Word: arish
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After perfunctory haggling, we pile into a van for the next leg of the trip to El Arish. The tarmac has long ago been chewed up by Israeli armor. It leads to a moonscape of sand dunes that over the centuries has been traversed by Pharaonic armies, Roman legions, Crusaders and even Napoleon's troops. For vast stretches the only signs of life are camels and goats foraging for shrubs...
...twisted wreckage of rusty train cars signals the approach to the Sinai capital of El Arish. After twelve years of Israeli occupation, the town reverted to Egypt in May 1979. Many of the local people speak both Hebrew and Arabic and merchants hawk Israeli goods. At the frontier, travelers are greeted by a sign bearing the word PEACE. Passports are checked and at a makeshift customs depot bags are briskly inspected before a short bus ride across a no-man's land to the Israeli side...
Leaving El Arish behind, our hired Mercedes sedan speeds across the last sliver of Sinai territory, 28 miles wide, which Israel is to return to Egypt next year. The car cruises on through the rolling Israeli heartland and into the steep hills leading to Jerusalem. Soon the chunky stone fortifications of the Old City loom in the twilight. It has taken nine hours-and more than 30 years-to get there from Cairo...
...Camp David agreement, Israel removed the last of its troops and weaponry from the western two-thirds of the desert peninsula. For the next two years, until the final third of Sinai is returned to Egyptian control, the Israelis will be stationed east of the Ras Muhammad-El Arish interim line. No longer will Israeli forces command the strategic desert passes of Mitla and Giddi, which became the graveyard of Egyptian armor in 1967. With memories of the Six-Day War in mind, Israel's Chief of Staff, General Rafael Eitan, told his troops last week that "it took...
...mountains along the Gulf of Suez. According to the Israeli interpretation of the treaty, the hand-over was completed two months ahead of schedule, a reality that should have conveyed a sense of reciprocal good will. But, compared with the jubilation that accompanied Israel's pullback from El Arish in May, the ceremony this time was perfunctory. It was also overshadowed by a series of new Middle Eastern controversies and, most of all, by new political uncertainties in Israel...