King Salman’s visit has dominated life in Cairo for days, exacerbating the city’s notoriously snarled traffic as he attended meetings at the presidential palace and visited the ancient Al Azhar mosque.
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(Egyptian Presidency via AP).
That two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir, previously occupied by Israel from Egypt, are now Saudi territories, said Saudi Foreign Affairs Minister Adel al-Jubeir on Sunday. Some lawmakers waved the kingdom’s green flag, while others chanted “all of Egypt greets you” or “welcome!” After the speech, two lawmakers recited poems in praise of the monarch.
But in an apparent allusion to Egyptian-Israeli relations, he added: “There is an agreement and commitments that Egypt accepted related to these islands, and the kingdom is committed to these”.
Egyptian officials and media have heaped accolades on Salman, with state television welcoming him to what it called his “second country” – a country Riyadh views as a cornerstone in its ambitions to be a regional leader against Iran.
The statement came as Saudi Arabia’s King Salman was in Cairo for a five-day visit.
In one of the most high-profile announcements, Cairo said it had agreed to demarcate its maritime borders with Saudi Arabia, officially placing two islands in the Straits of Tiran in Saudi territory.
Critics flooded social media with their biting posts, calling Sisi “Awaad”, referring to a character in an old Egyptian song who had sold his land – a shameful act in the eyes of Egyptians.
“The mission on which we have to work together is the fight extremism and terrorism, with the Arab world being the primary area to be affected negatively by it”, the Saudi kind said. After all, the trip involved specific goals, which according to Saudi newspapers, included signing of more than a dozen agreements for Saudi investments in Egypt. During the visit, Saudi Arabia signed an agreement to set up an investment fund worth $22 billion with Egypt, and an additional package for the Sinai Development Project.
“Saudi Arabia and the Republic of Egypt have a historic opportunity to achieve huge economic leaps by cooperating with each other”, he said.
The protesters, including two females, were arrested on Sunday for 24 hours pending investigations, and were released by Qasr al-Nil Prosecution on Monday. This is because Tiran and Sanafir are both in the Gulf of Aqaba, which means that they’re right in the middle of where both Jordan and Israel have shipping lanes, and they are even near where there are actual ports. Israel captured the islands in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war but returned them to Egypt after the two nations signed a peace treaty in 1979.
Tiran was declared a natural protectorate after Israel handed it back to Egypt. It has since become a popular diving destination. Israeli officials quoted on Channel Two said that Egypt had taken this move now because it was likely in great need of cash, which the Saudis are willing to give – for a price.
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“Neither parliament nor a referendum could put right an unconstitutional measure”, he warned on his Facebook page.
