Europe Israel Public Affairs reports on Egypt’s decision to cede two islands in the Red Sea to Saudi Arabia. Since Saudi Arabia doesn’t recognize Israel, Israel was earlier considering how to respond to the move in light of the peace treaty with Egypt which bans blocking the Red Sea to Israeli shipping:

“Islands in the stream, that is what we are, no one in between, how can we be wrong? Sail away with me, to another world. And we rely on each other, ah ha…”

We can’t imagine any of our readers ever thought they would see a Dolly Parton and Kenny Rogers lyric in a pro-Israel advocacy group newsletter, but stranger things have happened.

And this week, something related to islands and relying on each other took place amongst the most unlikely triumvirate of powers in the Middle-East: Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel.

Israel gave its blessing on Tuesday to Egypt’s return of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, and defense minister Moshe Yaalon said that Riyadh had undertaken to respect relevant positions in the Israeli-Egyptian peace deal.

The islands of Tiran and Sanafir, located at the southern entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, will be formally demarcated as lying in Saudi waters under a treaty announced Saturday by Cairo, which has had de facto control over them since 1950.

In 1967 Egypt blocked the Strait of Tiran, a move that prompted Israel to launch a Middle East war. In its 1979 peace deal with Israel, Egypt pledged promised to respect freedom of shipping in Aqaba and Eilat, a commitment Saudi Arabia says it will uphold when it takes over the islands.

Eilat is Israel’s only port in the Gulf of Aqaba and the Red Sea, while Aqaba is Jordan’s sole outlet there.

Let’s be clear. This seemingly innocuous agreement is actually a gigantic leap forward in diplomatic relations between actors whose mutual enmity towards each other is well known and well documented. It’s a sign of a thawing of relationships and an acceptance that jaw jaw is in fact much more preferable. Also, it is a clear signal that Egypt and the Saudi Kingdom are happy to work with Israel in a strategic alliance against Iran. And that readers is something worth singing about.

For more, see:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/israel-signals-no-opposition-egypts-return-islands-saudi-102847812.html
http://www.tabletmag.com/scroll/199748/egypt-gifts-saudi-arabia-two-strategic-islands-in-the-red-sea-informs-israel
http://eipa.eu.com/publicaffairs/