| Yamit ימית |
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Yamit
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| Coordinates: | |
| Country | Egypt |
| Population (2010) | |
| • Total | 0 (2,500 pre April 23, 1,982) |
Yamit (Hebrew: ימית) was an Israeli settlement in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula[1] with a population of about 2,500 people .The settlement was established during Israel's occupation of the peninsula from the end of the 1967 Six-Day War, until that part of the Sinai was handed over to Egypt in 1982 as part of the terms of the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.
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Located in the Rafah Plain region south of the Gaza Strip, Yamit was envisioned as a large city and seaport. Its location served to create an Israeli-populated buffer zone between the Gaza Strip and the Sinai peninsula. Despite efforts to promote Yamit's newly-built, relatively affordable housing, the settlement failed to attract enough residents to make it a seaport. Upon the signing of the peace treaty with Egypt, it became clear to residents that Yamit's days were numbered, and most accepted compensation and evacuated within two years. A minority of residents who chose to stay were joined by nationalist supporters, who moved in to boost their numbers.
The decision to build the town was adopted by Israeli government in September 1973. Some 10.000 Bedouins that inhabited the area, were in January 1972 evicted from their lands and driven by Israeli army to the desert. Homes, mosques, schools and orchards were bulldozed.[2]
The evacuation of Yamit was the part of final stage of Israeli evacuation from Sinai. It was carried out in the face of powerful domestic opposition in Israel. Moshe Arens (Likud), the head of Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and professor Yuval Ne'eman, the leader of rigt-wing Tehiya party, led that opposition. They wanted to stop the evacuation and revoke peace treaty with Egypt and argued, that once Egypt will have all of Sinai in it's hand, it will cancel peace treaty with Israel and rejoin the rest of Arab world. [3]
Yamit was evacuated on April 23, 1982, amid resistance by some Yamit settlers. Some residents barricaded themselves on the rooftops before being dragged into buses by Israeli soldiers. [4] Political extremists from rest of the country infiltrated Yamit to demonstrate their solidarity and sabotage the withdrawal [3]. Among the more extreme examples of resistance were the disciples of Rabbi Meir Kahane, who vowed to take their own lives rather than surrender. After the personal intervention of Kahane, they agreed to leave.
The initial agreement between Israel and Egypt stipulated that Egypt would pay $80 million for the houses and infrastructure of Yamit. However, Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin (not Ariel Sharon as often thought) decided at the last minute to destroy the settlement instead, following Egyptian refusals to comply. According to the Israeli ambassador to Egypt at the time, Moshe Sasson, Begin feared that the Israeli settlers would return to their homes surreptitiously and a disastrous clash between them and the Egyptians might occur. One suggestion was that Sharon deliberately made the whole process more traumatic then it needed to be, so that the Israeli public would refuse the dismantling of other settlements even for the sake of peace [3]. The decision to raze the settlement caused substantial ill will towards Israel among the Egyptian public.
In Israel, this precedent of Israelis forcibly evicted from their homes by Israeli forces is considered a socio-political landmark, causing and/or signifying the widening rift in Israel between the religious nationalist Jews (such as NRP supporters) and left-wing Israelis; it is one of the many fractures which the Israeli society has to deal with today, especially following similar events seen in Israel's disengagement from Gaza in 2005.
Since the demolition, the only structure that remains visible is a skeleton of the main synagogue, which contains no visible Jewish symbols. The eviction of Israeli civilians and military from Yamit and the Sinai peninsula is considered as a precedent for Israel's policy of land for peace, exemplified in the Oslo Accords, the Gaza Disengagement, and the now-shelved Realignment plan.
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