LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Suez Canal: Sinai Peninsula
built 605 days ago
Transitting the Suez Canal is quite an enthralling experience. For the ten hour journey, covering the 200 kilometres between Port Suez and Port Said, there is always something of interest to see. On the eastern side the barren Sinai Desert stopped right at the edge of the canal, and a few kilometers away trucks could be seen on the main highway running south to Sharm el Sheikh. On the western side, towns and villages lined the banks most of the way up the canal, benefiting from the extensive Nile delta irrigation systems.
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The Suez Canal runs 100 miles between the sand dunes of the Sinai Peninsula and the Nile River delta. Cruise ships often dock toward the canal's north end at Port Said, a gateway to Cairo. From the port of Safaga at the south end, passengers are offered shore excursions to the ancient city of Luxor, where Tutankhamen was entombed.
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The war began with an Israeli attack across the Sinai Peninsula followed by a British French assault against the Suez Canal itself. Although it was denied at the time, all three countries had joined in planning the invasion. The Egyptian army was no match for the combined invading forces. Israel controlled the hold on the Sinai within a day and the Anglo French forces quickly captured the canal. The international outcry against the Suez crisis invasion was swift. The United States was harshly critical of its traditional allies and led a censure movement at the United Nations.
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These actions were the key factors in the Israeli decision to launch a pre-emptive all out attack on Egypt in June 1967, and to capture the Sinai Peninsula to the Suez Canal. After the 1967 Arab-Israeli war... called the Six Day War, the canal was closed by an Egyptian blockade until 5 June 1975. As a result, fourteen cargo ships known as "The Yellow Fleet" remained trapped in the canal for over eight years. In 1973, during the Yom Kippur War, the canal was the scene of a major crossing by the Egyptian army into Israeli-occupied Sinai, which was followed by an Israeli counteroffensive which ended in the cutting off of the Egyptian Third Army. Many pieces of sun-bleached wreckage from this conflict can still be seen along the edge of the canal.
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On July 26, 1956, Egypt seized the canal, which caused Britain, France and Israel to invade in the week-long Suez War. The United Nations declared the canal Egyptian property. After the Six Day War in 1967, the canal remained closed until 1975. A UN peacekeeping force has been stationed in the Sinai Peninsula since 1974.
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