CAIRO: Saudi Arabia has documents to prove that it owns two Red Sea islands, which have now been handed over to it by Egypt, according to Saudi Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir.
Speaking at a press briefing with Egyptian journalists on Sunday, Al-Jubeir rejected reports that there had ever been a dispute between Cairo and Riyadh over the ownership of the Tiran and Sanafir islands.
Al-Jubeir said the two islands were included in the framework of the Camp David peace accords following the 1967 occupation, with Israel refusing to separate them from the agreement.
He said that Egypt and Saudi Arabia had formed a committee to restore the islands to the Kingdom but the events of Sept. 11, 2009, and the involvement of the Arab world in other issues, had delayed the drawing up of naval borders.
Al-Jubeir said that Egypt did not at any time occupy the islands but had been given temporary sovereignty at Saudi Arabia’s request. “The history and facts, in addition to the documents in possession of the two countries, did not at any given time show any differences between the two governments on Saudi ownership of the two islands.”
“Egypt is a highly respected country and has in its possession the documents that prove this ownership without any objections, but some are just ‘fishing in troubled waters,’” said Al-Jubeir. He said King Farouk had offered to protect the islands during the reign of King Abdul Aziz.
In response to a question, Al-Jubeir said that there would be no communication and coordination with Israel on the islands. “We have studied the file and know exactly what the legal position is and the Kingdom is committed to all the previous commitments made by Egypt to the international community,” he said.
The editor in chief of Al-Ahram daily, Mohammad Abdul Hadi Allam, said that his newspaper has documents in its possession confirming that Saudi Arabia owns the islands.
Meanwhile, Al-Jubeir said that the Kingdom continues to regard the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization. He said the Kingdom has never cooperated with this terrorist organization and does not ever plan to do so in future.
Al-Jubeir said extremism was not caused by Wahhabism but was the direct outcome of the Iranian revolution, and stressed that the Kingdom’s scholars were committed to fighting groups such as Daesh.
Courtesy: Arabnews