--- In BoundaryPoint@y..., rpalmber@a... wrote:

> A question to all of you:
>
> I've tried to figure out the political status of
> Tiran Island in the Straits of Tiran. Some Internet
> sources say it's Egyptian, some Saudi Arabian.
> I couldn't find any indication that the island would
> be disputed by the two countries (The CIA Handbook).
> So which is it?
>
> Any ideas where to look next?
>
> Rolf

This is an interesting situation as the island belongs to Saudi
Arabia but is leased by Egypt and the only people on the island are
from the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO). The MFO is a result
of the Camp David accords which ended the 1973 war between Egypt and
Israel. The MFO makes sure the Strait is open to international
traffic and access to the island is very limited.

Hope this helps.

-Andrew

PS As a child, I lived in Saudi Arabia for 5 years. One of the more
interesting things I did was to go to the Jordanian border at Halat
Amar with my father in 1984. The company my father worked for was
hired to design and build a food testing lab at the Saudi border
station and while he did some work there, I spent a few hours
watching the border.

The border post is unique in Saudi Arabia as it is the only one with
a railroad crossing. The railroad is no longer used but it is the
famous Hejaz railroad that T.E. Lawerence (Lawerence of Arabia) blew
up in WW I. On the way to and from Halat Amar, we drove next to the
railroad track an saw in a few places railroad cars that were blown
off the tracks some 68 years earlier.