Tiran Island

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Coordinates: 27°57′N 34°33′E / 27.950°N 34.550°E / 27.950; 34.550

The Strait of Tiran and Tiran Island
USBATT and SUPBATT soldiers prepare to leave Tiran Island. Mainland Saudi Arabia is visible in the background.

Tiran (Arabic: جزيرة تيران‎ Jazīrat Tīrān,[1] aka Jezîret Tīrān[2] and Yotvat Island,[3]) is an Egyptian-administered island that is also claimed by Saudi Arabia.[4] It is located at the entrance of the Straits of Tiran, which separates the Red Sea from the Gulf of Aqaba. It has an area of about 80 km2 (30 sq mi). It is part of the Ras Muhammad National Park. The definite sovereignty over Tiran Island is left unclear by both Egypt and Saudi Arabia, due to geostrategic reasons. The Straits of Tiran is Israel's only access from the Gulf of Aqaba to the Red Sea, and Egypt's blockade of the Straits of Tiran on 22 May 1967 was the casus belli for Israel in the Six Day War. [5]

Tiran Island is of strategic significance in the area, as it forms the narrowest section of the Straits of Tiran, which is an important sea passage to the major ports of Aqaba in Jordan and Eilat in Israel. The island is currently only inhabited by military personnel from Egypt and the Multinational Force and Observers [MFO], although it has been inhabited during many centuries in the past.

Chisholm Point is a cape of Tiran Island.

Some theologists claim that Tiran Island is the location of the parting of the Red Sea described in the Book of Exodus in the Torah.[citation needed]

Israel briefly took over the island during the Suez Crisis and again between 1967 to 1982 following the events of the Six Day War. Procopius writes that there was an autonomous Jewish community on the island (then called Iotabe) until the sixth century AD, when it was conquered by the Byzantine Empire.[6] This history figured in Israeli rhetoric during the Suez Crisis.[7]

Some sources report that many beaches on the island are mined.[8]

Transport

The proposed Saudi-Egypt Causeway would pass through Tiran Island.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ "Jazīrat Tīrān: Egypt". Geographical Names. Retrieved 2011-03-04. 
  2. ↑ "Jezîret Tīrān: Saudi Arabia". Geographical Names. Retrieved 2011-03-04. 
  3. ↑ "Yotvat Island: Egypt". Geographical Names. Retrieved 2011-03-04. 
  4. ↑ CIA - The World Factbook
  5. ↑ Robert Priewasser, Tiran Island and Straits of Tiran. Unexplained Sovereignty over an Island in the Context of the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Saarbrücken: Akademikerverlag, 2013)
  6. ↑ History of the Wars I.xix.4
  7. ↑ The Legal Foundation and Borders of ... - Google Books
  8. ↑ http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/facility/tiran-island.htm Observation Post 3-11, Tiran Island

External links

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