The Red Sea Islands between Egypt, Saudi and Israel

As US President Joe Biden visits the Middle East this week, one topic on the table will be the status of two small islands in the Red Sea that are uninhabited but of crucial strategic value.

Resolving the troubled status stemming from their location and turbulent history would help build trust between Israel and Saudi Arabia, two US allies now taking incremental steps Washington hopes will someday could lead to diplomatic relations.

For now, the two barren desert islands – Tiran and Sanafir – are home to just a few soldiers from a decades-old multinational peacekeeping force, whose waters are occasionally visited by divers for their coral reefs.

But the islands have historically been contested for their key location at the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba, home to Jordan’s only eponymous seaport and Israel’s port of Eilat.

Egypt ceded the islands east of its resort town of Sharm El-Sheikh to Saudi Arabia in 2016. But the deal still requires Israel’s green light at a time when the Jewish state and Saudi Arabia have no formal ties.

A senior Israeli official said late Thursday Israel had “no objection” to giving Egypt the green light to hand over the islands to Saudi Arabia as a step towards normalizing relations between Riyadh and the Jewish state.

The issue is expected to be on Friday’s agenda when Biden, following his visit to Israel, meets Gulf leaders in Jeddah for a conference expected to include Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Tiran — which hosts a small airport for peacekeeping forces — measures about 61 square kilometers (24 sq mi), while Sanafir to the east is about half that size.

The islands were under Egyptian sovereignty from 1950, but were occupied by Israeli forces during the 1956 Suez Crisis after Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized the canal, which is vital to trade between Europe and Asia.

Nasser’s closure of the Strait of Tiran in 1967, cutting off sea access to Eilat and Aqaba, sparked the Six Day War, after which Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula and the two small islands.

In 1979, the landmark Camp David Peace Accords saw Egypt retake the territories.

In the course of the demilitarization of Sinai, Cairo was not allowed to station troops on the islands, where only peacekeepers from the so-called Multinational Force and Observers were stationed.

In 2016, a Cairo-Riyadh deal ceded the islands to Saudi Arabia in a controversial decision, sparking nationalist protests in Egypt that were quickly stifled.

Critics accused Sisi of ceding the islands in exchange for Saudi aid and generous investments. The government argued the islands were originally Saudi but leased to Egypt in the 1950s.

Egyptian courts issued a series of conflicting judgments before the Supreme Constitutional Court ruled in favor of the surrender.

However, since the issue will be settled by the Camp David Accords, the status of the islands has yet to be finalized, leaving Israel to ratify the transfer of sovereignty.

It’s that final hurdle that Biden could negotiate with Israeli, Saudi and Egyptian leaders this week, observers say.

The Israeli press has reported that Riyadh has pledged to keep the islands demilitarized and allow Israeli ships to continue transiting the strait.

Experts have pointed to the importance of a possible deal as a step towards officially normalizing relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which along with the United States are bitter enemies of Iran.