Israel's landmark 1979 peace treaty with Egypt is being tested by a cross-border attack blamed on Palestinian militants. Israel made a rare apology Saturday for the deaths of three Egyptian soldiers after Cairo threatened to withdraw its ambassador.
The attack on Thursday set off a new cycle of Israeli-Palestinian violence. Israeli airstrikes have been answered by Palestinians pelting southern Israel with at least 80 rockets and mortars since Friday. An Israeli was killed Saturday in the desert city of Beersheba, about 25 miles from Gaza.
"Israel is sorry for the deaths of the Egyptian policemen during the attack on the Israel-Egypt border," Defense Minister Ehud Barak said after Egypt threatened to withdraw its ambassador to protest the deaths of its soldiers.
The Egyptian government said late Saturday Israel's apology was welcome, but not enough. Still, it reaffirmed Egypt's commitment to the peace.
Israel's apology was a clear move to try to quickly contain the damage to already shaky relations with Egypt. Egypt's threat to take diplomatic action put Israel in the uncomfortable position of having to apologize for violence that was triggered after its borders were breached and its people attacked and killed.
Israeli officials promised to investigate the deaths of the Egyptians and insisted the peace treaty was stable.
"No one had any intention to harm Egyptian security personnel," Amos Gilled, a senior Israeli Defense Ministry official who works closely with Egypt, told Israel Radio.
But even before the clashes on Thursday, the February ouster of longtime President Hosni Mubarak in a popular revolt had unleashed an outpouring of anti-Israel sentiment in Egypt and criticism of the peace treaty. Israeli officials were also growing wary about instability in post-Mubarak Egypt.
Although the military leaders who now rule Egypt have expressed their commitment to the peace accord, Israel is watching closely for signs they might respond to the rising anti-Israel sentiment and distance themselves from the Jewish state.
As the country moves through a chaotic and rocky transition to democracy, Islamist groups tightly curbed under Mubarak look headed for a more powerful role in the new Egypt - something else that rattles nerves in Israel.
Mubarak was seen by his people as too sympathetic to Israel, negotiating a highly unpopular deal to supply it with natural gas. Israel, in turn, counted on Mubarak as a trusted, if cool, ally, maintaining the peace despite Egyptian disappointment that a wider agreement could not be reached with Palestinians and other Arab states.
The simmering hostilities in Egypt boiled over after the soldiers died. Egypt said it was a violation of the peace accord.
Israel says the attacks began when Palestinian militants from the Gaza Strip crossed into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, probably through one of the hundreds of smuggling tunnels under the border, then made their way more than 100 miles through the barren desert before crossing into southern Israel. Israel and Gaza both border the Sinai Peninsula.
The militants ambushed Israeli buses and cars with gunfire and a bomb and killed eight Israelis.
Israel and Egypt gave different versions of how the Egyptian soldiers died. Egypt said they were killed in an airstrike. Israel offered conflicting accounts. One account said there was an exchange of fire between its soldiers as they pursued the militants along the border.
A senior Israeli defense official told The Associated Press Saturday night that "initial reports in the investigation show that the terrorists came from Gaza and apparently opened fire on purpose near Egyptian positions in order to bring them into the fighting." He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to reporters.
The Israel-Egypt and Israel-Palestinian issues are closely intertwined. Egypt has tried for decades to broker a peace accord between Israelis and Palestinians. And in recent years, Egypt has tried to mediate an end to the internal Palestinian split between Fatah, which runs the West Bank through the Palestinian Authority, and the Islamic Hamas, which rules Gaza.
The aftermath of the clashes Thursday showed just how quickly Israeli-Palestinian violence can escalate.
Israeli airstrikes have killed 12 Palestinians, including two children, since Thursday, and Israeli leaders have made it clear that they will not put up with mounting violence from Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened senior ministers and security commanders late Saturday in an extraordinary session to discuss the surge in violence.
In Israel, one person was killed Saturday and dozens have been wounded in the barrage from Gaza, including a 2-week-old baby, hospital officials said. The flurry of exploding rockets damaged buildings all over Israel's south.
It was the heaviest salvo of rockets from Gaza since Israel staged an all-out ground and air operation in Gaza to stop daily rocket attacks in early 2009.
Israel is also concerned about an upsurge in Islamic militant activity in Sinai since Mubarak's fall. But no Israeli official has gone on record faulting Egypt for the way it is policing Sinai, where mountainous desert terrain and permeable borders have beckoned to extremists, contraband smugglers and African migrants for years.
Last week, Egypt moved thousands of troops into Sinai as part of a major operation against al-Qaida inspired militants who have been increasingly active since Mubarak's ouster. Since Mubarak was toppled, the natural gas pipeline running through Sinai has been sabotaged five times, disrupting supplies to Israel and Jordan.
Under Mubarak, the killings of troops would have elicited criticism on the front pages of Egyptian dailies. In post-Mubarak Egypt, however, youth activists on social networking sites spread calls for demonstrations in front of the Israeli embassy.
Thousands of protesters gathered outside the embassy in Cairo for a second day on Saturday, demanding the expulsion of the Israeli envoy who is now vacationing abroad. A Palestinian flag was unfurled at the site, and some of the demonstrators threw firecrackers at the building. A protester climbed up the building and took down the Israeli flag, drawing cheers from the crowd.
A dozen armored vehicles were stationed in the area and soldiers formed a cordon in front of the main gates to prevent any protesters from reaching the embassy building.
In Jordan, the only other Arab country at peace with Israel, about 150 protesters called Saturday for
cancellation of the 1994 treaty and expulsion of the ambassador.
====================================================
characters remaining
cancellation of the 1994 treaty and expulsion of the ambassador.
====================================================
characters remaining
Cancel or
no, he does. But you should understand that within this man's philosophy, whole world belongs to that freaking khazarian breed... I am sick of his claims and his likes who all deny right to live to any other race...
Is Mt Sinai and Mt Horeb 2 different names for the same mountain?
I believe that "Jesus" Christ was the Old Testament #2 Yahveh who "YELLED" O.T. God #2 THE ALMIGHTY'S 10 COMMANDMENTS IN BEAUTIFUL HEBREW down this MT to 1 or 2 1/2 MILLIONS of HEBREWS(later became Jews and Israelites who sometimes fought each other) and to the "MIXED MULTITUDE" of various GENTILES (who each heard Yahveh's 10 WORDS IN EACH OF THEIR OWN LANGUAGES +DI
From: Xt3dotcom
Views: 808
All Comments (1)
==================================================================
============================================================
Sinai is approx. 380 km long (north - south) and 210 km wide (west - east). The surface area has an extension of 61.000 km², the coasts are streching about 600 km on the west and on the east. On the western part there is the Gulf of Suez (with the Suez channel) and the eastern part of Sinai brings up the much deeper Gulf of Aqaba. The sea in the Gulf of Suez measures approx. 80 meters only, while the profile of the Gulf of Aqaba goes down to approx. 1.830 meters. The latter is a part of the big land rift that extends until Kenya.
The west coast - reaching from Ras Mohammed to Taba - is filled with rich coral reefs sections, one after another. This under water paradise is giving ideal conditions for flora and marine fauna, and finally nowadays for divers.
The northern part of Sinai mainly consists of sandstone plains and hills. The Tih Plateau forms the boundary between the northern area and the southern mountainous with towering peaks.
find out more about minerals
==================================================================
There are basically 2 companies that offer trips from and to Sinai, which is East Delta and the faster SuperJet. They both go to Cairo and Alexandria. East Delta also offers trips to Nuweiba, Dahab and Taba. SuperJet is faster than East Delta, but it is not covering all stops. Here's the time tables that apply to the departures. They are approximate times and it is useful to book in advance plus to be in time. These times are subject of possible change and should be re-confirmed with your hotel or directly at the bus station.
There are local bus services, rather private small VW buses, that are running up and down the coast (Peace Road) from Sharm El Sheikh - Naama Bay - Airport and further a few km, depending on the mood of the driver and the willingness to pay of the passengers. Basically, you just need to stand on the road (anywhere), and they will slow down to ask you for the destination. The fare is quite reasonable, the whole distance e.g. Sharm - Airport costs about 2 L.E.. However, the price might slightly go up if you have a special wish and the driver needs to go further. Be aware, that most tourists don't use these buses, so prices should not be "over payed". This prevents the drivers from cheating the next tourists.
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
National Parks:
Ras Mohammed
Nabq Protected Area
Abu Galum
Beyond the wide, full basin of Naama Bay the road turns inland, entering the broad sandflow of the Wadi Kid, an extinct riverbed that wends its way down from the central mountains to the shoreline at the Nabq Managed Resource Protected Area. Further north still lies Dahab and then Abu Galum, the northernmost of the park system's protected areas. There the sharp granite peaks of the interior extend right to the edge of the Gulf of Aqaba, offering visitors a stunning glimpse of terrain more hospitable to Nubian Ibex than to casual human visitors.
These parks are comparatively young--Ras Mohammed having been established only in 1983--and they have been joined even more recently by the region surrounding St. Catherine Monastery. Encompassing Mount Sinai as well as a number of other attractions of the area, the park at St. Catherine's is perhaps the best example of the purpose and the need for the Sinai's protected areas. As tourism has grown in the region, so too has tourist waste and damage, and a few years ago such sublime sites as the top of Mount Sinai itself appeared to be sinking under the burden of careless visitors. Although the designation of these areas as national parks has afforded them some degree of protection, it is ultimately the care and consideration of each visitor that most contributes to the work of preserving the beauty and the wonder of the Sinai.
Most of the bedouin tribes of the Sinai are descended from peoples who migrated from the Arabian peninsula between the 14th and 18th centuries, making the bedouin themselves relatively recent arrivals in this ancient land. Today, many of the bedouin of the Sinai have traded their traditional existence for the pursuits and the conventions of the modern world, as startling changes over the last two decades have irrevocably altered the nature of life for the bedouin and for the land they inhabit. Nonetheless, bedouin culture still survives in the Sinai, where there is a growing appreciation of its value and its fragility.+++++++
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
by AMR ADEL
Tourism and excursions in the Sinai into English
North Sinai
Its capital, El Arish
Logo Mahaafth
First, location and space.
Website:
Located North Sinai governorate in the northeast of the Arab Republic of Egypt between longitudes 32.34 E and latitudes 29.31 N, and bounded to the north the Mediterranean Sea along the 220 km, while the south line was running from the southern corridor Mitla until the head of the Negev and is bordered to the east to reduce the political to Egypt with occupied Palestine, the West represents a continuum from the Mitla Pass Baloza south to north.
Sinai's major strategic importance (especially in North Sinai), where a fort east of Egypt, a crossing which is expressed by most of invasions that targeted Egypt, either in ancient or modern history.
North Sinai Governorate
Area:
The area of northern Sinai, about 27 564 km 2 and an estimated population of Estimated PO Box 306 thousand for 2002, live 86.5% of the population on the coastal strip and the proportion of an area of coastal centers 21.4% of the total area of the province.
Second, climate
Enjoy the northern Sinai climate unique it starts in the north, the climate of the Mediterranean Sea and ranging to be up to the atmosphere close to the climate of the desert and semi-desert, in the high temperature in summer slash the warmth of winter blowing the wind, either north or north-westerly in summer and autumn and either Western South In winter, temperatures range in between 10 degrees winter and 24 in summer, and for rainfall is low in the south, west and Tzmad as we head north and increasing average more in the northeastern part, where up to 200-300 mm near Sheikh Zuwaid and Rafah.
Third: Date
* In the modern era was the spark of revolution of July 23 was the first thing Antlgaha from Al-Arish, where the battalions that had surrounded the palace of King Avabidin and important areas in Cairo, was one of the forces commander Major-General Mohammed Naguib El Arish area and first president of Egypt.
* In 1956, the Sinai has seen the failure of the tripartite aggression against Egypt, where he agreed to England, France and Israel to attack Egypt, where England and France occupies the Suez Canal and Israel occupies the Sinai under this Convention.
* In 1967, the completed chapters of conspiracy by the war between Israel and the Arabs with the assistance and support of America advertised and Israel's occupation of Sinai, the West Bank and Golan Heights.
* And on the pure soil of Sinai was the sixth of battles glorious October (10 Ramadan) in 1973, where our valiant armed forces crossed the Channel Bar-Lev line, and raised the banners of victory and has written a timeless epic in the history of the Egyptian military.
* As was the ancient call of the Sinai "land guarded by the gods," we believe that the Sinai is the holy land blessed by heaven and guarded by God's enemies.
Fourth: the economy:
* Agriculture:
Total area maintained to 6.6 million acres are arable area of about 1.2 million acres the actual area cultivated is 148 thousand acres and divided areas of agricultural and vegetable crops and orchards.
For the vegetables
Vary the space between the agricultural seasons winter season represents the largest area of up to 9478 acres, followed by summer season 1868 season comes and acres of indigo, which represents less space up to 1374 acres.
The orchards
Peach represents the largest area with an area of 61,441 acres, respectively, followed by almonds, olives, figs, grapes and citrus and palm trees of up to 343 thousand trees.
Crops
Represents the largest area of crop barley crop up to 16,692 acres and 6388 acres of wheat.
* Mineral and stone:
There are many mineral resources of marble, pebbles and sand Faisal number of marble quarries to 42 quarry exploitation and the size of 12 thousand m 3 and 12 gravel quarry and to exploit the size of 523 thousand m 3, while the number of sand Hajir 2 and the volume of exploitation of 450 thousand m 3.
* Fisheries:
There are many sources of mismatch free fishing lake, and other amounts to annual production of fish from the sea about 3982 tons, while production from Lake Bardawil amounts to 2801 tons per year.
* Tourism:
Fifth, the population and the administrative division:
* Administrative divisions:
Joined the Sinai to the local administration for the first time Republican Decree No. 811 of 1974 Decree No. 84 of 1979, the division of the Sinai Peninsula to the North and South Sinai, which includes the northern Sinai: administrative centers are El Arish - Rafah - Sheikh Zuwaid - Bir al-Abed - good - palm and enters in its 82 villages and 458 continued.
* Population:
* Characteristics of the population:
VI: Education and Culture:
* Pre-university education:
The number of schools to 377 schools and 71,325 pupils the pupil for education Azhari Institute 95 The number of institutes and the number of pupils 4473 pupils.
* University education:
There are many aspects of higher education and the maintenance of the University of Sinai, and includes a large number of colleges and the Open University and also includes a number of colleges and there are colleges (College of Education - Agricultural Sciences), the number of students 1383 students. In addition to the institutes Alaa (Higher Institute of Business Science and Computer - Higher Institute of Engineering) and Technical Institute commercial (above average)
* Culture:
There are 10 houses to maintain cultural and Palace and 22 public library
Seventh: the archeological sites:
There are many archeological sites in North Sinai Governorate mismatch due to the Pharaonic era, including to the Roman era - again to the Greek and Islamic.
* The effects of Farma (Baloziom):
Considered the most important archaeological sites remaining in North Sinai, which still retains the remains of ancient architectural phenomenon on the surface of the earth is the only site that can be developed to become an important tourist site in the future.
* Tell the store:
Is part of the eastern suburb of the city of Farma (Baloziom) and the store was called Tel detected and one of the most ancient churches in the northern Sinai, in Egypt.
* Tel martyrs:
Archaeological evidence indicates scattered on the surface of the hill that is up to the Roman era and probably a cemetery dating back to the same age Paltel. We have already found a nomadic people from the tombstone by the writings of the Greek.
Dervish * Tel:
One is the archaeological sites that date back to the Pharaonic era (the modern state) was detected for the four large silos were built with bricks and represents one of the stations was the way the war is not the old ink Egyptian armies destined to Asia supplies.
* Castle-Arish:
Is the effect of the only remaining town of El Arish near the market, Thursday's weekly Balfoakhria registered the decision of the Ministerial 282 for the year 97 area 75 5 CE was inside a well and garden, housing soldiers, and witnessed the events of historical importance as a treaty-Arish in 1800 between the Turks and the French campaign and need to complete the excavations and the start of restoration work, one of the the reign of Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent.
* Tourist attractions:
Protected Zaranik, Sinai Heritage Museum and historic roads (through war and commerce - through the Holy Family - the Muslim pilgrimage route)