Egypt’s parliament approves deal giving Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia

The islands of Tiran, foreground, and Sanafir, background, sit in the Strait of Tiran between Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Saudi Arabia. AFP Photo

CAIRO // Egypt’s parliament approved a maritime agreement with Saudi Arabia on Wednesday that transfers two Red Sea islands to the kingdom.

The deal, which is still under challenge in court, had sparked protests in the country with the opposition accusing the government of selling Egyptian territory to its Saudi benefactors.

The vote came after days of heated debate in parliament with opponents even interrupting one committee session with chanting.

Courts had struck down the agreement, signed in April 2016, but a year later another court upheld it. Lawyers are now challenging the deal before the constitutional court.

The accord had sparked protests in Egypt last year, with President Abdel Fattah El Sisi accused of having traded the islands of Tiran and Sanafir for Saudi largesse.

The government insists the islands of Tiran and Sanafir - at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba - were always Saudi, but were placed under Egypt’s protection amid Arab-Israeli tensions in the 1950s.

“There is nothing in the agreement that violates the constitution,” Kamal Amer, chairman of the defence committee, told the house on Wednesday before the vote. “It is designed to realise and perpetuate the mutual interests of the two nations and it also came in response to Saudi requests [to take back the islands] made in 1984, 1989 and 1990.

“The demarcation of the border between Saudi Arabia and Egypt confirmed that the islands are on the side of that brotherly nation, but we are confident that they [the islands] will always be used to serve national Egyptian and Arab security.”

The island of Tiran, a popular destination for Red Sea divers, controls a narrow shipping lane that leads to and from the ports of Eilat and Aqaba, in Israel and Jordan respectively. Egypt’s unilateral closure of that lane was among the main reasons behind the outbreak of the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, in which Egypt lost the entire Sinai Peninsula.

Control over Sinai was restored to Egypt under its 1979 peace treaty with Israel.

Police and opponents of the deal clashed late Tuesday in central Cairo, with policemen kicking, punching and using sticks to beat several dozen protesters outside the national journalists’ union. An unspecified number of arrests were made and eight protesters remained in police custody on Wednesday, according to defence lawyers.

After the agreement was first announced in 2016, Egypt saw the largest anti-government protests since Mr El Sisi took office in 2014. Hundreds of demonstrators and activists were arrested, with most later released.

“Ratifying the agreement in this manner will create a deep rift between the president and a large segment of society,” said Khaled Dawoud, leader of the opposition Dostour (Constitution) party. “It is a turning point in our relationship with the president.”

* Associated Press and Agence France-Presse