by Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff
Egyptian opposition channel airs undated telephone conversation between Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry, Israel special envoy Isaac Molho on transfer of Red Sea islands Sanafir, Tiran to Saudi Arabia • Egyptian state media outlets claim story is biased.
Prime Minister Netanyahu
(right) with Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry
|
Photo credit: Reuters  |
An Egyptian TV channel affiliated with the
Muslim Brotherhood on Friday released a recorded conversation between
Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry and an Israeli official
allegedly coordinating Egypt's controversial transfer of Red Sea islands
Sanafir and Tiran to Saudi Arabia.
The Egyptian opposition TV channel aired an
undated telephone conversation between Shoukry and attorney Isaac Molho
(whose voice is not heard in the recording), Israel's special envoy to
peace talks with the Palestinians, on the subject of the transfer of the
two islands.
The uninhabited islands of Tiran and Sanafir
lie along narrow shipping lanes leading north to port cities in Israel
and Jordan. The closure of the Straits of Tiran by Egyptian President
Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1967 was one of the main causes of that year's
Arab-Israeli war, in which Egypt lost the Sinai Peninsula. Sinai was
returned to Egypt, together with the two islands, under its landmark
1979 peace treaty with Israel.
The Egyptian government has insisted the
islands always belonged to Saudi Arabia and were only placed under
Egyptian control in 1950 for protection from Israel, which occupied them
briefly six years later during the Suez crisis.
The deal to transfer the islands, announced in
April, sparked outrage and protests by Egyptians, who view Tiran and
Sanafir as belonging to their country and in June an Egyptian court
revoked the agreement, citing a violation of the country's constitution.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi's
government, together with loyal media, has zealously defended the
transfer agreement with Saudi Arabia, arguing that it would bring
economic benefits to Egypt, as Saudi Arabia provided billions of dollars
in aid to Egypt since el-Sissi's 2013 military ouster of Islamist
President Mohammed Morsi.
According to official reports, Prime Minister
Benjamin Netanyahu and then-Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon had been
continually updated on developments related to the intended transfer, as
it directly pertains to the 1979 peace treaty with Egypt.
Official sources from el-Sissi's office vehemently
denied the reports and Egyptian state-owned media outlets claimed the
story was biased and designed to embarrass el-Sissi.
Daniel Siryoti and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=40299
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