Saudi Arabia made 'direct contact with Israel' over Red Sea islands five years ago

Saudi Arabia directly approached Israel to change the status of two islands in the Red Sea five years ago without a mediator present, according to Haaretz. 

The kingdom communicated with Israel about the redeployment of observer forces on Tiran and Sanafir in the Red Sea, the Israeli newspaper said.

Israel was reportedly on track to accept the Saudi request but the process stalled following the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi who was killed inside the kingdom's consulate in Turkey in 2018. The United States and much of the international community blamed the murder on the Saudi leadership.

The two islands, Tiran and Sanafir, are currently controlled by Egypt. In 2016, Egypt and Saudi Arabia signed an agreement whereby the two islands would be transferred to Saudi Arabia but this met with widespread opposition in Cairo.

They are located between Egypt’s Sinai peninsula and Saudi Arabia - a strategic location that gives them control of the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba that leads to the ports of Aqaba in Jordan and Eilat in Israel. 

Last week, reports emerged that the United States was brokering a deal between Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Israel to transfer the islands from Riyadh’s to Cairo’s control and pave the way for direct talks between the Saudi government and Israel.

Any deal regarding the islands must be approved by Israel under the terms of a 1979 peace treaty between Israel and Egypt.

Israel and Saudi Arabia do not have diplomatic relations, although several recent developments, including a statement by Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid, indicate that normalisation is a possibility in the near future. 

A number of Arab states recently normalised relations with Israel as part of the Abraham Accords in 2020, when the United States brokered agreements between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, and later Morocco. 

Saudi Arabia gave control of the islands to Egypt in 1950 because it feared that its naval forces would not be able to defend them in case of an Israel attack. Israel occupied them following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and they were returned to Egypt following the 1979 peace treaty but demilitarised.