Loading ...The Sinai, A New Palestinian Homeland?
Associated Press:
JERUSALEM — An Israeli government ministry has drafted a wartime proposal to transfer the Gaza Strip’s 2.3 million people to Egypt’s Sinai peninsula, drawing condemnation from the Palestinians and worsening tensions with Cairo.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office played down the report compiled by the Intelligence Ministry as a hypothetical exercise — a “concept paper.” But its conclusions deepened long-standing Egyptian fears that Israel wants to make Gaza into Egypt’s problem, and revived for Palestinians memories of their greatest trauma — the uprooting of hundreds of thousands of people who fled or were forced from their homes during the fighting surrounding Israel’s creation in 1948.
Below, is a map of the Sinai in yellow. You can see its naturally bounded by water on three sides. One of those sides is the Suez Canal at the top of the Gulf of Suez. This entire area is mostly built around tourism and it is fairly sparsly populated other than the cities of Sharm E Sheik and Suez. Bedouin are its traditional inhabitants although they are not nomadic these days. If you have ever traveled there you will know that much of the region is not easily accessed by Egyptians and all forms of transportation are closely monitored for signs of trouble. The region had been taken by Israel during the 1967 war but was handed back to Egypt in 1979. Since then its been more like an unofficial bufffer zone between the two states than an actual part of either Egypt of Israel.
The original agreed contracted terms of setting up Israel, included not to displace or interfere with the resident Palestinians, which the Zionists agreed to in writing, over 100 years ago.
If I were a Palestinian I would leap at the opportunity to start a new life in Sinai. Wide open spaces, ocean access everywhere, opportunities to farm where water can be found and there are already thousands of empty homes and hotel rooms that await.
Looks like a natural…but Egypt not interested
I’ve traveled through out the Sinai, they call it the Sinai desert for a reason, there is absolutely nothing there, you can’t grow anything, there is no water, no soil for any crops whatsoever, nothing. Don’t kid yourself….
That’as not quite true IHS. As it happens I lived in the Sinai and Egypt for two years. And another year at the edge of Gaza on one of the Kibbutzes that was attacked last month. I am very familiar with the region and its terrain. Yes it is dry. But did you think Gaza was a pastoral wilderness of lakes and rivers? Of course not. It has a seasonal Wadi that remains dry for most of the year where surface water is contained by a thin dam. But its not exactly potable water and its mostly used for waste purposes. Any development in Sinai would have to include the provision for fresh water conversions of sea water. Also known as desalination plants. The technology is already used in Israel and surrounding Arab nations. There is not any impediment to building similar facilities on the Mediterranean or Red Sea servicing Sinai (although the Red Sea is quite a bit saltier than normal oceans). So yes, the Sinai is inhabitable and its wide open and mostly empty. Why not establish a state there? Who in their right mind really wants to live in an open air prison and have bombs dropped on their homes every year?