US to remove Red Sea island observer force, advancing steps toward Saudi-Israel ties

This will allow their transfer from Egypt to Saudi Arabia in a US-brokered agreement that includes steps by Riyadh toward normalizing ties with Israel, Times of Israel reported.

US troops and other foreign soldiers have served on one of those islands, Tiran, since the Camp David peace accords between Israel and Egypt, but will leave by the end of the year, Biden said hours after his arrival here on a direct flight from Israel.

“We’ve concluded a historic deal to transform a flashpoint at the heart of the Middle East wars into an area of peace,” the president declared. “Now as a result of this breakthrough, this island will be open to tourism and economic development while retaining all necessary security arrangements and the present freedom of navigation of all parties, including Israel.”

Saudi Arabia has for years sought sovereignty over the islands in order to develop them as a tourist zone, and Egypt agreed to relinquish them, but Israel’s approval was needed for the transfer to go through.

Tiran and Sanafir were previously held by Israel, which agreed to transfer them to Egypt as part of their 1979 peace treaty on the grounds that a multinational observer force be stationed there and that it would receive assurances for freedom of transport around the islands, Times of Israel reported.