New Egyptian Court Ruling on Transfer of 'Tiran' and 'Sanafir' Islands to Saudi Arabia

A court in Egypt has issued a ruling stating that the two islands of 'Sanafir' and 'Tiran' do not belong to this country and should be under the ownership of Saudi Arabia. According to Reuters, the ruling by the Emergency Court of Egypt was issued on Sunday, April 2. In its ruling, the court stated that the process of transferring the islands of Sanafir and Tiran to Saudi Arabia remains in effect and can be executed. This decision contradicts a ruling from January in which the Administrative Court of Egypt had suspended the transfer of ownership of these two islands to Saudi Arabia. The issue of transferring these two islands to Saudi Arabia arose following King Salman’s visit to Cairo in April 2016 and his meeting with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, after which the Administrative Court of Egypt agreed to the transfer of the two islands to Riyadh. This ruling sparked significant protests in Egypt, and even Gamal Mubarak, son of former President Hosni Mubarak, criticized el-Sisi. Reports indicate that the ruling from the Emergency Court was issued just days after a conciliatory meeting between the Egyptian president and the Saudi king. Last week, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi met with King Salman during the Arab League summit in Jordan. Reuters noted that Cairo-Riyadh relations, which had cooled due to the suspension of the transfer of the two islands to Saudi Arabia, have recently warmed again. During that meeting, King Salman invited el-Sisi to visit Saudi Arabia. According to Reuters, this visit is likely to take place before the end of this month. As a sign of protest against the suspension of the transfer of the islands of Sanafir and Tiran, Saudi Arabia suspended oil shipments to assist Egypt for the past six months, but has recently announced the resumption of its significant oil aid. According to Reuters, Khaled Ali, a lawyer and human rights activist, wrote on Facebook that the Egyptian government is behind the issuance of the new ruling. He stated that a complaint will be filed against this new ruling in the Supreme Administrative Court of Egypt, the highest judicial authority in the country, in hopes of preventing the transfer of the two islands to Riyadh. Saudi officials and some Egyptians believe that Sanafir and Tiran belong to Riyadh, which were transferred to Egypt at the request of Saudi Arabia in 1950. However, some Egyptians who oppose the transfer of the two islands to Saudi Arabia argue that Egypt's ownership of these islands dates back to 1906, 111 years ago, long before the establishment of a country called Saudi Arabia. An agreement between the Ottoman Empire and Egypt had placed these uninhabited islands under Egypt's control. The military sensitivities regarding these two islands, which separate the Gulf of Aqaba from the Red Sea and are very close to the Israeli port of Eilat, were one of the major reasons for the outbreak of the 'Six-Day War' 50 years ago between Arabs and Israel. In the 1967 war, the Israeli Navy took control of Sanafir and Tiran. However, following the events after the 'Yom Kippur War' in 1973, Israel relinquished these two islands. In the Camp David peace treaty between Israel and Egypt in the late 1970s, the dispute between Riyadh and Cairo over these two islands was taken into account by the lawyers who drafted the treaty. Although the Camp David Accords were between Israel and Egypt, they also obliged Saudi Arabia to consider Israel's sensitivities regarding the two islands. Sanafir and Tiran are important for the free navigation of Israel, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. Last year, Israel told Egypt that if the continuation of navigation through the Tiran Strait is guaranteed, it has no objection to the transfer of the islands to Saudi Arabia.