Backgrounder: Facts on islands of Tiran, Sanafir in the Red Sea

Islands of Tiran and Sanafir, which lie at the south entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba in the north of the Red Sea, provoked recently a state of debate inside Egypt, after Cairo declared the two islands belong to Saudi Arabia.

Tiran, an area of about 80 sq. km, is located at the entrance of the Strait of Tiran, which separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aqaba. It is Israeli's only access from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Red Sea. While Sanafir is about 33 sq. km which is located eastern Tiran Strait.

On Friday, Egypt and Saudi Arabia have signed a marine border demarcation agreement, upon which put the two islands in Saudi regional water.

The Egyptian cabinet announced in a statement on Saturday evening that the joint Egyptian-Saudi technical maritime border drawing has determined that the islands of Tiran and Sanafir fall within the Saudi maritime water.

The statement added that the agreement is the culmination of a six-year process of studies and eleven rounds of negotiations between the Egyptian and the Saudi sides.

The cabinet added that the maritime border agreement with the Saudi Arabia allows Egypt to use shared Red Sea waters for excavation of natural resources which would benefit the Egyptian economy.

The agreement was announced, among set of other 34 agreements and memos of understanding that have been signed in different fields between Egypt and Saudi, during King Salman unprecedented five-day visit to Cairo, that has been concluded on Monday.

Following announcing the agreement, state of debate mixed with anger hit Egypt with one side arguing the reasons behind signing demarcation of borders in the same time of signing other economic agreements, while other side is circulating video for late President Gamal Abdel Nasser, in which he said "Tiran is an Egyptian island."

The agreement also provoked an immediate backlash in Egypt, with thousands of Twitter users accusing Sisi of selling the islands.

The islands had historically been Saudi and were "leased" to Egypt in 1950.

Based on the historical sequence and documents, the two islands, which are currently administered by Egypt, should be restored under the Saudi sovereignty, statement of the Cabinet Center for Information said on Monday.

In 1950, Egypt and Saudi have agreed to put the two islands under Egypt administration as the two countries' governments had sought to prompt the Arab military stand in face of Israel, and to foster the Egyptian military defense lines in Sinai and the entrance of Aqaba Gulf, according to the cabinet.

Also in 1950, the U.S. ambassador has sent a telegraph to Egypt saying the two islands are Saudis, and that Egypt has controlled it to protect its security border from the Israeli aggression in coordination with Saudi, the cabinet statement illustrated.

Furthermore, the ratified maps by the United Nations in 1973 said the two islands geographically fall in the Saudi territorial land, according to the international law and the UN agreement on the seas law, it added.

In 1990, a presidential decree has been published to determine the Egyptian points to demarcate the territorial sea and the Egyptian economic area, based on those points the two islands were out of the Egyptian territorial water.

The cabinet demarcation of the border is very essential for implementing the Egyptian-Saudi agreement which has been signed during King Salman's visit, on establishing a land bridge to connect the two countries over the Red Sea.

The agreement will be submitted to the House of Representatives based on legal and constitutional consideration to be discussed and ratified.

The parliament will review all the historical documents. If the two islands are proved to be Saudi, there should be public referendum over the agreement, based on article 151 of the Egyptian constitution.

The two islands are included in the peace accord which has been signed between Egypt and Israel in 1979.

Saudi has announced, in a letter to the Egyptian, it will respect all the obligations of Egypt mentioned in the peace accord.

From those obligations, multinational forces will stay on the two islands to maintain peace and to guarantee freedom of navigation in Aqaba Gulf, and but not using them for military purpose.

Once Israel agreed on the new agreement between Egypt and Saudi on the new borders, the peace accord will be subject for amendment that needs ratification of the Knesset.

The two islands are of a strategic significance in the area, as it forms the narrowest section of the strait of Tirahn, which is an important sea passages to the major ports of Aqaba in Jordan and Eilat in Israel. Israel took over the two islands from 1967 to 1982 following the Six Day War.

The Islands are currently inhabited only by military personnel from Egypt and the multinational force and observers.

Egypt Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukri affirmed that Egypt will abide by the peace accord obligation toward those two islands, until all arrangements between Egypt and Saudi from one side and Egypt-Israel-UN from the other side finished. Endit