Zuqar Island (Arabic: جزيرة زقر) is an island in the Red Sea that belongs to Yemen. It lies between the coasts of mainland Yemen and Eritrea, near the Bab-el-Mandeb straits which connect the Red Sea to the Gulf of Aden. Despite its proximity to the African continent, Zuqar Island is considered a part of Asia because it sits on the Asian continental shelf.
Ownership of Zuqar Island was long disputed between Yemen and Eritrea, along with the Hanish Islands. In 1995 this led to active conflict in the Hanish Islands conflict. The Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague settled the dispute in 1996, awarding the larger islands, including Zuqar, to Yemen.
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Famous quotes containing the word island:
“The shifting islands! who would not be willing that his house should be undermined by such a foe! The inhabitant of an island can tell what currents formed the land which he cultivates; and his earth is still being created or destroyed. There before his door, perchance, still empties the stream which brought down the material of his farm ages before, and is still bringing it down or washing it away,—the graceful, gentle robber!”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)