Sinai

A peninsula linking southwest Asia with northeast Africa at the northern end of the Red Sea between the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba. Long held by the Egyptian kings, Israel occupied the peninsula in 1956 and from 1967 to 1982, when it was returned to Egypt under the terms of the Camp David Accords (1978) and an Egyptian-Israeli treaty (1979).

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A large peninsula lying between Egypt and Palestine. Triangular in shape, bordered by the two arms of the Red Sea, the Gulf of Elath on the east and the Gulf of Suez on the west, it was the scene of some of the most important events in the history of the Israelites. The northern part of the peninsula is a sandy plateau with low hills, while the southern part consists of granite mountains, reaching to a height of 8,660 feet (c. 2,650 m). The climate is that of a desert – dry, with an annual rainfall that does not exceed 2� inches (60 mm) in the north and 1� inches (40 mm) in the south. Springs are few, and the two larger ones produced the oasis of Kadesh Barnea (Num 20:1-14). Sinai was therefore the habitat of nomads, who found some pasture in the valleys, though agriculture was never practiced there.

In addition to the trade routes that crossed Sinai from very early times, the turquoise mines in the southern mountainous part of the peninsula were also of great importance. They were exploited as early as the 1st Dynasty of Egypt (early 3rd millennium B.C.). The ancient port through which the minerals were exported to Egypt was discovered 5 miles (8 km) south of Abu Zneima. It seems that the laborers in the mines were captives brought from Palestine and Syria, against which Egypt directed many campaigns.

Sinai is the only land bridge connecting Egypt with Palestine, Syria and Mesopotamia. It was traversed by several important routes from east to west, most of which passed through the northern part of the peninsula. Another road went along the western coast, turning to the north, to reach Elath. There was also a short cut from the western coast through Wadi Feiran to Dahab, probably biblical Dizahab.

In the Bible the name Sinai refers to a specific mountain (Ps 68:8); to a range of mountains (Deut 33:2; Judg 5:5) and to a desert or wilderness (Ex 19:2). The same mountain is sometimes called Horeb (I Kgs 19:8), and Mount Horeb is also referred to as the "mountain of God" (Ex 3:1) and sometimes just "the mountain" (Ex 19:2-3).

Even in early times the patriarchs were crossing Sinai on their way to Egypt and back to the land of Canaan. It was in this wilderness that the Israelites sojourned 40 years, and that Moses gave them the Law. The stations on the route of the Exodus are listed in Numbers (chap. 33). Only a few of these stations can now be identified and these very hesitantly. Kadesh Barnea, however, can be identified with more certainty, because of its large spring, which is big enough to supply a great multitude (Deut 1:46). The identification of Mount Sinai is also doubtful. See EXODUS, ROUTE OF.

Concordance
Ex 16:1; 19:1-2, 11, 18, 20,23; 24:16; 31:18; 34:2, 4,29, 32. Lev 7:38; 25:1; 26:46; 27:34. Num 1:1, 19; 3:1, 4, 14; 9:1,5; 10:12; 26:64; 28:6; 33:15-16. Deut 33:2. Judg 5:5. Neh 9:13. Ps 68:8, 17. Acts 7:30, 38. Gal 4:24-25

Triangular peninsula between the Mediterranean and Red seas.

The Sinai is the desert area of northeast Egypt that forms the land bridge between Africa and Asia. In the north it is a flat and sandy dune sheet. Rugged mountains, including the al-Tih Plateau and Egma Escarpment as well as Sinai Massif surrounding Gabal Musa, dominate the central and southern regions. The peninsula is bordered on the east by the State of Israel and the Gulf of Aqaba and on the west by the Suez Canal and the Gulf of Suez. To the north it is bordered by the Mediterranean and in the south it comes to a point extending into the Red Sea. The Sinai is hot year round: it has average highs of about 90°F (32°C) and average lows of about 60°F (15°C), but temperatures tend to be lower in the mountains of the south.

The term Sinai is an ancient one, derived possibly from the name of the Semitic moon god Sin. The peninsula has generally come under Egyptian domination since ancient times. According to the Bible, it was the area in which the Israelites wandered for forty years after their deliverance from slavery in Egypt, and the site of Mount Sinai, where Moses received the Ten Commandments. During the reign of the Byzantine Emperor Justinian (527 - 565), the Eastern Orthodox Monastery of Saint Catherine was built at the foot of the legendary Mount Sinai, known as Gabal Musa (Mount Moses), in central Sinai. It remains an important attraction for pilgrims and tourists.

During the Middle Ages, the area was settled primarily by nomadic Bedouin tribes and loosely controlled by successive empires. It fell under the Ottoman Turks from 1517 until 1840. After Muhammad Ali broke with the Ottoman Empire, the Treaty of London gave Muhammad Ali control over Egypt, but the Sinai remained under Ottoman administration. The British Colonial Office exerted its own rule over Egypt from 1882 and clashed with the Ottomans over specific areas of the Sinai. They managed to establish the eastern boundary as a line from al-Arish or Rafah to Aqaba. A line from Rafah to Aqaba became the southern boundary of the British Mandate territory of Palestine from 1922 to 1948. It remained the international border between Egypt and the new state of Israel from 1949 through June 1967, when Israel occupied the Sinai. During Israel's occupation, Jewish settlements were established in the Sinai, two major air force bases were constructed, and the Alma Oil Field was discovered and developed.

Under the 1978 Camp David Accords, phased Israeli withdrawals were undertaken in 1980 and 1982. The territory of Sinai was divided between four demilitarized zones, three in Egypt and one on the Israeli side of the border. Under the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty of 1979, the Multinational Force and Observers (MFO), headquartered in the area of alGorah in northeast Sinai, has been established to observe and verify force reductions in the eastern zone, and to ensure free navigation through the Strait of Tiran.

The Sinai is now primarily divided between the two Egyptian governorates of North and South Sinai, with portions of the region abutting the Suez Canal attached to the governorates of Bur Saʿid, Ismailiyya, and Suez. The population of the peninsula was estimated at about 38,000 in 1948, mainly Bedouin; it had grown to about 140,000 by 1970, with the development of petroleum and manganese deposits plus the influx of Palestinian refugees. By 1994 the population of the peninsula had grown to approximately 270,000. Aggressive plans for reset-tlement and development of the region, most importantly the Salam Canal project in the north, have contributed to a rapidly increasing population base.

Along the northeastern coast of North Sinai is the city of al-Arish, the largest settlement in the Sinai with a population of well over 75,000. Along the southern coasts, several small resorts have emerged as important local centers, including Taba, Nuwayba, and Dahab on the coast of the Gulf of Aqaba, and the port of Sharm al-Shaykh on the Red Sea coast at the extreme southern end of the peninsula. The latter has played host to several high-level negotiations and Middle East summits since the early 1990s. It is also renowned as a diving resort for its spectacular coral reef and variety of tropical fish. The environmental significance of the area was recognized with the creation of nearby Ras Muhammed National Park in 1983.

Bibliography

Greenwood, Ned H. The Sinai: A Physical Geography. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1997.

Saad el Din, Mursi; Taher, Ayman; and Romano, Luciano. Sinai: The Site and the History. New York: New York University Press, 1998.

Siliotti, Alberto. Guide to Exploration of the Sinai. Shrewsbury, U.K.: Swan Hill, 1994.

— ELIZABETH THOMPSON
UPDATED BY PAUL S. ROWE

Peninsula in northeastern Egypt, bordered by the Gulf of Aqaba, an arm of the Red Sea, to the east, and the Gulf of Suez, another arm of the Red Sea, to the west.

• Sinai has been the scene of fighting during the Arab-Israeli conflict. Israel conquered and occupied Sinai in the Six-Day War but returned the region to Egypt in 1982.
• In the Bible, Moses received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sinai.

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For other uses, see Sinai (disambiguation).

Map of Sinai Peninsula with country borders shown.

The Sinai Peninsula or Sinai sina; Egyptian Arabic: سينا sina; Arabic: سيناء‎ sina'a; Hebrew: סיני‎ Sinai) is a triangular peninsula in Egypt, with portions located in Israel and Jordan. It lies between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, forming a land bridge between Africa and Southwest Asia. Its area is about 60,000 km². The Egyptians call it the "Land of Fayrouz, On the same linage of their ancestors who called Sinai "Dumafkat" which also means land of fayrouz in Ancient Egyptian Language "

Contents 1 History 2 Present 3 References 4 Further reading 5 See also 6 External links

History

Topography of Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt-Israel border. Looking north from the Eilat Mountains.

Egypt: Site of Sinai (top right)

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, now called by their Arabic names Wadi Maghareh and Serabit el-Khadim. The mines were worked intermittently and 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 Mamluks of Egypt controlled the Sinai from 1260 until 1518, when the Ottoman Sultan, Selim the Grim, destroyed them at the Battles of Marj Dabiq and al-Raydaniyya. From then until the early 20th century, Sinai, as part of the Pashalik of Egypt, was under the control of the Ottoman Empire. In 1906 it became part of 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 has served as the eastern border of Sinai ever since, and is now the international border between Palestinian territories and Israel from one side and Egypt from the other.

St. Catherine's Monastery is the oldest monastery in the world and the most popular tourist attraction on the peninsula

At the beginning of the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Egyptian forces entered the former British Mandate of Palestine from Sinai to support Palestinian and other Arab forces against the newly declared State of Israel. For a period during the war, Israeli forces entered the north-eastern corner of Sinai. With the exception of the Palestinian Gaza Strip which came under Egyptian administration, the western frontier of the former Mandate of Palestine became the Egyptian-Israeli frontier under the 1949 Armistice Agreement.

In 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal on the western side of the Sinai Peninsula and also used its control of the eastern side to impose a blockade on the Israeli port of Eilat. Following this, Israeli forces, aided by Britain and France (which sought to reverse the nationalization and regain control over the Suez Canal), invaded Sinai and took control of much of the peninsula within a few days (see Suez Crisis). Several months later Israel withdrew its forces from Sinai, following strong American and Soviet pressure. Following this the United Nations Emergency Force (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 with immediate effect. Secretary-General U Thant eventually complied and ordered the withdrawal without Security Council authorization. In response to Egyptian actions, Israel initiated the Six-Day War in which the Egyptian army was defeated, and Israel captured and occupied the entire Peninsula. The Suez Canal, the east bank of which was now controlled by Israel, was closed.

In the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Egyptian engineering forces built pontoon bridges to cross the Suez Canal, and stormed the supposedly impregnable Bar-Lev Line while many Israeli soldiers were observing the holiday Yom Kippur. Though the Egyptians maintained control of most of the east bank of the Canal, in the later stages of the war, the Israeli military crossed the southern section of Canal, cutting off the Egyptian 3rd Army, and occupied a section of the west bank. After the war, as part of the subsequent Sinai Disengagement Agreements, Israel withdrew from the Canal, with Egypt's agreeing to permit passage of Israeli ships.

In 1979, Israel and Egypt signed a peace treaty in which Israel agreed to withdraw from the entirety of Sinai. Israel subsequently withdrew in several stages, ending in 1982. The Israeli pull-out involved dismantling almost all Israeli settlements, including the town of Yamit in north-eastern Sinai. The exception was Ofira, which became the resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh. The Treaty allows monitoring of the Sinai by the Multinational Force and Observers and limits the number of Egyptian military forces in the Peninsula.

Present

Sand dune and rocky exposure on the Sinai Peninsula.

Satellite image featuring part of Egypt and the Sinai Peninsula in the foreground and the Levant in the background

The Sinai Peninsula is currently divided among two Egyptian governorates, or provinces. The southern portion of the Sinai is called Ganub Sina in Arabic, literally "South of Sinai"; the northern portion is named Shamal Sina', or "North of Sinai". The other three governates converge on the Suez Canal, including el-Sewais, literally "the Suez"; on its southern end and crosses into African Egypt. In the center is el-Isma'ileyyah, and Port Said lies in the north with its capital at Port Said.

Approximately 66,500 people live in Ganub Sina and 314,000 live in Shamal Sina'. Port Said itself has a population of roughly 500,000 people. Portions of the populations of el-Isma'ileyyah and el-Suweis 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 Canal).

Over the past 30 years the Sinai has become a tourist destination due to its natural setting, rich coral reefs, and biblical history. Large numbers of Egyptians from the Nile Valley and Delta have moved to the area to work in tourism, while at the same time development has robbed native Bedouin of their grazing land and fishing grounds. This clash of cultures has resulted in the Sinai becoming the site of several terrorist attacks targeting not only Westerners and Israelis, but also Egyptians on holiday and working in tourism.

In order to help alleviate the problems faced by the Sinai Bedouin due to mass tourism, various NGOs have begun to operate in the region including the Makhad Trust, a UK charity who assist the Bedouin in developing a sustainable income whilst protecting Sinai's natural environment, heritage and culture.

Sinai is one of the coldest provinces in Egypt because of its high altitudes and mountanious topographies, winter temperature in some of Sinai's cities and towns reach -16C and the topographic locations encourages to establish skiing resorts and construct telefrics routes.

References

• Gardner, Ann "At Home in South Sinai" Nomadic Peoples 2000. Vol. 4,Iss. 2; pp. 48-67. Detailed account of Bedouin women

Further reading

• H. J. L. Beadnell (May 1926). "Central Sinai". Geographical Journal 67 (5): 385–398. doi:10.2307/1782203. 
• C. W. Wilson (1873). "Recent Surveys in Sinai and Palestine". Journal of the Royal Geographical Society of London 43: 206–240. doi:10.2307/1798627. 
• J Jacobs (2006 Rowman and Littlefield). "Tourist Places and Negotiating Modernity: European Women and Romance Tourism in the Sinai". Travels in Paradox: Remapping Tourism (eds) C Minca and T Oakes. 
• Sinai Hotels by Haubitz, Zoche Publisher: Fotohof Editions, 2006 ISBN 3-901756-64-7 ISBN 978-3-901756-64-1

See also

• Desert of Paran
• Saint Katherine city
• Multinational Force and Observers
• Nawamis
• Negev Bedouins
• Suez Canal
• Mount Sinai
• Biblical Mount Sinai
• Mitla Pass

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Sinai Peninsula

• Sinai Peninsula travel guide from Wikitravel
• Practical Online Guide for Travelling around Sinai
• Sinai Local Magazine
• Sinai in ancient Egypt
• Guide to Sinai, covering background information on history, flora, fauna, desert, bedouin, safaris and geology of Sinai
• Broadcasting videos from Sinai
• Images of the Sinai Desert
• Mountain Camel-treks with Bedouin Guides from several tribes
• Sinais Safari Places
• The Path Less Traveled
• "Voyages...Visages" - Another way of travelling and seeing
• IRIN humanitarian news: EU grant to tackle rural poverty in South Sinai

Coordinates: 29°30′N 33°50′E / 29.5°N 33.833°E / 29.5; 33.833

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