The Supreme Administrative Court nullified on Monday a deal between Egypt and Saudi Arabia that would have seen the sovreignty of two Red Sea islands, Tiran and Sanafir, transferred to Saudi waters. According to the border demarcation agreement signed in April, the two islands were deemed to be within Saudi territorial waters, in recognition of historical claims on the part of Saudi Arabia. This threatens the interests of 2 million Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia. He added that in the case that the Egyptian government fails to end the issue, Saudi Arabia would definitely resort to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Kasir said that obtaining the two islands through international arbitration would be not difficult for Saudi Arabia, because it has documents proving its claims.

Source: Egypt Independent January 18, 2017 10:01 UTC