On 19 March 1989, Egyptian sovereignty was restored over the Red Sea city of Taba in South Sinai.

Political analysts agree that Taba’s liberation from Israeli occupation in 1989 sent a strong message to the world: Egypt would protect its land using every means available, be it armed conflict, as in the 1969-1970 War of Attrition and the 1973 October War, or political and diplomatic action, as in the Egyptian-Israeli separation of forces in 1974, the Camp David accords in 1978, and the return of Taba in 1989.

Israel and Egypt finalised negotiations for the return of the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt on 19 January 1982, in line with the first peace treaty ever — signed by late president Anwar Al-Sadat in 1979 — between Israel and an Arab country. Israel then provoked a diplomatic crisis by refusing to hand back Taba.

Using false border maps, Israeli negotiators claimed that Taba was part of Israel, claiming the administrative border between Palestine and Egypt demarcated in October 1906 was ambiguous.

Israel then attempted to enforce a de facto situation by constructing two Israeli hotels in the city. In response, Egypt mobilised diplomats, historians, and legal experts. After an intense legal battle, the International Court of Arbitration concluded that Taba lay within Egyptian territory.

Moufid Shehab, a member of the Taba National Committee and of the judicial defence panel that presented Egypt’s case before the Geneva-based International Court of Arbitration, explained the legal battle that resulted in Egypt regaining sovereignty over Taba.

Article 7 of the 1979 Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel stated that either side could resort to the International Court of Arbitration if direct negotiations fail to resolve disputes.

“Egypt therefore requested the formation of an international arbitration team, a move which the Israeli cabinet did not agree until 13 January 1986.”

As a result, an international panel was formed to decide the boundary between Egypt and Palestine in 1948, the date when the British mandate over Palestine ended. It was agreed that the panel’s decision would be final.

The panel comprised one Israeli, one Egyptian and three international experts. “Two years later, in September 1988,” says Shehab, “after being presented with strong evidence from the Egyptian side, the International Court of Arbitration issued its historic ruling in favour of Egypt in a public session held in Geneva.”

“Israel was forced to evacuate Taba on 19 March 1989, ending nearly 22 years of Israeli occupation of the peninsula. Taba became the last part of Egyptian lands to be liberated from Israel.”

“Our military and diplomatic battles over the years amply demonstrate that Egypt will never give up an inch of its land.”

Shehab says the legal advisor of the Israeli team admitted that Israel knew Taba belonged to Egypt but Tel Aviv did not think Egypt could prove it and convince the panel of the validity of its claim.

Taba’s liberation was not accompanied by a joint Israeli-Egyptian ceremony. The Israeli flag was lowered and Israeli troops sang Israel’s national anthem as they were leaving Taba. Later, president Hosni Mubarak raised the Egyptian flag in Taba and celebrated the diplomatic victory with high-ranking officials and police forces.

Taba first fell under Israeli occupation in 1956 when, following the nationalisation of the Suez Canal, Israel joined England and France in attacking Egypt and occupied all of Sinai, only to be forced to withdraw in March 1957. Israel reoccupied Sinai again during the Six-Day War of June 1967. Between 1976 and 1982, 18 Israeli settlements were constructed in Sinai and a 400-room hotel was built in Taba.

“The Israelis thought they would never leave Sinai. They believed strongly that it was part of greater Israel,” says Shehab.

When the Israelis were forced to leave Taba in 1989, Ariel Sharon, then Israel’s defence minister, promised it would be Israel’s final territorial compromise for peace. Always a hawk, Sharon described the Israeli cabinet’s decision to withdraw as “irresponsible” and “total capitulation”.

Egypt has since developed Taba into a major tourist destination with 10 five-star hotels and an international airport.

Samir Farag, a strategic expert, explained in a radio interview that “after the return of Taba, Egypt faced another battle to impose military control over the entire peninsula.”

“The 1979 Peace Treaty divided Sinai into three sectors, the first patrolled by Egyptian military forces, the second by police and central security forces and the third, closest to the borders with Israel, effectively demilitarised.”

“Eventually, following numerous meetings between Egyptian and Israeli officials, it was agreed that Egyptian military forces could deploy across the peninsula.”

Farag argued it was the lack of a strong military and security presence in Sinai that allowed terrorist organisations to proliferate in Sinai after the 2011 January revolution. In his view, Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza represents a new security threat to Sinai.

“Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s plans to storm Rafah could cause a major humanitarian crisis on the border with Egypt and so we have to be ready for all scenarios,” he warned.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 21 March, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly