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78-535: The bridge was not functional for a while due to the expansion of the Suez Canal completed in 2015 which added a parallel shipping lane just east of the existing bridge, cutting off the railway into Sinai . As of 2021 a second swing bridge spanning the new eastern shipping lane was under construction and started operating in 2024. The first El Ferdan Railway Bridge over the Suez Canal was completed in April 1918 for

156-695: A crop of the Columbian Exchange . Cactus hedges – both intentionally planted and wild garden escapes – formed an important part of defensible positions during the Sinai and Palestine campaign of World War I. Some unfamiliar soldiers even tried eating them, to negative result. Dromedary herding is important here. Trypanosoma evansi is a constant concern and is transmitted by several vectors . Although ticks have not been proven to be among them, Mahmoud and Gray 1980 and El-Kady 1998 experimentally demonstrate survival of T. evansi in camel ticks of

234-719: A few days. In March 1957, 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 further conflict in the Sinai. On 16 May 1967, Egypt ordered the UNEF out of Sinai and reoccupied it militarily. Secretary-General U Thant eventually complied and ordered

312-557: A large ransom. Under President el-Sisi , Egypt has implemented a rigorous policy of controlling the border to the Gaza Strip , including the dismantling of tunnels between Gaza and Sinai. The two governorates of North Sinai and South Sinai have a total population of 597,000 (January 2013). This figure rises to 1,400,000 by including Western Sinai, the parts of the Port Said , Ismailia and Suez Governorates lying east of

390-473: A population (January 2013) of 597,000. Three more governates span the Suez Canal, crossing into African Egypt: Suez (el-Sewais) is on the southern end of the Suez Canal, Ismailia (el-Isma'ileyyah) in the centre, and Port Said in the north. The largest city of Sinai is Arish , capital of the North Sinai, with around 160,000 residents. Other larger settlements include Sharm El Sheikh and El-Tor , on

468-598: A request echoed by the executive secretary of the Convention on Biological Diversity . Over 1,000 invasive species have entered the Mediterranean Sea through the Suez Canal since its original construction in the mid-19th century, with human activities becoming a leading cause of the decline of the sea's biodiversity, according to the European Commission 's Joint Research Centre . Initially,

546-456: A seasonal basis for thousands of years. Modern attempts to exploit the deposits have been unprofitable. These may be the first historically attested mines. The fortress Tjaru in western Sinai was a place of banishment for Egyptian criminals. The Way of Horus connected it across northern Sinai with ancient Canaan . At the end of the time of Darius I , the Great (521–486 BCE) Sinai was part of

624-400: A ship manufacturing and repair center, a center for manufacturing and repairing containers, and logistic redistribution centers. This project will create "New Ismailia City", which will cover 16,500 acres of land. This new city will be created to accommodate approximately 500,000 Egyptians to relieve the pressure from the crowded towns of Cairo and the delta cities. The location of this city

702-511: A sugar factory. Arish Port lies on the Mediterranean Sea on the northern coast of Arish city. In 1996 the port was transformed from a fishing port into an international trade port. The port contains a dock that is 242m long that can serve huge ships. There is another dock which is 122m long that serves smaller ships. The port also includes covered storage areas that cover 2  square km and non-covered storage areas which cover more than 2.7 square kilometres (1.0 sq mi). On 5 June 2014

780-434: Is 72 km (45 mi) long, including 35 km (22 mi) of dry digging, and 37 km (23 mi) of "expansion and deep digging" to provide a second shipping lane in the existing 164-kilometre-long (102 mi) canal, allowing for separated passing of ships in opposite directions. It also includes the deepening and expansion of a 37-kilometre-long (23 mi) section of the existing canal. The construction, which

858-684: Is an artificial waterway project in Egypt which created a second shipping lane along part of the Suez Canal , and deepened and widened other stretches. The project was inaugurated by the Chairman of the Suez Canal Authority Mohab Mamish in the presence of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on 5 August 2014. The new canal opened one year later in a ceremony attended by several international dignitaries including

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936-529: Is considered one of the most important ports in Egypt because of its location on the entrance of the Suez Canal. The port covers an area of 2.9  square km (the land area is 1.2  square km and the remaining 1.7  square km is water area). The port contains 37 docks which include docks for passengers, yachts, and general goods. The port is divided into stations and each station contains several docks with its working area (that includes repairing centers, equipment center, and stores). The maximum capacity of

1014-534: Is designed to accommodate the workers of the nearby Wadi Al-thechnologia (Technology Valley) which will be built in the following years. Under the National Project for Fish Farming, new fish farms were built on the eastern side of the Suez Canal. The project includes twenty-three tanks that cover 120  square km with a depth of 3-5m. It covers the area from southern Tafrea to the Gulf of Suez. This project

1092-411: Is designed to produce high-quality fish for food. During a state visit to Russia in 2014, President Sisi said that he had agreed with his Russian counterpart President Vladimir Putin to establish a Russian industrial zone in the new project. In May 2018, Egypt and Russia signed a 50-year agreement to construct the new industrial zone. West Port lies on the northern entrance of the Suez Canal and

1170-417: Is done for 20 million Egyptian pounds. The second stage is 132 acres and it is not yet done. Currently, 23 factories are operating and 56 are still under construction. Upon finishing the project it will provide 9386 work opportunities. The chairman of the Suez Canal authority also said that shipyards and services will be built along the Suez Canal corridor which includes: catering and services center for ships,

1248-616: Is expected to decrease waiting time from 11 hours to 3 hours for most ships, and to increase the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day. Technical difficulties initially arose, such as the flooding of the new canal through seepage from the existing canal. Nevertheless, work on the New Suez Canal was completed in July 2015. The channel was officially inaugurated with a ceremony attended by foreign leaders and featuring military flypasts on 6 August 2015, in accordance with

1326-626: Is one of the most religiously significant places in the Abrahamic faiths . The Sinai Peninsula has been a part of Egypt from the First Dynasty of ancient Egypt ( c.  3100 BC). This comes in stark contrast to the region north of it, the Levant (the present-day territories of Syria , Lebanon , Jordan , Israel and Palestine ), which, due largely to its strategic geopolitical location and cultural convergences, has historically been

1404-451: The 2011 Egyptian revolution , unrest has become more prevalent in the area including the August 2012 Sinai attack in which 16 Egyptian soldiers were killed by militants. (See Sinai insurgency .) Also on the rise are kidnappings of refugees . According to Meron Estifanos, Eritrean refugees are often kidnapped by Bedouin in the northern Sinai, tortured, raped, and only released after paying

1482-478: The Egyptian 3rd Army , and occupied a section of the Suez Canal's 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 immediate proximity with the Suez Canal, with Egypt agreeing to permit passage of Israeli ships. The canal was reopened in 1975, with President Anwar Sadat leading the first convoy through

1560-643: The Gulf of Aqaba . This line has served as the de jure eastern border of Egypt ever since. In 1956, Egypt nationalised 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

1638-876: The Isthmus of Suez , 125 kilometres (78 mi) wide strip of land, containing the Suez Canal . The eastern isthmus, linking it to the Asian mainland, is around 200 kilometres (120 mi) wide. The peninsula's eastern shore separates the Arabian Plate from the African Plate . The southernmost tip is the Ras Muhammad National Park . Most of the Sinai Peninsula is divided among the two governorates of Egypt : South Sinai (Ganub Sina) and North Sinai (Shamal Sina). Together, they comprise around 60,000 square kilometres (23,000 sq mi) and have

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1716-934: The Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt from 1260 until 1517, when the Ottoman Sultan, Selim the Grim , defeated the Egyptians at the Battles of Marj Dabiq and al-Raydaniyya , and incorporated Egypt into the Ottoman Empire . From then until 1906, Sinai was administered by the Ottoman provincial government of the Pashalik of Egypt , even following the establishment of the Muhammad Ali dynasty 's rule over

1794-517: The Persian province of Abar-Nahra , which means 'beyond the river [Euphrates]'. Cambyses successfully managed the crossing of the hostile Sinai Desert, traditionally Egypt's first and strongest line of defence, and brought the Egyptians under Psamtik III , son and successor of Ahmose , to battle at Pelusium . The Egyptians lost and retired to Memphis ; the city fell to the Persian control and

1872-718: The Roman Empire went on to control all shores of the Mediterranean Sea . The Sinai Peninsula became part of the Roman province of Arabia Petraea . Saint Catherine's Monastery on the foot of Mount Sinai was constructed by order of the Emperor Justinian between 527 and 565. Most of the Sinai Peninsula became part of the province of Palaestina Salutaris in the 6th century. During the Crusades it

1950-623: The Sinai Military Railway . It was considered a hindrance to shipping so after the First World War it was removed. A steel swing bridge was built in 1942 (during the Second World War ), but this was damaged by a steamship and removed in 1947. A double swing bridge was completed in 1954 but the 1956 Anglo-Franco-Israeli war with Egypt severed rail traffic across the canal for a third time. A replacement bridge

2028-495: The Suez Canal , crossing into African Egypt: Suez Governorate on the southern end of the Suez Canal, Ismailia Governorate in the center, and Port Said Governorate in the north. In the classical era, the region was known as Arabia Petraea . The peninsula acquired the name Sinai in modern times due to the assumption that a mountain near Saint Catherine's Monastery is the Biblical Mount Sinai . Mount Sinai

2106-526: The Suez province are being studied as a result of enlarging the Suez Canal capacity, such as building a new industrial zone, fish farms , and the completion of the Valley of Technology (wadi al thechnologia). The project cost around 30 billion Egyptian pounds (approximately 4.2 billion dollars) and no foreign investors were allowed to invest in the project, but rather Egyptians were urged to participate in funding

2184-661: 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 Bar Lev Line , Israel's defensive line along the Suez Canal's east bank. Though the Egyptians maintained control of most of the east bank of the Suez Canal, in the later stages of the war, the Israeli military crossed the southern section of the Suez Canal, cutting off

2262-422: The 1970s when former Egyptian Minister of Housing, Hassaballah El Kafrawy proposed the project to President Anwar al Sadat . Due to various problems, the project failed to start. He proposed the project again to President Hosni Mubarak in the 1990s, but to no avail. Hassaballah El Kafrawy sought to turn the canal corridor into an international logistics region rather than just a passageway for ships. In 2008,

2340-800: The Arabic term for the mountain where the prophet Moses received the Tablets of the Law from God, thus this mountain is designated as " Jabal Aṭ-Ṭūr ( Arabic : جبل الطّور )", and the town is also the capital of the South Sinai Governorate of Egypt . As another Arabic word for "mass of very high land going up to a peak – mountain" is "Ṭūr". The English name came from Latin, ultimately from Hebrew סִינַי‎, pronounced /siˈnái/ ( see- NIGH , in English phonetic spelling). In English ,

2418-704: The Israelis had founded as Ofira during their occupation of the Sinai Peninsula) was not dismantled. The Treaty allows monitoring of Sinai by the Multinational Force and Observers , and limits the number of Egyptian military forces in the peninsula. Article 2 of Annex I of the Peace Treaty called for the Sinai Peninsula to be divided into zones. Within these zones, Egypt and Israel were permitted varying degrees of military buildup: Since

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2496-585: The New Suez Canal project would operate within a year (instead of the original plan of three years). The project's authority projected revenues of the canal to increase from 5 billion dollars to 12.5 billion dollars annually. The new canal channel and the seven (7) tunnels were under construction simultaneously. Construction of the rest of the projects (which included building the city, industrial zone, "technology valley", and fish farms) began in February 2015. The Suez Canal Corridor Developing Project dates back to

2574-597: The Pharaoh was carried off in captivity to Susa in Persia. Rhinocorura ( Greek for " Cut-off Noses ") and the eponymous region around it were used by Ptolemaid Egypt as a place of banishment for criminals, today known as Arish . After the death of the last Nabatean king, Rabbel II Soter , in 106, the Roman emperor Trajan faced practically no resistance and conquered the kingdom on 22 March 106. With this conquest,

2652-497: The Sinai Peninsula. The Jewish Encyclopedia (1901-1906) quotes a Rabbinic source , the 8th- or 9th-century Pirke De-Rabbi Eliezer , which derives the name from the biblical Hebrew word seneh ( Hebrew : סֶ֫נֶּה ), a word only known from two occurrences in the Hebrew Bible , in both cases referring to the burning bush . Rabbi Eliezer opines that Mount Horeb only received the name Sinai after God appeared to Moses in

2730-493: The Suez Canal. Port Said alone has a population of roughly 500,000 people (January 2013). Portions of the populations of Ismailia and Suez live in west Sinai, while the rest live on the western side of the Suez Canal. The population of Sinai has largely consisted of desert-dwelling Bedouins with their colourful traditional costumes and significant culture. Large numbers of Egyptians from the Nile Valley and Delta moved to

2808-680: The area to work in tourism, but development adversely affected the native Bedouin population. In order to help alleviate their problems, various NGOs began to operate in the region, including the Makhad Trust , a UK charity that assists the Bedouin in developing a sustainable income while protecting Sinai's natural environment, heritage and culture. Since the Israeli–Egyptian peace treaty, Sinai's scenic spots (including coral reefs offshore) and religious structures have become important to

2886-518: The budgets laid out for the project. Egyptian officials, especially the chairman of the Suez Canal Authority , Vice-Admiral Mohab Mamish , stated that the $ 8.2 billion project, which expands capacity to 97 ships per day, will more than double annual revenues to some $ 13.5 billion by 2023. That, however, would require yearly growth of 10%. A recent forecast from the IMF suggests that in

2964-404: The builders for this project. The Al-Nasr floating bridge to enable easy travel between Port Said and Port Fouad was built successfully and inaugurated in late 2016. The bridge extends from opposite banks, with the help of tugboats that push both parts until they connect to form a bridge that can be traversed by cars. It is 420 metres (1,380 ft) long. This was an important step towards

3042-441: The canal aboard an Egyptian Navy destroyer. In 1979, Egypt and Israel signed a peace treaty in which Israel agreed to withdraw from the entirety of the Sinai Peninsula. 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 that the coastal city of Sharm el-Sheikh (which

3120-680: The center of conflict between Egypt and various states of Mesopotamia and Asia Minor . In periods of foreign occupation, the Sinai was, like the rest of Egypt, also occupied and controlled by foreign empires, in more recent history the Ottoman Empire ( 1517–1867 ) and the United Kingdom ( 1882–1956 ). Israel invaded and occupied Sinai during the Suez Crisis (known in Egypt as the Tripartite Aggression due to

3198-519: The completion of the new Suez Canal to serve more ships. Some of this article is from Rose al-Yūsuf magazine. Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula , or simply Sinai ( / ˈ s aɪ n aɪ / SY -ny ; Arabic : سِينَاء ; Egyptian Arabic : سينا ; Coptic : Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ ), is a peninsula in Egypt , and the only part of the country located in Asia . It is between the Mediterranean Sea to

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3276-404: The decade up to 2016 the annual rate of growth for global merchandise trade will have averaged 3.4%. About 18 scientists writing in the academic journal Biological Invasions in 2014 expressed concern about the project impacting the biodiversity and the ecosystem services of the Mediterranean Sea . They called on Egypt to assess the environmental effects that the canal expansion could cause,

3354-493: The development of the tech industry. Additionally, seven new tunnels were built between Sinai , Ismailia, and Port Said, and improvements were made to five existing ports. The project also included the creation of new centers for logistics and ship services, and the digging of a new canal parallel to the Suez Canal. The purpose of the new canal was to increase capacity by allowing ships to sail in both directions simultaneously. Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced that

3432-492: The early 2000s, Sinai has been the site of several terror attacks against tourists , the majority of whom are Egyptian. Investigations have shown that these were mainly motivated by a 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. (See 2004 Sinai bombings , 2005 Sharm El Sheikh bombings and 2006 Dahab bombings ). Since

3510-590: The east but without a bridge spanning it. Without a second bridge, the railway across El Ferdan bridge is a dead end. Initially, a plan was in place to construct a new railway tunnel in the Ismailia region (and another near Port Said is planned) in order to reconnect the Sinai to the rest of Egypt's rail network. However, Kamel ElWazir , who was at that time the head of the Egyptian Armed Forces - Engineering corps , announced that due to high costs

3588-501: The east. The existing bridge over the western shipping lane would be converted from a single-track railway to a double-track railway . This was near completion in October 2023. 30°39′25″N 32°20′2″E  /  30.65694°N 32.33389°E  / 30.65694; 32.33389  ( El Ferdan Railway Bridge ) New Suez Canal The Suez Canal Corridor Area Project ( Arabic : مشروع تطوير محور قناة السويس )

3666-533: The eastern side of the peninsula to travel to and from Israel, effectively imposing a blockade on the Israeli port of Eilat . In October 1956, in what is known in Egypt as the Tripartite Aggression , Israel Defense Forces troops, aided by the United Kingdom and France (which sought to reverse the nationalization and regain control over the Suez Canal), invaded Sinai and occupied much of the peninsula within

3744-447: The efficient movement of equipment and manpower. The technology valley is an ongoing project that was paused for 17 years and now the government announced plans to continue the project. The project's location lies on the eastern part of Ismaïlia city and consists of four stages: the first stage covers 3,021 acres (1,223 ha), the second stage covers 4,082 acres (1,652 ha), the third stage covers 4,837 acres (1,957 ha), and

3822-407: The former French President François Hollande . The New Suez Canal is expected to expand trade along the fastest shipping route between Europe and Asia. The new canal allows ships to sail in both directions at the same time. This decreases transit time from 18 to 11 hours for most ships. The expansion is expected to double the capacity of the Suez Canal from 49 to 97 ships a day. The New Suez Canal

3900-650: The former Minister of Transportation, Mohamed Mansour again proposed the project. However, the Egyptian government again did not initiate the project. In 2012, the Muslim Brotherhood introduced a development project for the Suez Canal region during the presidential elections. In 2013, Prime Minister Hesham Qandil announced that the government would begin planning for the project. Orascom Construction Industries The New Suez Canal ( Egyptian Arabic : قناة السويس الجديدة Kanāt El Sewēs El Gedīda )

3978-427: The fourth stage covers 4,160 acres (1,680 ha). However, when the project started it completed only 108 acres and then was put on hold. The completed technology valley will be the first step in starting Egypt 's electronics industry for manufacturing technological devices. The industrial zone project will cover 910 acres of land northwest of the Gulf of Suez. The first stage of the project covers 132 acres and it

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4056-410: The modern name is a source of contention (see Biblical Mount Sinai for a fuller discussion). The name Sinai ( Hebrew : סִינַי , Classical Syriac : ܣܝܢܝ ) may have been derived from the ancient Mesopotamian moon-god Sin . The moon-deity Sin is associated with the area; the ancient Egyptian moon-god Thoth is also associated with Sin, and his worship was widespread throughout the south tip of

4134-520: The name is now usually pronounced / ˈ s aɪ n aɪ / . An alternative, now dated pronunciation in English was / ˈ s aɪ n ɪ aɪ / SY -nih-eye . Sinai is triangular in shape, with its northern shore lying on the southern Mediterranean Sea , and its southwest and southeast shores on the Gulf of Suez and the Gulf of Aqaba of the Red Sea . It is linked to the African continent by

4212-525: The north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a land bridge between Asia and Africa . Sinai has a land area of about 60,000 km (23,000 sq mi) (6 percent of Egypt's total area) and a population of approximately 600,000 people. Administratively, the vast majority of the area of the Sinai Peninsula is divided into two governorates : the South Sinai Governorate and the North Sinai Governorate . Three other governorates span

4290-768: The official revenues reports for three months after the opening. It then published two reports for August and September, which showed consecutive decreases in the total Suez Canal revenues by 10% or $ 150 million. In 2014, the former chairman of the Suez Canal Authority, Mohab Mamish , announced that seven new tunnels will be dug to connect the Sinai Peninsula to the Egyptian homeland. Three tunnels will be dug in Port Said (two for cars and one for railways) and four will be dug in Ismaïlia (two for cars, one for railways, and one for other special uses). The tunnels will cost 4.2 billion dollars (approximately about 30 billion Egyptian pounds). The first three tunnels will cost 18 billion Egyptian pounds and Arab Contractors and Orascom are

4368-450: The plans for a new tunnel would be scrapped and that the Engineering Corps would seek other alternatives including moving the existing bridge to a narrow section of the canal at El-Qantara . However, the final decision was made in 2017 to keep the existing bridge at its current location and build a new double-track railway bridge (based on the current El Ferdan bridge design) across the new, eastern shipping lane several hundred meters to

4446-403: The port and announced the plan to build a new 1.3  km dock to work with more than 1 million containers yearly. It also said that a general goods center will be built. The port serves the oil and gas fields in the region. It exports products from the petrochemicals and refining factories in the Ain-Sokhna region. It also exports the products of a ceramic factory, an ammonia factory, and

4524-418: The port is 12 million tons yearly. East Port lies on the northwestern entrance of the Suez Canal and is an important link between the East and Europe. The port was built in 2004 to serve international trading and act as a transit center between the continents. The port borders the Mediterranean Sea from the north, the industrial zone from the south, the salty lakes from the east, and the Suez Canal branch from

4602-496: The port was no longer controlled by the Port Said port authority, the Ministry of Defence took control of it due to its sensitive location. The port contains a lighthouse that can be seen from up to 18 miles (29 km). The main importance of the port is that it exports Sinai products to the Mediterranean countries. New projects include: El-Adabiya Port lies on the western side of the Suez Canal, about 17  km from Suez City. The Red Sea Ports Authority in Egypt controls

4680-449: The port. El-Adabiya Port consists of 9 docks which reach 1840m long and 42–27 feet (12.8–8.2 m) deep. the water area is about 158  square km (which is also shared with the Suez Canal port and Petroleum Dock port) and the land area is 0.8  square km. The maximum carrying capacity of the port reaches 6.7 million tons yearly. In 2014, the Suez Canal Corridor Project Authority announced that El-Adabiya Port will be improved after

4758-421: The project through bank certificates of deposit initially yielding 12%, later raised to 15.5%. The Egyptian Armed Forces participated in the project by helping in digging and designing the canal. The enlarged capacity allows ships to sail in both directions at the same time over much of the canal's length. Beforehand, much of the canal was only one shipping lane wide, with limited wider basins for passing. This

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4836-405: The project was to be financed through a stock market IPO , allowing partial private ownership of the project. However, the government quickly changed its financing strategy, relying on interest-bearing investment certificates that do not confer any ownership rights to investors. The certificates were issued by the Suez Canal Authority with an interest rate of 12%. The government blocked access to

4914-417: The rest of Egypt in 1805. In 1906, the Ottoman Porte formally transferred administration of Sinai to the Khedivate of Egypt , which essentially meant that it fell under the control of the British Empire , who had occupied and largely controlled Egypt since the 1882 Anglo-Egyptian War . The border imposed by the British runs in an almost straight line from Rafah on the Mediterranean shore to Taba on

4992-403: The shape of a burning bush. Its modern Arabic name is سِينَاء Sīnāʼ  ( Egyptian Arabic سينا Sīna ; IPA: [ˈsiːnæ] ). The modern Arabic is an adoption of the Biblical name; the 19th-century Arabic designation of Sinai was Jebel el-Tūr , and the name of the mountain is derived from the town of El Tor (formerly called "Tur Sinai"), whose name comes from

5070-414: The simultaneous coordinated attack by the UK, France and Israel) of 1956, and during the Six-Day War of 1967. On 6 October 1973, Egypt launched the Yom Kippur War , seizing most of the east bank of the Suez Canal and negotiating the rest of Sinai. In 1982, as a result of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty of 1979, Israel withdrew from all of the Sinai Peninsula except the contentious territory of Taba , which

5148-405: The southern coast. Inland Sinai is arid (effectively a desert), mountainous and sparsely populated, the largest settlements being Saint Catherine and Nekhel . Sinai is one of the coldest provinces in Egypt because of its high altitudes and mountainous topographies. Winter temperatures in some of Sinai's cities and towns reach −16 °C (3 °F). A cave with paintings of people and animals

5226-532: The tourism industry. The most popular tourist destination in Sinai are Mount Sinai ( Jabal Musa ) and St Catherine's Monastery , which is considered to be the oldest working Christian monastery in the world, and the beach resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh , Dahab , Nuweiba and Taba . Most tourists arrive at Sharm El Sheikh International Airport , through Eilat, Israel and the Taba Border Crossing , by road from Cairo or by ferry from Aqaba in Jordan. Cacti – especially cactus pears – are grown in Sinai. They are

5304-416: The west bank of the canal, led to high civilian casualties (including the virtual destruction of Suez), and contributed to the flight of 700,000 Egyptian internal refugees. Ultimately, the war concluded in 1970 with no change in the front line. On 6 October 1973, Egypt commenced Operation Badr to retake the Sinai, while Syria launched a simultaneous operation to retake the Golan Heights, thereby beginning

5382-427: The west. The port covers an area of 35 square km. The port authority plans to build docks that will reach 12  km long and an industrial zone south of the port covering 78 square km. Three stages are remaining to fully complete and improve the port: Ain-Sokhna Port lies at the southern entrance of the Suez Canal . The port's total size is 24,919,337.85 square m: In 2008, DP World , an Emirati company bought

5460-407: The withdrawal without Security Council authorisation. In the course of the Six-Day War that broke out shortly thereafter, Israel occupied the entire Sinai Peninsula , and Gaza Strip from Egypt, the West Bank (including East Jerusalem ) from Jordan (which Jordan had controlled since 1949 ), and the Golan Heights from Syria . The Suez Canal, the east bank of which was now occupied by Israel,

5538-421: Was a megaproject in Egypt that was launched on 5 August 2014 by President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and was completed in 2015. The project aimed to increase the role of the Suez Canal region in international trade and to develop the canal cities of Suez , Ismailia , and Port Said . The project involved the construction of a new city, Ismailia , along with an industrial zone and fish farms, aimed at promoting

5616-525: Was closed. Israel commenced efforts at large scale Israeli settlement in the Sinai Peninsula. Following the Israeli conquest of Sinai, Egypt launched the War of Attrition (1967–70) aimed at forcing Israel to withdraw from the Sinai. The war saw protracted conflict in the Suez Canal Zone, ranging from limited to large-scale combat. Israeli shelling of the cities of Port Said , Ismailia , and Suez on

5694-472: Was completed in 1963 which was destroyed in 1967 in the Six-Day War by the Egyptian engineering General Ahmed Hamdy . In July 1996, a consortium led by German Krupp was awarded a $ US70 million contract to design and build the bridge, raised to $ 80 million to increase the main span from 320 to 340 m (1,050 to 1,120 ft). The current bridge was constructed in 2001. The El Ferdan Railway Bridge

5772-535: Was discovered about 30 kilometres (19 mi) north of Mount Catherine in January 2020, dates back to the Chalcolithic Period, c.  5th –4th millennium BCE. From the time of the First Dynasty or before, the Egyptians mined turquoise in Sinai at two locations, now called by their Egyptian Arabic names Wadi Maghareh and Serabit el-Khadim . The mines were worked intermittently and on

5850-618: Was part of a major drive to develop the areas surrounding the Suez Canal , including other projects such as the Ahmed Hamdi Tunnel under the Suez Canal (completed in 1983), the Suez Canal overhead powerline crossing , and the Suez Canal Bridge (completed in 2001, roughly 12 miles north of the El Ferdan Railway Bridge). The parallel New Suez Canal was excavated in 2014/2015 a short distance to

5928-496: Was returned after a ruling by a commission of arbitration in 1989. Today, Sinai has become a tourist destination due to its natural setting, rich coral reefs , and biblical history. Because the Sinai Peninsula was the main region where mining of turquoise was carried out in Ancient Egypt, it was called Biau (the "Mining Country") and Khetiu Mafkat ("Ladders of Turquoise") by the ancient Egyptians. The origin of

6006-723: Was scheduled to take three years, was instead ordered by the President to be completed in a year. The chairman of the Suez Canal Authority announced that the revenues from the Suez Canal (after the completion of the New Suez Canal) will jump from 5 billion dollars to 12.5 billion dollars annually. The Egyptian government said that these revenues will be used to transform the cities along the Canal ( Ismaïlia , Suez , and Port Said ) into international trading centers. The government has also said that many new projects in

6084-486: Was under the control of Fatimid Caliphate . Later, Sultan Saladin abolished the Fatimid Caliphate in Egypt and took this region under his control too. It was the military route from Cairo to Damascus during the Crusades. And in order to secure this route, he built a citadel on the island of Pharaoh (near present Taba) known by his name ' Saladin's Citadel '. The peninsula was governed as part of Egypt under

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