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hemmed in by the Raʾs Naṣrānī cape on the west and

by Tiran Island on the east. After Israel’s War of

Independence (1948–49), Egyptian guns were

installed in the area to prevent shipping from reaching

Elat, Israel’s only port on the Gulf of Aqaba. The

installations were captured by Israelis in the Sinai

Campaign of 1956 (see Suez Crisis), and the bay and

strait were guarded by a United Nations Emergency

Force from 1957 to 1967. Egypt’s withdrawal of the

UN force and its closure of the strait in May 1967

helped precipitate the Six-Day War of June 1967.

Following that war, Israel again occupied the area

until Israeli forces withdrew from the Sinai

Peninsula in the early 1980s in fulfillment of

the Camp David Accords peace agreement negotiated

with the Egyptians.

The development of the area as a recreational and

tourist site began under the Israeli administration and

was continued by the Egyptian government. Today

luxury resorts, restaurants, and nightclubs line the

coast. The area’s clear water and extensive coral reefs
have made Sharm el-Sheikh a popular site for

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