Saudis to Allow More Israeli Overflights in 3-Way Deal with Egypt

By Hamodia Staff

YERUSHALAYIM – A three-way deal involving Israel, Egypt and Saudia Arabia will see the expansion of Israeli flights through Saudi airspace, The Jerusalem Post reported on Thursday.

Israel is poised to agree to the transfer of two islands in the Straits of Tiran to Saudi Arabia, which President Joe Biden is expected to announce on his trip to the region at the end of the month.

Israeli consent is required because of the multinational observer force that has been stationed on the islands since the peace treaty with Egypt.

There is currently a multinational force on the islands of Tiran and Sanafir, which Saudi Arabia wants evacuated before they take control of the islands. The forces are to be relocated on what will remain Egyptian soil, several miles away, according to the report.

In return, Saudi Arabia will allow Israeli airlines to traverse its airspace. As things now stand, only Israeli flights to the UAE and Bahrain can fly over the Saudi kingdom, and Air India flights to and from Israel.

The multinational force has patrolled the islands, strategically located at the opening of the Red Sea and the only shipping route to Eilat, since the peace treaty was signed in 1979. It was a result of the blockade set up by former Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser in the Straits of Tiran, which helped precipitate the 1967 Six Day War.

Saudi Arabia had originally given Egypt control of the islands in the 1950s, and Egypt agreed to return them in recent years. Israel also agreed, in principle, in 2016, but alternate security arrangements were not finalized.

Saudi Arabia, which continues to hedge on the prospect of normalization with Israel, has sought to keep the matter quiet, and no formal announcement ceremony is planned.

Meanwhile, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Saudi Arabia a “critical partner” in countering Iran’s force in the region as well as helping to expand the Abraham Accords between Israel and its neighbors.

When asked at a virtual event on Wednesday how the Biden administration is balancing its efforts to push Saudi Arabia on human rights while trying to get Riyadh’s help with the energy crisis and to move toward normalizing ties with Israel, Blinken replied:

“When we came in, President Biden was determined that we recalibrate the relationship with Saudi Arabia, and to make sure that the relationship was serving our own interests, as well as our values, as we move forward. But also preserving it, because it also helps us accomplish many important things… And that’s largely what we’ve done,” Blinken said.