As expected, the debate over the Tiran and Sanafir handover treaty in Parliament dominated the airwaves, and we expect it will continue to do so during the entire debate.

Over on Kol Youm, Amr Adib called MPs’ behaviour “embarrassing” as he aired footage of yesterday’s debate. What’s worse, he said, the real discuss about the sovereignty of the islands hasn’t even started yet: “They were just debating whether or not they should talk about it in the first place,” a perplexed Adib said (watch, runtime 2:57). We’re with the man on this one.

Lamees Al Hadidi spoke to Parliamentary Affairs Minister Omar Marwan during her live spot on CBC Extra. Marwan argued that the Administrative Court’s ruling overturning the treaty has no bearing on the House of Representatives’ ability to take a vote on it. As bodies from different branches of government, he suggested, parliament should have a say (watch, runtime 18:28).

Wafdist Rep. Mohamed Fouad thinks MPs are being rushed into passing the agreement. He said he’s worried about a public backlash, saying the state has failed to win over public opinion since the handover was announced last year and suggesting the matter should be taken to a national referendum.

Rep. Khaled Abdel Aziz, a member of the 25-30 Coalition opposition bloc, told Lamees that House Speaker Ali Abdel Aal had questioned the authenticity of documents the coalition had presented as proof the islands are Egyptian.

Rep. Mohamed El Sewedy told Lamees that experts invited to testify did not get a chance to share their two cents as MPs’ loud and divergent opinions dominated the debate.

Adib also reported that gadfly parliamentarian Mostafa Bakry wants to get ex-president Hosni Mubarak’s opinion on the agreement, since Egypt’s maritime border, which excludes both islands, were last defined under his rule in 1990 (watch, runtime 1: 29).