Last week, reports emerged that the U.S., Israel, Egypt, and Saudi Arabia are involved in negotiations for the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to pass from Egyptian to Saudi control. The two tiny islands are uninhabited and without natural resources, yet they have outsized geopolitical significance, as Orde Kittrie explains:
Both Tiran and Sanafir are located in the Strait of Tiran, the narrow body of water connecting the Gulf of Eilat to the Red Sea. Whoever controls the islands can block maritime access to Israel’s port of Eilat and to Jordan’s only port, Aqaba. . . . Egypt’s closures of the Strait of Tiran to Israeli shipping were a major cause of the 1956 and 1967 wars between the two countries.
During the 1967 war, Israel . . . seized Tiran and Sanafir. The islands returned to Egypt only as part of the 1979 Egypt-Israel peace treaty, which legally obligated Egypt to allow Israel “unimpeded and non-suspendable” navigation of the strait, limited Egypt’s military presence on the islands, and established a multinational peacekeeping force. . . . The need for Israel to agree to the islands’ transfer to Saudi Arabia results from Egypt’s 1979 peace-treaty obligations.
Reportedly, the only public step to which Riyadh agreed in exchange for the island transfer is to authorize more Israeli airliners to cross Saudi airspace en route to other destinations. Saudi Arabia was reportedly also considering allowing Israeli Muslim pilgrims to fly directly from Israel to Saudi Arabia, but that was reportedly omitted from the final deal. Notably, Biden’s announcement of the deal will reportedly not include a public meeting between Israeli and Saudi officials.
In exchange for Saudi Arabia being given what are in essence the keys to Israel’s outlet to the Indian Ocean and most of Asia, Riyadh should be pushed to provide more in return, including public evidence that its attitude towards Israel has truly and sustainably changed. Indeed, Saudi Arabia should be strongly encouraged to move as close to normalization as possible with Israel.
Read more on FDD: https://www.fdd.org/analysis/2022/06/02/israeli-saudi-deal-islands-step-toward-peace/