CAIRO (Middle East Eye) – The Zionist regime on Thursday approved the outline of a deal that would cede control of two strategic Red Sea islands from Egypt to Saudi Arabia, potentially paving the way for Riyadh to take steps towards normalizing relations with the occupying regime.
Zionist regime officials told Axios they had given the green light for the Tiran and Sanafir islands deal to the U.S. on Thursday. The parameters of the deal over the two islands were approved by the Zionist prime minister’s office, as well as the foreign and war ministries, the regime’s officials said.
Washington has been “quietly negotiating” the deal between the two sides for months, Axios said, noting that it is expected to be officially announced during U.S. President Joe Biden’s visit to Saudi Arabia this weekend.
Under the 1979 Egypt-Israel so-called peace treaty, Egypt took control of Tiran and Sanafir as the sides agreed to demilitarize the islands and to allow the presence of a multinational observer force to remain.
The looming deal also gives guarantees to the Zionist regime about freedom of navigation based on Saudi commitments.
The deal, as per the report, will pave the way for separate agreements between Saudi Arabia and the occupying regime to allow the regime’s airlines to use the kingdom’s air space for eastbound flights to countries such as India and China.
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, Biden said that he was “optimistic” about potential steps toward the normalization of ties between the oil-rich kingdom and the occupying regime.
Riyadh has not officially normalized ties with the regime yet, but interactions have been already in place between Riyadh and Tel Aviv for years despite the fact that Saudi Arabia had conditioned the normalization on the establishment of an independent, sovereign Palestinian state within the 1967 borders.
Palestinians and human rights activists have condemned the normalization agreements between Arab states and the occupying regime as a “betrayal” to the Palestinian cause and a “stab in the back” of Palestinians.