Sinai Peninsula

“In 1956, Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal, a waterway marking the boundary between Egyptian territory in Africa and the Sinai Peninsula. Thereafter, Israeli ships were prohibited from using the Canal, owing to the state of war between the two states. Egypt also prohibited ships from using Egyptian territorial waters on the eastern side of the peninsula to travel to and from Israel, effectively imposing a blockade on the Israeli port of Eilat. Subsequently, in what is known in Egypt as the Tripartite Aggression, Israeli forces, aided by Britain, and France, invaded Sinai and occupied much of the peninsula within a few days.

Several months later Israel withdrew its forces from Sinai, following strong pressure from the United States and the Soviet Union. Thereafter, 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, changed the prohibition of Israeli shipping using Egyptian territorial waters 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.

Subsequent to Egyptian actions, Israel attacked Egypt, Syria, and Jordan, starting the Six-Day War. Israel captured the entire Sinai Peninsula, and Palestine’s Strip from Egypt, the Palestinian West Bank and East Jerusalem from Jordan (which it had ruled since 1949), and the Golan Heights from Syria. The Suez Canal, the east bank of which was now occupied by Israel, was closed. Israel expelled thousands of Egyptians from Sinai, and commenced efforts at large scale Israeli settlement in the peninsula, concurrently with similar settlement in the Gaza Strip, West Bank, and Golan Heights.

Following the Israeli conquest of Sinai, Egypt launched the War of Attrition aimed at forcing Israel to withdraw from Egyptian territory. The war saw protracted conflict in the Suez Canal Zone, ranging from limited to large scale combat. Israeli shelling of civilian areas in the cities of Port Said, Ismailia, and Suez on the west bank of the canal, led to high civilian casualties (including the virtual destruction of Suez), and contributed to the flight of some one million Egyptian internal refugees. Ultimately, the war concluded in 1970 with no change in the front line.

Upon becoming President of Egypt following the death in office of President Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Al-Sadat sought a diplomatic solution to the conflict, offering peace and recognition to Israel in exchange for the Israeli withdrawal from all the Egyptian, Palestinian, and Syrian territory occupied in 1967, and a resolution of the Palestinian refugee problem. Israel rejected all of Egypt’s proposals, with Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir insisting that Sinai was now part of Israel, and that it would be settled by Israelis.

Consequently, Egypt and Syria began planning jointly for a military offensive to re-take their respective territories under Israeli occupation. On 6 October 1973, Egypt commenced Operation Badr to liberate Sinai, whilst Syria launched a simultaneous operation to liberate the Golan Heights, thereby beginning the Yom Kippur War (known in Egypt as the October War). Egyptian engineering forces built pontoon bridges to cross the Suez Canal, and stormed the supposedly impregnable Bar-Lev Line, Israel’s defensive line along the canal.

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. The war ended following a mutually agreed-upon ceasefire. After the war, as part of the subsequent Sinai Disengagement Agreements, Israel withdrew from the Canal, with Egypt agreeing to permit passage of Israeli ships.

The canal was reopened in 1975, with President Sadat leading the first convoy through the canal aboard an Egyptian destroyer. In 1979, Egypt and Israel 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 settlement of Yamit in north-eastern Sinai. The exception was the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh, which the Israelis had renamed as Ofira during the period of their occupation.

The Treaty allows monitoring of Sinai by the Multinational Force and Observers, and limits the number of Egyptian military forces in the peninsula. ” (Wikipedia, 2013) Problem Since Egypt and Israel were always fighting for the right to be at the Sinai Peninsula, they damaged it. Everyone is trying to have Sinai peninsula because of its important role when it came to power for trade in the sea. After a lot of years, Egypt finally came to make a peace treaty that said that Israel would have to withdraw from the entirety of Sinai.

Israel did it, with the exception of the city of Sharm el-Sheikh. Causes Egypt and Israel wanted Sinai because of the trade they could gain if they had it for their country. Each wanted Sinai for the territory. Now days, there has been a lot of terrorist attacks because of the resentment of the poverty faced by many Bedouin in the area. Attacking the tourist industry was viewed as a method of damaging the industry so that the government would pay more attention to their situation.

Since the 2011 Egyptian Revolution unrest has become more prevalent in the area including the 2012 Egyptian-Israeli border attack in which 16 Egyptian soldiers were killed by militants 3. Responsible People “The Egyptian Organization for Human Rights has denounced what it calls terrorist acts in Sinai in the early hours of Monday morning, blaming the Muslim Brotherhood for the violence in which civilians, including children, were killed and wounded.

The organization blamed the Muslim Brotherhood for attacs which saw civilians, including children, killed Monday. The EOHR claimed Ikhwan leaders had aggravated the situation, by stating that “the situation in Sinai will calm down only if President [Mohamed] Morsy is reinstated. “” (Egypt Independent, 2013) Tripartite aggression: Because they invaded Sinai Peninsula Egypt government of that time: Because they nationalized the Suez Canal and began the war.