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One of Egypt's governorates, located north of the Sinai Peninsula, it enjoys a unique strategic location, being the only land crossing between the continents of Asia and Africa. It has formed, throughout the ages, a vital trade route between East and West, a theater of military operations, and a passage for armies and pilgrim caravans.

It played a pivotal role in the region after the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, as it became the first line of defense against Israeli expansionist ambitions to the west, the only outlet for the Gaza Strip to the world following the stifling Israeli siege, and the nominated destination in the Israeli project to settle the population of Gaza.

Location and space

North Sinai Governorate is located in northeastern Egypt, and is bordered to the north by the Mediterranean Sea. It extends east along the Egyptian international border with occupied Palestine, and west from the village of Baloza in the north, all the way to the Mitla Pass in the south. Its southern border represents the line extending from the Mitla Pass to Ras Negev.

This governorate accommodates about the northern half of the Sinai Peninsula, with an area estimated at about 27.5 thousand square kilometers, or 2.8% of the total area of ​​Egypt. It is surrounded by 4 governorates: Port Said, Ismailia, and Suez from the west, South Sinai Governorate from the southern side, and from the east. It is bordered by the Gaza Strip and the Negev Desert in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Landforms

The natural surface features in North Sinai Governorate are characterized by two main types:

  • Coastal plains:

    They extend north along the White Sea, with a length of approximately 220 km, and a depth ranging between 20 and 40 km. It is a flat land covered by sand dunes, and there are many valleys, springs, and rainwater tributaries.

  • Central Sinai Plateaus

    : It covers the rest of the governorate in the center and south. It is an area of ​​plateaus, and has a number of intermittent high mountains, such as “Yalq” Mountain, which reaches a height of 1,094 meters, and “Al-Halal” Mountain, which rises 881 meters above sea level.

The mountain highlands are interspersed with a group of valleys, the largest of which is Wadi Al-Arish, which extends from the south of the governorate to its north, and empties into the Mediterranean Sea at the city of Al-Arish.

the climate

The climate of Sinai Governorate changes depending on the geographical region. Its northern coastal areas enjoy a Mediterranean climate, and it gradually changes as we head south, becoming desert and semi-desert, and temperatures and rainfall vary accordingly.

The climate is generally warm in winter and hot in summer, and the rate of precipitation increases as we go north, especially the northeastern side, where the annual precipitation rate ranges between 200 and 300 millimetres.

Sinai border with the Gaza Strip (Reuters)

Administrative division

Sinai was divided in 1979 into two governorates: South Sinai and North Sinai.

The latter now includes 6 administrative centers: “Rafah,” “Bir al-Abd,” “Al-Arish,” “Sheikh Zuweid,” “Nakhl,” and “Al-Hasana.”

The centers include 84 villages and 556 affiliated areas.

The capital of this governorate is the city of Al-Arish, and the center of Bir al-Abd comes first in terms of area, followed by the center of Rafah.

Population

The population of North Sinai Governorate is 450,531 people, according to estimates by the Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics, in January 2024, equivalent to about 0.5% of the total population in the country.

The governorate has a low population density, and the population tends to settle in coastal areas and urban centers. According to indicators of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, the inhabited area does not exceed 7.2% of the total area of ​​the governorate.

Importance

North Sinai Governorate enjoys a distinctive strategic location, as it is the only land corridor linking the continents of Asia and Africa, and thus represents a vital center for transportation, commercial movement, and land military campaigns between East and West, and it is the crossing point for pilgrim caravans from Africa to Hijaz.

At the local level, North Sinai is the eastern fortress of Egypt and the first strategic line of defense to protect it.

The region has historical and religious importance, as many civilizations were established on its land, which left a number of important historical sites. North Sinai was the crossing of the Prophet Abraham, peace be upon him, the place of the birth of his wife Hagar, the passage in the footsteps of the prophets Jacob, Joseph, Moses, and Aaron, peace be upon them, and the crossing of the Lady Mary with the Prophet Jesus, peace be upon them. Peace, and to the plateau of wandering, where the wandering of the children of Israel is attributed, which lasted for 40 years.

The governorate is also distinguished by its fertile agricultural lands and abundant water in the northern plains, in addition to the natural resources it stores such as oil, sulfur, gypsum, sodium, and silicon, as well as the distinctive fish wealth provided by the Mediterranean Sea and Lake Bardawil.

North Sinai has tourism potential, due to its beaches, warm climate, and low pollution, which represents an ideal environment for entertainment and water sports.

The desert environment and its natural reserves represent an attraction for desert lovers and migratory bird watching.

the date

Since prehistoric times, the rulers of Egypt realized the importance of North Sinai as a shield to protect the country from its eastern side. The Pharaohs fortified the region, built castles and towers, and reinforced it with military garrisons, to secure the borders from invasion, and to protect trade routes, because it was considered an important rest stop for commercial caravans, and a place for commercial exchange.

At the same time, a corridor for Egyptian armies on their way to fight in Palestine and beyond.

During periods of weakness of the Pharaohs, the peoples of the East invaded Egypt through Sinai. The Assyrians entered through it in the eighth century BC, then the Persians in 525 BC.

In 333 BC, Alexander the Great entered North Sinai and camped in Qatiya, which is known in some history books as “Alexander’s Maasr,” and then set out from there to take control of Egypt. After his death in 323 BC, the era of the Ptolemies began, who took Sinai as a crossing point for their armies to Palestine.

Raising the Egyptian flag over Sinai in the October 1973 War (social networking sites - archive)

In 169 BC, the Nabataeans extended their influence on the trade route north of Sinai, and in 30 BC, the Romans took control of the region, built castles along the coastal road leading to the Levant, and attached a military garrison to it, and Sinai remained under their control until the Islamic conquest entered it during the reign of the Caliph. Al-Rashed Omar bin Al-Khattab, may God be pleased with him.

The leader Amr bin Al-Aas (may God be pleased with him) entered Rafah in the year 639, then conquered Al-Arish and then Al-Farma, before Islamic rule spread throughout the country.

In the Islamic era, Sinai occupied an important position, as it was a major route for pilgrim caravans, and through it the Muslim armies led by Saladin set out to liberate Jerusalem from the Crusaders, and the Muslims built forts and castles there to secure pilgrimage and trade routes and repel the aggression coming from the East.

the modern history

Napoleon Bonaparte's armies invaded North Sinai, seizing Qatiya and Al-Arish in 1799, and from there they set out to occupy the Levant.

In 1800, the Ottomans and French signed the Treaty of El Arish, which stipulated the French withdrawal from Egypt.

Muhammad Ali Pasha took over the rule of Egypt in 1805, and Sinai was placed under the supervision of the Egyptian army and military personnel. Then the Egyptian armies set out from there to seize Palestine, Syria, and then Anatolia, but they were forced to retreat to Egypt in 1840 following the Treaty of London.

In 1882, Britain occupied Egypt, and with it emerged Jewish ambitions to establish colonies in northern Sinai. After the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948, the Egyptian army invaded the eastern border across Sinai, and war broke out with Israel, which ended in the loss of the Arabs.

In 1956, Israel, France, and Britain allied against Egypt, in what is known as the tripartite aggression, and in that war, Israeli forces occupied Sinai.

Within a few months, an international emergency force was stationed in Sinai, and Israel withdrew its forces from there.

In 1967, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser mobilized Egyptian forces in Sinai, demanded that the United Nations withdraw international emergency forces, and then closed the Straits of Tiran and Sanafir to Israeli navigation.

As a result, war broke out, and Israel occupied Sinai, the Syrian Golan, and the Palestinian West Bank. In the same year, it built its first colony in Sinai (Nahal Yam), and the United Nations issued a resolution calling on Tel Aviv to withdraw from the lands it had occupied.

Israel did not submit to the international resolution. In 1973, Egyptian forces entered Sinai and destroyed the defensive fortifications that Israel had established under the name “Bar Lev Line.” More than two weeks later, the United Nations issued a resolution to stop the fighting, but Israel did not abide by it and resumed the attack.

In May 1974, the war officially ended with the signing of the Disengagement Agreement, and Israel agreed to return the eastern bank of the Suez Canal to Egypt.

The Israeli occupation remained in Sinai until 1979, when Egypt and Israel signed the “Camp David” Accord, according to which Israeli forces withdrew from the region in 3 stages.

The city of Rafah remained under occupation until 1982, at which point North Sinai Governorate came completely under Egyptian rule.

Gaza's gateway to the world and a resettlement project

North Sinai Governorate has formed a central hub regarding the developments and future of the Gaza Strip. Since Israel imposed a stifling siege on the Strip in 2007, North Sinai Governorate has become a haven for Gazans to obtain their basic needs, and the Rafah Crossing has become the Strip’s only outlet to the world.

With the imposition of severe restrictions on the Rafah crossing or its closure, Gazans were forced to seek refuge in North Sinai in other ways.

In early 2008, after the Rafah crossing was closed for more than 6 months, thousands of Palestinians were forced to cross the Egyptian border, after part of the border wall was destroyed, to secure their needs for food, fuel, and other supplies.

As the siege continued for years, the Gazans invented the method of digging tunnels under the border to reach Egyptian Rafah and obtain their basic needs.

Following the “Al-Aqsa Flood” battle, which began in October 2023, and the subsequent Israeli aggression against the Gaza Strip, the Israeli plan calling for the displacement of Gazans to North Sinai re-emerged, after it had been repeatedly aborted in the past.

The Israeli authorities began to push the population south towards the Egyptian border.

At the same time, the Egyptian authorities remained adamant in their position of rejecting the forced displacement of the residents of Gaza, and pushing them to migrate to Sinai.

Economy

North Sinai Governorate contributes about 1.8% to Egypt's gross domestic product, and its real growth rate is about 3.2%.

Oil represents the largest sector of its economy at an estimated rate of 82%, while the services sector amounts to 5%, and manufacturing industries represent 4% of its economic activity, and 9% is distributed among other sectors, including agriculture, fishing, and tourism.

(Indicators of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, December 2020).

The building of the oldest library in Sinai (Al Jazeera)

The percentage of the population below the poverty line in this governorate is higher than the general percentage in the country, which reached 32.5% in 2017 and 2018. It reached 38.4% in the governorate in the same period.

The unemployment rate among males is 32.3%, and it increases among females to 73.6%.

(Indicators of the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development, December 2018).

Highlights

North Sinai Governorate includes many prominent landmarks, the most famous of which are:

  • Pelusium Archaeological Area (Al-Farma)

    : It is considered the most important archaeological site in North Sinai. It is located north of the village of Baloza. The area includes the archaeological city, which includes a large theater and a castle dating back to the Roman era and a group of baths, in addition to a group of archaeological hills, such as the Hill of Churches and the Hill of Martyrs. .

  • Archaeological hills

    : The governorate includes a number of archaeological hills dating back to different eras, including Pharaonic, Nabataean, Roman, and Islamic, such as: Darwish Hill, Qasrawit Hill, Muhammadiyat Hill, and Karama Hill.

  • Al-Arish Castle

    : It is the only remaining landmark in the city of Al-Arish. It was built by Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent in 1560, on the ruins of an ancient Pharaonic castle. It included a well, a garden, and soldiers’ quarters.

  • Al-Zaraniq Reserve

    : It is located in the eastern side of Lake Bardawil. Its area is about 250 square kilometers. It is famous for being a center for the passage of migratory birds. Some birds also reside and breed there permanently. It is considered a suitable area for laying the eggs of the endangered green sea turtles.

Source: Al Jazeera + websites