Located at the tip of the Sinai Peninsula and commanding the passage to the Gulf of Aqaba, Sharm el Sheikh is sand-blown, sunbaked and heavy with symbolism and strategic significance. It played a major part in the events leading to the Six-Day War. At that time, Gamal Abdel Nasser threatened that Egyptian artillery at Sharm el Sheikh would sink any ship that ventured into the narrow Straits of Tiran en route to the Israeli port of Eilat, 130 miles to the north, which handles all of Israel's oil imports. Soon afterward, Israeli paratroopers and amphibious forces captured the fortifications. In the...
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