Yamit (ימית) was an Israeli settlement in the Sinai Peninsula established during Israel's occupation of the peninsula from the end of the 1967Six Day War until that part of the Sinai was handed over to Egypt in 1982 as part of the terms of the Egypt–Israel peace treaty. Sinai Peninsula, Gulf of Suez (west), Gulf of Aqaba (east) from Space Shuttle STS-40 The Sinai Peninsula (in Arabic, Shibh Jazirat Sina) is a triangle-shaped peninsula lying between the Mediterranean Sea (to the north) and Red Sea (to the south). ... 1967 was a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The 1967 Arab-Israeli War, also known as the Six-Day War or June War, was fought between Israel and its Arab neighbors Egypt, Jordan, and Syria. ... 1982 is a common year starting on Friday of the Gregorian calendar. ...
Some Israelis settled in an unpopulated location and built a new town. They had good relations with the Bedouin residents of the Sinai. Bedouin resting at Mount Sinai Bedouin, derived from the Arabic badawi بدÙÙ, a generic name for a desert-dweller, is a term generally applied to Arab nomadic groups, who are found throughout most of the desert belt extending from the Atlantic coast of the Sahara via the Western Desert, Sinai, and...
The 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. 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 eventuate. The decision to raze the settlement caused substantial ill-will towards Israel amongst the Egyptian public. Menachem Begin on the front cover of TIME 1982. ... Ariel Sharon, the eleventh Prime Minister of Israel, spent many years in the Israel Defense Forces before being elected in March 2001. ...
YAMIT, Egypt (AP) - In this corner of the Sinai Peninsula, all that remains of Israel’s once soaring ambitions is the synagogue, standing alone in the rubble of homes and eroded playgrounds.
In Yamit - the name derives from the Hebrew for "sea" - dandelions grow between slabs of cement, and almond trees are arched from winds off the sea.
Chaim Erez, an Israeli commander in charge of the Yamit evacuation, said the demolition was a political decision.