Sinai Liberation Day in Egypt

Red Sea Coast, Sinai, EgyptSinai is Egypt and not Egypt at the same time. Actually Egypt is the agricultural areas of the valley and the Nile Delta. And here is the desert, with rare tiny oases and wells, sands in the north and mountains in the south. Unlike the rest of Egypt, Sinai lies in Asia, not Africa.

The Sinai Peninsula begins just behind the Suez Canal, just 120 kilometers from Cairo. But for centuries it was considered a remote periphery.
The Egyptians, with their peasant habits, could not understand the benefits of 60,000 square kilometers of sand and stone: no water, no arable land. Honor of "second discovery" Sinai belongs to... Israelis.

During the 1967 Six-Day War, Israeli forces captured the entire Sinai Peninsula up to the Suez Canal. The Israelis quickly realized that while cold winds and rains blow on their own territory, which stretches mainly along the Mediterranean Sea, it is warm and sunny on the Red Sea, southern coast of Sinai. They started building tourist infrastructure there. The first hotels in Sharm al-Sheikh, Dahab and Nuweib were built by Israelis.

In 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty that required Israel to withdraw from Sinai within three years. But lovers of warm sea and hot sun did not fail. Israelis were granted the right to enter South Sinai up to Sharm al-Sheikh without a visa for up to 15 days. They are willing to exercise that right.

In towns on the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, there are always many cars with yellow Israeli numbers, and the menu in restaurants is necessarily written in Hebrew. When driving on the highway, the Israeli car can be seen from a mile away: even during the day, Israelis drive with their headlights on. This habit is good, probably rainy Israeli winter, but looks quite funny under the bright Sinai sun.

On April 25, 1982, Israeli forces completed their withdrawal from Sinai, which became a national holiday for Egypt. But the Israelis refused to leave the Egyptian land. In the Taba sector, on the very border, they have just built a snow-white hotel whose floors run down to the sea. The case was submitted to international arbitration. He ruled in favor of Egypt.