About Sharm El Sheikh

Sharm el-Sheikh is on a promontory overlooking the Straits of Tiran at the mouth of the Gulf of Aqaba. Its strategic importance led to its transformation from a fishing village into a major port and naval base for the Egyptian Navy. It was captured by Israel during the Sinai conflict of 1956 and restored to Egypt in 1957. A United Nations peacekeeping force was subsequently stationed there until the 1967 Six-Day War when it was recaptured by Israel. Sharm el-Sheikh remained under Israeli control until the Sinai peninsula was returned to Egypt in 1982 after the Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty of 1979. An Israeli Settlement had been created there in the 1970's under the name "Ophira", derived from Biblical Ophir. Israeli settlers there had the name of being easy-going, bohemian types and - unlike settlers elsewhere - offered no resistance when evacuated in 1982. Also, unlike the Israeli settlements in North Sinai which were razed to the ground upon evacuation by order of then Defence Minister Ariel Sharon, the Israeli settlement at Sharm el-Sheikh was handed intact to the Egyptians, and some of the buildings erected at the time are still in evidence. A herearchical planning approach was adopted for the Gulf of Aqaba, whereby their components were evaluated and subdivided into zones, cities and centers. In accordance with this approach, the Gulf of Aqaba zone was subdivided into four cities: Taba, Nuweiba, Dahab and Sharm El-Sheikh. Sharm El-Sheikh city has been subdivided into five homogeneous centers namely: Nabq, Ras Nusrani, Naama Bay, Umm Sid and Sharm El Maya.