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi told a delegation of American Jewish leaders in Cairo on Tuesday that the Middle East would be a safer place if Israel and the Palestinians came to a peace agreement, Israel Radio reported.

Sisi received a group of representatives of the American Jewish Committee, one of the most established Jewish advocacy organizations in the United States.

The Egyptian leader told the delegates that an Israeli-Palestinian peace treaty would “pull the rug out from under” the motivating causes of terrorism in the region and help dry up the pool of potential recruits.

Egyptian authorities on Monday arrested 13 members of the Muslim Brotherhood on suspicion of planting bombs around the Suez Canal to disrupt shipping, security sources said on Monday.

The waterway, the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia, is a vital source of hard currency for Egypt, particularly since the 2011 uprising that toppled veteran autocrat Hosni Mubarak and scared off tourists and foreign investment.

Egypt's government has escalated rhetoric against the Brotherhood, which it regards as a terrorist group, since the assassination of the country's top prosecutor last week.

The security sources said the men formed a 13-member cell that included an employee at the Suez Canal Authority.

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Prosecutors had ordered that they be detained for 15 days and said they had planted bombs in areas including sanitation and electricity facilities as well as on beaches, they said.