EILAT

:''For the Israeli Naval destroyer, see HMS Zealous (R39)


'Eilat' (Hebrew '', Standard Hebrew 'Elat', 'Eylat'), is Israel's southernmost city (located at ), in the Southern District of Israel. Adjacent to the Egyptian village of Taba and Jordanian port city of Aqaba, Eilat is located at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, which is the eastern sleeve of the Red Sea (the western leading to the Suez Canal).
Eilat is named after the Biblical Elath, which now corresponds to modern neighboring Aqaba.
Eilat's weather is very hot and dry due to its proximity to the Negev, Sinai, Arabian and Sahara deserts. Temperatures at summer are often in excess of 40°C, and in winter of 22°C, both very high even for the relatively hot Israel. However, the relatively cool (22°C-25°C) and clean waters of the Red Sea, which are the habitat of a large number of tropical marine species, and the exotic beauty of the landscape surrounding the city make it a favorite tourist attraction, one of Israel's most popular.

Contents

Tourism and Transportation

Attractions

History

Climate

Sister cities

Footnotes

External links

Tourism and Transportation

Eilat became a free trade zone in 1985. Eilat has a domestic airport [1] (domestic code: ETH, international code: LLET). International flights to the city are served at Ovda International Airport [2] (code: VDA), situated some 50 km north-east of the city. The city is also served by two border crossings, the Taba Border Crossing that connects it to Taba, Egypt and the Wadi Araba Crossing that connects it to Aqaba, Jordan.

Attractions

Eilat holds various attractions, such as the Coral World Underwater Observatory, the Coral Reserve which is one of the most northerly coral reefs in the world, "What's Up" The Observatory in Eilat, an IMAX theatre and scuba diving at Dolphin Reef. Many Israelis and tourists come to Eilat to relax.
''See also .''
Eilat's population includes a large number of foreign workers, estimated at over 10,000, many of which work in the construction trades. In 2007, over 200 Sudanese refugees from Darfur who arrived in Israel illegally by foot were given work and allowed to stay, despite the fact that their country of origin is technically at war with Israel. The Sudanese include both Christians and Muslims. [3] [4] [5]
Four countries are visible from Eilat: Israel itself, Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

History

Eilat is mentioned as one of the stations of the Children of Israel after The Exodus from Egypt. The original colony was probably in the northern tip of the Sea of Reeds which is now on the border with Jordan, While the later commercial port city and a center for copper corresponds to modern Aqaba, just across the border in Jordan. King David conquered Edom and took over Eilat as well.
Kings 2 14:21-22: "And all the people of Judah took Azariah, who was sixteen years old, and made him king in the room of his father Amaziah. He built ''Elath'', and restored it to Judah, after that the king slept among his fathers."
Kings 2 16:6: "At that time Rezin king of Aram recovered ''Elath'' to Aram, and drove the Jews from ''Elath''; and the Edomites came to ''Elath'', and dwelt there, unto this day".
The area of Eilat was designated as part of the Jewish state in the 1947 UN Partition Plan.
During the War of Independence, the sole building in the area, an old Ottoman police station named Umm Rashrash in Arabic, was taken without a fight on March 10, 1949 as part of Operation Uvda. The Negev and Golani Brigades took part in the operation. They raised an ink-made flag ("The Ink Flag") in order to claim for Israel the area upon which Eilat would be constructed.
After the founding of Eilat some years later it became an important port as Israel's only port on the Red Sea. The Port of Eilat has high strategic and economic significance. After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, Egypt denied passage through the Suez Canal to Israeli-flagged vessels and to non-Israeli flagged vessels carrying cargo to Israeli ports. This made Eilat crucial to Israel for access to markets in East Africa and Southeast Asia, and for the import of oil. Without recourse to Eilat, vessels sailing from Israel would have to journey through the Mediterranean and around the Cape of Good Hope to reach Southeast Asia. Such a situation took place in 1967 when Egypt's closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping effectively closed the port of Eilat and was cited by Israel as a ''casus belli'' leading to the outbreak of the Six-Day War.
Eilat has been safe from any terrorist attacks except for one incident in the residential area of Eilat in 2007, the Eilat bakery bombing.

Climate

Sister cities

Eilat's sister cities are:

★ Antibes-Juan-les-Pins, France

★ Arica, Chile

★ Durban, South Africa

★ Smolian, Bulgaria

★ Kamen, Germany

★ Kampen, Netherlands

★ Toronto, Canada

★ Los Angeles, United States

★ Sopron, Hungary

★ Piešťany, Slovakia

★ Ushuaia, Argentina
Eilat has streets named after Durban and Los Angeles.

Footnotes

1. Monthly Average of Daily Maximum and Minimum Temperature
2. Precipitation

External links

★ Official city site

★ A film about Eilat in 1960 commentary

★ Eilat - The 48th Soul - The story of the eponymous Israeli navy ship "Eilat"

★ Dolphin Reef Eilat

★ AlArabiya News Channel Cairo Official Rejects Eilat Claims

★ Jerusalem Post Dec "Egyptian FM: Eilat to remain Israeli"

★ Photos of Eilat

★ "What's Up" the Observatory in Eilat

★ Tourism site (English)

★ Coral Beach in southern Eilat

★ New Lagoon and Sunbay Beach in eastern Eilat

★ Tourism city guide site (English)