The protesters, including two females, were arrested on Sunday for 24 hours pending investigations, and were released by Qasr al-Nil Prosecution on Monday. Now that control of the islands is being transferred from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, it remains to be seen whether there will be any effect on the MFO or on Israeli shipping. Sanafir and especially Tiran control the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba and therefore the Israeli port of Eilat and the Jordanian Aqaba. These included agreements on the demarcation of borders and building a historical bridge linking Egypt and Saudi Arabia. “Here you have Salman coming to Egypt, pledging billions of dollars in aid and investment, and in exchange these islands are handed over”, Professor Shehata said.
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Cairo and Riyadh remain divided over Syria, where Saudi Arabia is one of the leading backers of insurgents fighting to overthrow President Bashar Assad. Israel captured the islands in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, but returned it to Egypt after the two nations signed a peace treaty in 1979.
Egypt announces that the strategically-important islands of Tiran and Sanafir are in Saudi territorial waters.
Following Salman’s visit, Egypt would now be expected to offer more vocal support for Saudi Arabia when it comes to Iran and Yemen, he said.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi bestows King Salman of Saudi Arabia with the Order of the Nile medal, Egypt’s highest state honor, during their meeting in Cairo.
Some Egyptians tweeted images of school geography textbooks describing the islands as proof that the islands belonged to Egypt. Others noted an advertisement on public television promoting Tiran as a tourist attraction of the popular Red Sea resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.
He said the planned bridge over the Red Sea will not only “connect Asia and Africa” but it will be a “gate to Africa”, boosting exports of the two countries and creating job opportunities for people in the region. It is a natural protectorate and a popular diving destination.
Egyptian comic Basem Yousef, exiled after lampooning successive leaders, compared Sisi on Twitter to a bazaar merchant willing to sell his country and its heritage: “Come closer sir, the island is one billion, the pyramid is two with two statues on top for free”. The islands have been patrolled since the accords by the Multinational Force and Observers which oversees the terms of the peace treaty.
First, the army’s concession of these two islands, or any piece of Egyptian land to another country means that it is willing to concede other areas such as Halayeb, on the border with Sudan and Sinai on the border with Palestine.
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Netanyahu did not itemize those “challenges”, but debkafile’s sources were informed that he was beaming a message to the Saudi king and Turkish president, that Israel had every confidence in its strategic pact with President El-Sisi holding up against attempts by Erdogan to drive a wedge between Cairo and Jerusalem.
