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I. Introduction
On April 8, 2016, King Salman bin Abdel-Aziz Al Sa'ud of Saudi Arabia and Egyptian Prime Minister Sherif Ismail met at Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's palatial home in Cairo in order to sign a maritime-boundary-limitation agreement concerning the sovereignty of two small islands at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba-Tiran and Sanafir.1 The two barren and uninhabited islands lie in a narrow expanse of water separating the Sinai Peninsula from the Saudi mainland. Once put into effect, the maritime-boundary-limitation agreement will transfer sovereignty over the islands from Egypt to Saudi Arabia.
Despite the fact that the islands are small and uninhabited, they are of great strategic importance to the region. In ceding the islands to Saudi Arabia, Egypt is essentially relinquishing its strategic presence over the Strait of Tiran, and, by extension, its geopolitical control over access through the Gulf of Aqaba to Israel and Jordan.2 Not only will Saudi Arabia gain geopolitical control over the Gulf of Aqaba, but Israel also stands to gain enormous strategic benefits as well.3 Egypt's blockade of the Strait of Tiran was the casus belli that led to the outbreak of the 1967 Arab-Israeli War.4 Saudi dominion over the islands will likely fortify diplomatic relationships between Israel and Saudi Arabia, especially in light of their common hostility towards Iran.5
According to the agreement, Egypt is to cede sovereignty of the two islands to Saudi Arabia in exchange for $22 billion in oil and development aid to Egypt over a five-year period.6 However, the exact contents of this economic package are ambiguous, and no information has been made public as to whether the Saudi aid will come in the form of a loan, a short-term bank deposit, or a future investment.7 Since 2013, Saudi Arabia has been supporting Egypt's failing economy by providing over $12 billion in economic aid.8 Although the relinquishment of two small uninhabited islands in exchange for billions of dollars in economic aid may seem to be a bargain from the Egyptian perspective, the cession of the Tiran and Sanafir Islands creates serious constitutional questions concerning the separation of powers and the bounds of executive power in the current political regime.
The maritime-boundary-limitation agreement signed by Egypt and Saudi Arabia stressed that the...