Sinai
Peninsula
The Sinai Peninsula (in Arabic, Shibh Jazirat Sina) is a
triangle-shaped peninsula lying between the Mediterranean Sea (to
the north) and Red Sea (to the south), located in Egypt and has an
area of about 60,000 square kilometers. Its land borders are the
Suez Canal to the west and the IsraelEgypt border to the
north-east. The Sinai Peninsula is in Southwest Asia (also called
West Asia - the more geographically accurate term for the Western
term of Middle East) while the rest of Egypt is in North
Africa.
In this panorama view of the
Southeastern Mediterranean (28.0N, 34.0E), the Sinai
Peninsula dominates this north looking oblique view. Lying
between two great continents, historic Sinai separates Africa from
Asia. The Great Rift Fault originates in southern Turkey, through
the Jordan River Valley, and the Gulf of Aqaba, the Red Sea and
then into east Africa. The atmospheric haze seen throughout is
thought to be wind borne atmospheric dust.
The Sinai is almost entirely desert, but is settled along the Sabah
coast at Taba (near the Israeli town of Eilat), where there is a
hotel and casino. Moving southwards along the coast, there lie:
Nuweiba, Dahab and Sharm el-Sheikh. The Sinai is also settled on
the north coast near the Gaza Strip at El-Arish.
Mount Sinai in the Sinai is biblically significant as it is
allegedly the site where Moses received the Ten Commandments. A
monastery situated at St. Catherine in the southern Sinai Peninsula
claims to be at the site of Mount Sinai, though historians and
archeologists generally reject this as the site.
The eastern boundary of the peninsula is a geological fault zone
known as the Great Rift Valley, which can be seen from the upper
Jordan River valley, extending southward through the Red Sea into
Africa.
History
The Sinai was inhabited by the Monitu and was called Mafkat or Country of Turquoise. From the time of
the First dynasty or before, the Egyptians mined turquoise in Sinai
at two locations, Wadi Maghareh and Serabit el-Khadim. They were
operated on and off on a seasonal basis for thousands of years.
Modern attempts to exploit the deposits have been unprofitable.
These may be the first known mines.
The Sinai Peninsula, located
between Africa and Asia, is a result of those two continents
pulling apart from each other. Earth's crust is cracking,
stretching, and lowering along the two northern branches of the Red
Sea, namely the Gulf of Suez, seen here on the west (left), and the
Gulf of Aqaba, seen to the east (right). This color-coded shaded
relief image shows the triangular nature of the peninsula, with the
coast of the Mediterranean Sea forming the northern side of the
triangle. The Suez Canal can be seen as the narrow vertical blue
line in the upper left connecting the Red Sea to the
Mediterranean.
The peninsula is divided into three distinct parts; the northern
region consisting chiefly of sandstone, plains and hills, the
central area dominated by the Tih Plateau, and the mountainous
southern region where towering peaks abound. Much of the Sinai is
deeply dissected by river valleys, or wadis, that eroded during an
earlier geologic period and break the surface of the plateau into a
series of detached massifs with a few scattered oases.
Two visualization methods were combined to produce the image:
shading and color coding of topographic height. The shade image was
derived by computing topographic slope in the northwest-southeast
direction, so that northwest slopes appear bright and southeast
slopes appear dark. Color coding is directly related to topographic
height, with green at the lower elevations, rising through yellow
and tan, to white at the highest elevations.
Modern
history
Until the early 20th century, Sinai was under the control of the
Ottoman Empire. In 1906 it became part of then British-controlled
Egypt, when the Turkish government yielded to British pressure to
hand over the peninsula. The border imposed by the British runs in
an almost straight line from Rafah on the Mediterranean shore to
Taba on the Gulf of Aqaba. This line served as the eastern border
of Sinai ever since, and is now the international border between
Israel and Egypt.
In 1948, Egyptian forces passed through Sinai on their way to
invade the newly-created state of Israel based on a United Nations
mandate dividing the land between the Jews and the Christian and
Muslim inhabitants. During the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Israeli
forces entered the north-eastern corner of Sinai, but withdrew
shortly after, following British and American pressure. Under the
terms of the 1949 Armistice Agreement, Sinai, together with the
Gaza Strip, remained under Egyptian control, although parts of it
were demilitarized.
In 1956, Egypt used its control of Sinai to impose a blockade on
the Israeli port of Eilat. Following this, Israeli forces, aided by
Britain and France (which sought to regain control over the Suez
Canal) invaded Sinai, and took control over the entire peninsula
within several days (see Suez Crisis). Several months later, Israel
withdrew its forces from Sinai, following strong American and
Russian pressure. Following this, the United Nations Emergency
Force, the UNEF, was stationed in Sinai to prevent any military
occupation of the Sinai.
In 1967, Egypt reinforced its military presence in Sinai, renewed
the blockade on Eilat, and on May 16 ordered the UNEF out of Sinai
effective immediately. In the following Six-Day War, the Egyptian
army was defeated, and Israel took control over the entire
peninsula. The Suez Canal, whose east bank was now controlled by
Israel, was closed.
In the 1973 Yom Kippur War, Egyptian forces managed to make
advances into the peninsula, but were eventually pushed back across
the Suez Canal. As part of the following cease-fire agreements,
Israel pulled its forces out of a strip in western Sinai, allowing
for the re-opening of the canal.
In 1979 Israel and Egypt signed a Peace Treaty, in which Israel
agreed to transfer all control over Sinai to Egypt. Subsequently,
Israel pulled out of Sinai in several stages, ending in 1982. The
Israeli pull-out involved the destruction of several Israeli
settlements including the town of Yamit in north-eastern
Sinai.
Present
The Sinai Peninsula is currently divided among several
governorates, or provinces, of Egyptian administration. The
southern portion of the Sinai is called Janub Sina' in Arabic,
literally "Sinai South." The northern portion is named Shamal
Sina', or "Sinai North." the other three governates converge on the
Suez Canal, including Al Isma'iliyah on its southern end and
crosses into Egypt-proper. In the center is As Suways, literally
"the Suez;" and Bur Sa'id lies in the north with its capital at
Port Said.
Approximately 66,500 live in Janub Sina' and 314,000 live in Shamal
Sina'. Port Said itself has a population of roughly 500,000, while
the rest of the governorate (Bur Sa'id) itself. Portions of the
populations of Al Isma'iliyah and As Suways live in Sinai, while
the rest live on the western side of the Suez Canal in
Egypt-proper. The combined population of these two governorates is
roughly 1.3 million (only a part of that population live in the
Sinai, while the rest live on the western side of the Suez).
Issue #148
