Al-Ashaal: Tiran and Sanafir were Egyptian islands before the birth of Saudi Arabia

Ambassador Abdullah al-Ashaal reiterated on Tuesday Egypt’s claim to Tiran and Sanafir, the two islands recently given to Saudi Arabia by Egypt, saying that they have been Egyptian islands long before the birth of Saudi Arabia, Rassd.com reported.

Egypt sent troops to the islands in the mid-1950s in response to a Saudi request to protect them from Israeli invasion. Israel occupied them in 1967, but evacuated the islands in 1982 in line with a peace treaty with Egypt.

In its 1979 peace deal with Israel, Cairo promised to respect freedom of shipping in Israel’s Aqaba and Eilat, a commitment that Saudi Arabia says it will uphold when it takes over the islands.

On his Facebook page, al-Ashaal wrote: “The Egyptian army has made many sacrifices in order to liberate them [the islands] from Israel.”

He noted that transforming their ownership to Saudi Arabia during this time and in this “strange way” does not make Saudi Arabia a party of the peace deal between Egypt and Israel.

The former Egyptian official and prominent political analyst also said he hoped that Egyptian and Saudi officials do not to enter into new relations with Israel that might affect Arab interests.

Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has been criticised at home and abroad for agreeing to transfer the two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

Israel gave its blessing on Tuesday to the transfer of the islands in a strategic strait to Saudi Arabia.

The deal on Tiran and Sanafir paves the way for the construction of a bridge linking Saudi Arabia to Sharm el-Sheikh, at the tip of the Sinai peninsula. It was announced at the weekend during a visit by King Salman of Saudi Arabia.