Israel has ‘no objection’ to Red Sea island transfer to Saudi Arabia: officials

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(FIle photo) This image grab from handout footage released by the Israel Defence Forces on June 2, 2022, shows the INS “Tanin” Dolphin Class Submarine (C) cruising in the Red Sea waters while escorted by the INS “Hanit” Sa’ar-5 (R) and INS “Kidon” Sa’ar-4.5 (L) Class Corvettes during the “Chariots of Fire” military exercises. (Photo by Israel Defence Ministry / AFP)

 

JERUSALEM (AFP) — Israel has “no objection” to two strategic Red Sea islands being transferred to Saudi Arabia as a step towards any normalisation of ties between both countries, high-ranking officials said Thursday.

The Jewish state hopes US President Joe Biden’s Middle East tour will hail the start of diplomatic ties between it and Saudi Arabia.

After meeting Israeli officials on Wednesday and Thursday, Biden is on Friday to travel on to Saudi Arabia on Air Force One’s first publicly acknowledged direct flight between both countries.

In recent weeks, Israeli officials have hinted that Biden could announce initiatives related to Israel during his visit to the Gulf kingdom.

For that to happen, the fate of the two Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir, which can be used to control access to the Israeli port of Eilat, could be on the table.

The islands are currently in Egypt’s possession, but Cairo agreed years ago to hand them over to Riyadh in exchange for financial support.

(FILE) A picture taken on January 14, 2014 through the window of an airplane shows the Red Sea’s Tiran (foreground) and the Sanafir (background) islands in the Strait of Tiran between Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia.  (Photo by STRINGER / AFP)

Under the terms of Israel’s 1979 peace agreement with Egypt, however, the Jewish state must sign off on the intended handover.

In the night of Thursday to Friday, high-ranking officials who wished to remain anonymous said Israel had “no objection” to Egypt handing over the islands to Saudi Arabia, confirming earlier Israeli media reports.

 

This handout satellite image made available by the European Space Agency and captured by the Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission on July 9, 2022 shows a view of the Strait of Tiran at the mouth of the Red Sea’s Gulf of Aqaba, with (L to R) the Egyptian Sinai mainland with the Ras Mohamed nature reserve and the city of Sharm el-Sheikh, the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, and the new city of “Neom” currently under construction in the Saudi Arabian mainland. – As US President Joe Biden visits the Middle East, one issue on the table will be the status of two the small Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanfir that are uninhabited but of key strategic value. Resolving the tricky status that stems from their location and turbulent history would help build trust between Israel and Saudi Arabia, two US allies now taking gradual steps that Washington hopes could one day lead to diplomatic ties. (Photo by Copernicus Sentinel-2 imagery / AFP) 

A senior Israeli official on Tuesday said Israel hoped for a “start of the process of normalisation” with Saudi Arabia.

Israel expanded its regional reach with US backing in 2020, when it formalised ties with the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and Morocco.

In January 2021, Sudan’s transitional government also agreed to do so, but Khartoum has yet to finalise the deal.

Such diplomatic breakthroughs came decades after Israel’s peace accord with Jordan, in 1994, and the 1979 agreement with Egypt.

 

© Agence France-Presse