The Hebrew website Walla reported that the administration of U.S. President Joe Biden is secretly mediating between Israel, Saudi Arabia and Egypt to reach a settlement that would complement the transfer of the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi sovereignty, in addition to taking steps to normalization of relations between Israel and Saudi Arabia.
The website in Hebrew stated that if the negotiations were successful and normal steps were reached between Israel and Saudi Arabia, it would be considered an achievement for the government of Naftali Bennett, as well as for the American administration in the Middle East.
According to the site, the “peace agreement” between Egypt and Israel provides that the islands of Tiran and Sanafir are free from military forces and that there will be an international surveillance force inside them, so the implementation of the agreement on the transfer of custody of the two islands from Egypt to Saudi Arabia must be approved by Israel which happened in 2017. Israel stipulated at the time that Egypt and Saudi Arabia agreed to keep an international observer force on the two islands.
The website states that the Biden administration has begun work on an attempt to reach an agreement between Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Israel over the two islands, and that the US administration believes that such an agreement will open the way to strengthening relations between Israel. and Saudi Arabia.
The site quotes US officials as saying that the Saudis want to end the work of international monitoring teams on the two islands, promising to leave the two islands without military forces and guarantee freedom of navigation in the straits of the two islands.
They added, according to Walla, that the Israeli occupation wants something in exchange for agreeing to such moves, such as those by Saudi Arabia to normalize relations.
And he pointed out that Israel, for example, asked Saudi Arabia to allow Israeli aircraft to use its airspace to fly to East Asia in order to reduce travel time. Saudi Arabia agreed to this issue with the administration of former US President Donald Trump, but he allowed his airspace only to Israeli aircraft bound for the UAE and Bahrain.
The site concluded that the Biden administration still has not reached a final understanding between Egypt and Saudi Arabia and the occupation of the two islands, and negotiations are still ongoing, and the White House hopes to reach an agreement before Biden’s visit to the Middle East at the end of next month.
Source: El Nashra