Egypt committee approves islands deal with Saudi

‘The legislative and constitutional committee of the Egyptian parliament finally approves a controversial deal with Saudi Arabia on the control of two islands in the Red Sea.
The deal was approved on Tuesday as 38 lawmakers voted in favor of the agreement with Saudi Arabia, which hands over the sovereignty of the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. Eight members of the committee voted against.
Egypt’s minister of parliamentary affairs Omar Marwan said the parliament’s defense committee should also examine the deal before it goes to a general vote in the house.
The vote paves the way for the final approval of the deal by Egypt’s parliament as many in the 596-seat chamber support President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi. The former army general, who had reportedly served for a while as Egypt’s military attaché in Saudi Arabia, signed the deal with the Riyadh last year under the pretext that the islands, located at the southern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, were Saudis and had been placed under Egypt’s custody in the 1950s to protect them against Israeli aggression.’
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