The Tiran and Sanafir islands

If you don't know much about the topic, or if you're confused by opposing Facebook posts with clear bias and exaggeration, or by sensational news headlines that seem misleading, I suggest you read the following two paragraphs after a moment of reflection, hoping for clarity and understanding for both of us.

"Tiran and Sanafir" are two islands at the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba, covering an area of 113 square kilometers. They are currently uninhabited, and the Enterprise Strait runs between the Egyptian border and Tiran Island, which is a route for ships heading to Israel, Jordan, and the Egyptian border on the Gulf.

Let's look into the history of these two islands to understand their background. Please be patient as I explain in detail.

In the era of the Fifth Dynasty (2510 – 2460 B.C.), a king named Sahure, son of King Userkaf, sent a military campaign to discipline the local Bedouins who were raiding trade caravans coming from the Levant and Yemen. This marked the first assertion of Egyptian control over the area.

During the 18th Dynasty (1508 – 1458 B.C.), when the Bedouins resumed their raids, Queen Hatshepsut and later King Thutmose III sent military expeditions again to reassert Egyptian sovereignty and stop the thefts.

In the Ptolemaic period, the rulers didn't focus much on controlling the entire Sinai Peninsula, leaving the area to the eastern Bedouin tribes because they were more interested in the easily plundered riches of Egypt itself.

In the 6th century during Roman times, Tiran Island was first exploited and named Iotabe. It served as a customs station for collecting taxes on maritime trade from India to the Levant. Under King Justinian, a lighthouse was built at the tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, and a garrison was stationed there to manage the area.

During the Fatimid, Ayyubid, Mamluk, and Ottoman eras, the Hejaz region, including the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, was under Egyptian sovereignty. This lasted until the establishment of the first Saudi state in 1744 by Prince Muhammad bin Saud, who imposed his control over most populated areas of the kingdom, including the Hejaz, which includes the area we are discussing.

During the reign of Muhammad Ali Pasha, particularly in 1816, his son Ibrahim Pasha was sent to reclaim the Hejaz region and counter the influence of the first Saudi state. He succeeded, and the Hejaz was fully restored to the dominion of Muhammad Ali and his descendants. However, later on, the Ottoman Empire separated the Hejaz lands from Egypt, including the two islands, Tiran and Sanafir. There are Egyptian maps from 1897 that depict this division, with Egypt and Saudi Arabia shown in different colors.

In 1906, a treaty was signed between the Ottoman Empire, Egypt, and Britain to delineate the borders of Egyptian and Hejazi territories under Ottoman rule, using maps marked from Taba (number 1) to south of Aqaba (number 91). The region was divided among Jordan, the Hejaz, and Egypt. There were conflicts among major Bedouin tribes over areas of sovereignty, such as the Tarabin, the Khuza'a, and the Howeitat. Those who moved to Saudi Arabia became Saudi, and those who stayed in Egypt became Egyptian.

On April 18, 1906, the region of Um Rashrash (now Eilat, or the "City of Pilgrims" as it was called by Egyptians) was declared as part of Egypt.

In 1916, most people in the Hejaz supported Sharif Hussein bin Ali as the de facto ruler of the entire region, but the islands of Tiran and Sanafir were not considered part of Egyptian or Hejazi territory at that time—they were overlooked by both.

However, in the same year, the book "Ancient and Modern History and Geography of Sinai" by Naoum Shoucair, published in 1916, shows Tiran and Sanafir as Egyptian islands.

After the establishment of the third Saudi state in 1932, King Abdulaziz Al Saud began to consolidate his rule, and Tiran and Sanafir fell under his control, being part of the Tabuk region. However, in 1950, he requested Egypt to protect these islands, fearing Israeli expansion after the 1948 war and due to the lack of a qualified Saudi naval force. Egypt and Saudi Arabia formalized this arrangement in January and then communicated it to Britain and the United States in February.

In 1956, Israel occupied the islands during the Tripartite Aggression against Egypt, and later returned them. Saudi Arabia took them back, but King Faisal then leased them to President Gamal Abdel Nasser to block Israel's access to the Gulf of Aqaba—a decision that was effectively implemented.

Israel occupied the islands again in 1967 and maintained control until withdrawing in 1982 as part of the Camp David Accords of 1979, which specified that the islands were part of Area C, belonging to Egypt with the condition that no Egyptian military forces be stationed there, only international forces. However, Saudi Arabia consistently informed diplomatic missions at the United Nations in Jeddah that Tiran and Sanafir were Saudi, not Egyptian.

On February 20, 1982, Decision 422 was issued in the Egyptian Gazette, establishing a permanent police station on Tiran Island, to be administratively part of Saint Catherine. However, whether this decision was implemented remains uncertain.

After the border issue involving marker number 91 in Taba, Israel had a disagreement and eventually reached an agreement with Egypt on international arbitration. This arbitration concluded on September 11, 1986, resulting in Taba being returned to Egypt. Prior to this, in 1983, Egypt declared Tiran, Sanafir, and Ras Mohammed as natural reserves, overseen by international forces, allowing Egyptian and Saudi access but prohibiting civilian and military exploitation.

In 1989, Saudi Arabia published a map showing Tiran and Sanafir as part of its territory and submitted it to the United Nations.

In January 1990, Egypt, by presidential decree, published a map showing Tiran and Sanafir within its borders.

In 2003, Israel requested Egypt to dismantle surveillance devices on Tiran Island. Egypt responded that it was not possible as the equipment was Saudi-owned, not Egyptian.

In 2005, during a media interview, former President Hosni Mubarak denied any knowledge of a rumored bridge project between Egypt and Saudi Arabia via Tiran and Sanafir.

In 2010, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia issued a royal decree defining Saudi maritime borders with Egypt, Jordan, and Sudan and submitted it to the United Nations. Cairo responded with a vague statement indicating that the royal decree did not affect ongoing Egyptian-Saudi discussions regarding the islands and declared Egypt’s right to economic exploitation of 200 nautical miles as per the UN Convention on maritime economic zones.

In 2012, Dr. Abdel Rahim Rehan, Director-General for Archaeological Research, Studies, and Scientific Publishing in Sinai, advocated for the touristic, archaeological, and cultural development of Tiran, considering its unique qualities. Tourism initiatives began, and Egyptian television filmed an episode of "Beautiful Egypt" on the islands.

In 2013, a sixth-grade geography textbook affirmed the ownership of Tiran and Sanafir as Egyptian.

In 2014, the Saudi encyclopedia, the largest official electronic encyclopedia of Saudi Arabia, stated that Tiran and Sanafir were entirely Saudi.

In July 2015, the Saudi Defense Minister and the Egyptian President signed the Cairo Agreement, which included a clause emphasizing the need to define maritime boundaries between the two countries.

On April 8, 2016, an agreement was signed between the Saudi King and the Egyptian President recognizing Saudi ownership of Tiran and Sanafir, thereby settling a long-standing dispute with the stroke of a pen.

Finally: Why all this focus on the islands of Tiran and Sanafir? I'll tell you. Besides their strategic location overseeing the maritime borders of three countries—Egypt, Israel, and Jordan—there's more to it. In 2012, the Saudi Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources announced the discovery of a gas field about 26 kilometers north of Duba port in Tabuk, near the disputed area. This gas field, discovered by Aramco, has a flow rate of 10 million cubic feet per day at a depth of 17,700 feet.

Area C was, until recently, a zone with international forces from 11 countries, totaling 1,900 soldiers, including an international observation point named OP 3-11. However, after the agreement, some experts in international newspapers mentioned that all this is no longer necessary, and no party will secure it except the Saudi side, which means the international forces will leave unless Israel intervenes. The current relationship between the Egyptian regime and Israel wouldn't allow for this intervention.

There's talk of building a massive bridge connecting Egypt and Saudi Arabia, costing 4 billion and to be completed over 7 years. Israel rejected this today, saying, "Yes, the islands can belong to Egypt or Saudi Arabia or even the blue genies, but don't interfere with Israel's interests." Also, there's the issue with the 60 billion Saudi Riyal investment fund—it's not just cash but long-term projects which may or may not materialize.

In summary, whether the islands are Saudi or Egyptian doesn't change the clear fact: Egypt's international stature is eroding. The current Egyptian regime clearly seems ready to agree to any deals as long as there is a dominant hand to help it or possibly another that could strike it down one day, as seen with Ethiopia and Italy.