Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon said that Israel has signed off on a recent agreement between Egypt and Saudi Arabia to exchange sovereignty of two strategic islands at the entrance of the Gulf of Aqaba. “An appeal was made to us—and it needed our agreement, [and the agreement of] the Americans, who were involved in the peace agreement and of the MFO (Multinational Force and Observers),” Ya’alon said, referring to the United Nations’ Multinational Force and Observers peacekeeping force in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, Haaretz reported.
“We reached an agreement between the four parties—the Saudis, the Egyptians, Israel, and the United States—to transfer the responsibility for the islands, on condition that the Saudis fill in the Egyptians’ shoes in the military appendix of the peace agreement,” said Ya’alon. FULL REPORT
