On Thursday, the Official Gazette of Egypt published President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s decision to approve the maritime border delimitation agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, which provides for the transfer of ownership of the strategic islands of Tiran and Sanafir in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia.
Egyptian media reported the decision, which came in the Official Gazette No. 33 dated August 17, 2017, and bears No. 607 of 2016.
It is noteworthy that the decisions of the Egyptian government become effective after their publication in the Official Gazette, which is issued weekly every Thursday and at other times when necessary.
The decision included a single article that reads: “The agreement on demarcating maritime borders between the governments of the Arab Republic of Egypt and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the exchanged letters in this regard, signed in Cairo on 4/8/2016, with reservations on the condition of ratification was approved.”
The decision was issued on December 29, 2016.
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The agreement was signed between Egypt and Saudi Arabia on April 8, 2016, during a visit by Saudi King Salman bin Abdulaziz to Cairo, and stipulates the transfer of ownership of the two islands to Saudi Arabia.
The Egyptian parliament approved the agreement on June 14, 2017, after a controversy raised by that agreement in Parliament, the Egyptian street, and judicial departments.
Egypt witnessed demonstrations rejecting that agreement, during which the police arrested a number of demonstrators.
Egyptian parties, movements, and activists considered the two islands an "occupied spot in a shameful deal, which the people did not and will not accept."
The islands of Tiran and Sanafir are located in the Red Sea, separated from each other by a distance of four kilometers. The two islands control the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, the ports of Aqaba in Jordan, and Eilat in Israel.
Tiran Island is the closest of the two islands to the Egyptian coast, located six kilometers from the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh on the Red Sea.
legal dispute
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Contrasting judicial rulings were issued in Egypt regarding whether the two islands were Egyptian.
On June 20, 2017, the Administrative Court issued a ruling invalidating the Tiran and Sanafir Agreement.
The ruling ruled that the rulings of the Supreme Administrative Court would continue to be enforced, nullifying the agreement, and disregarding any judicial rulings, issued or perhaps issued by the courts of urgent matters, regarding the “Tiran and Sanafir Island” agreement.
However, the Egyptian government filed a lawsuit before the Supreme Constitutional Court, to resolve the contradiction of judicial rulings regarding Tiran and Sanafir, and the Court of Commissioners decided to postpone the case to the next session of October 18, to present documents, memoranda and pleadings, which means that the judicial dispute is still continuing.
The Egyptian government said, last June, that its administration of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir "will continue to preserve Egyptian and Saudi national security," if the islands are handed over to Saudi Arabia, adding that its citizens will not need a visa to go to the islands.
According to an official report, "the Saudi side understood the need for the Egyptian administration to remain to protect the islands and protect the entrance to the Gulf, and acknowledged in the agreement the survival of the Egyptian role, believing in Egypt's vital role in securing navigation in the Gulf of Aqaba."
Yasser Ismail, a researcher specializing in international law, told the BBC that with the publication of the decision in the Official Gazette, the two islands were officially transferred to Saudi Arabia.
He added, "The agreement became effective on the ground, as soon as the decision of the President of the Republic was published in the Official Gazette, but if the Constitutional Court ruling came to the contrary, it may oblige the Egyptian government to veto the agreement, or to renegotiate it."
And he added: "The agreement is for the Constitutional Court, like any law, and the Constitutional Court has jurisdiction over the constitutionality of laws, but this will not be binding on the Saudi side, which may then resort to arbitration or international justice."
It is noteworthy that the islands of Tiran and Sanafir are uninhabited, with the exception of the presence of forces affiliated with the Egyptian army and the multinational peacekeeping forces since 1982.