Israel, why did you return Sinai to Egypt?

Israel's land area is small, and the actual control area is only 25,000 square kilometers. According to 1947 United Nations resolution on Palestine, the area allocated to Jews is only 14000 square kilometers.

Five Middle East wars broke out between Israel and Arab countries, each of which ended in Israel's victory, which made the area increase continuously. At its largest, it occupied the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, with an area of 66,543.8+10,000 square kilometers, four times the original area of Israel.

Sinai Peninsula is located on the east bank of Suez Canal, bordering Israel in the east and guarding the Red Sea and Mediterranean Sea, which is the dividing line between Asia and Europe. Israel defeated the Arab Coalition forces in the third Middle East war in 1967, and then occupied the Sinai Peninsula, which was returned to Egypt after occupying 15.

Sinai Peninsula is much larger than Israel, and its geographical location is very important. Israel has always had an advantage over Arabia. Why did Israel return the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt?

First, the root of the contradiction between Egypt and Israel

From the16th century, the vast Middle East, including Egypt and Palestine, belonged to the Ottoman Empire for a long time, and then to the British colony. Egypt gained de facto independence from the Ottoman Empire in 1805. However, in 1840, Britain invaded Egypt with Russia, Prussia, Austria and other powers, and the powers seized many privileges, making Egypt a semi-colonial society.

1869, France and Egypt jointly opened the Suez Canal, which was managed by the Canal Company, with France holding 56% of the shares of the Canal Company and Egypt 44%.

The Suez Canal has greatly shortened the voyage between Asia and Europe, and there is an endless stream of ships coming and going. Britain is deeply dissatisfied with its failure to get a slice of the Suez Canal. However, shortly after the opening of the canal, Egypt experienced a financial crisis and had to sell the shares of the canal company. Britain took the opportunity to buy a 44% stake in the Canal Company held by Egypt.

▲ 1882, in order to control Egypt, Britain directly sent troops to occupy it, and the degree of control over Egypt deepened, and Egypt began to become a British colony.

After the outbreak of World War I, Britain's control over Egypt became stronger and stronger. In order to strengthen its control over Egypt, Britain declared Egypt a protectorate and took full control of Egypt. After World War I, Britain still did not end Egypt's protectorate status, which eventually triggered the anti-British uprising of the Egyptian people.

Under pressure, Britain was forced to recognize Egypt's independence in 1922, but it still retained a lot of economic privileges, especially controlling the Suez Canal. Egypt is not completely independent. After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire after World War I, many parts of the Middle East were appointed by Britain and France, and Palestine at this time also belonged to the British colony.

Jews lived in Palestine before they fled the world. After World War I, Britain was appointed to Palestine. With the support of Britain, Jews began to move into Palestine on a large scale.

Especially in the 1930 s, after Hitler came to power, Nazi Germany persecuted Jews on a large scale, and Jews fled Germany one after another, among which nearly 200,000 Jews came to Palestine. Before the outbreak of World War II, the number of Palestinian Jews had reached more than 400,000, accounting for one third of the total number of Palestinian residents, and 6 million Jews who failed to escape Nazi Germany were killed.

In the end, World War II ended in the defeat of Nazi Germany, but Britain also suffered heavy losses and was unable to maintain its overseas colonies after the war. From 65438 to 0947, Britain submitted the question of Palestine to the United Nations. Finally, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution to deal with the question of Palestine. According to this resolution, an Arab state and a Jewish state were established in Palestine after the end of the British mandate.

Among them, the Arab State covers an area of 1. 1 10,000 square kilometers, the Jewish State covers an area of10.4 million square kilometers, and Jerusalem is under the jurisdiction of the United Nations.

▲ 1947 Palestinian partition plan

Jews naturally support United Nations resolutions, but Arabs are firmly opposed to them. They believe that the suffering of Jews is not caused by Arabs, but by Europeans. It is always Europeans who hurt Jews. They can't compensate Jews at the expense of Arabs.

1948, 14 in may, the British mandate officially ended, and the Jews announced the establishment of the state of Israel on the same day. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Israel became neighboring countries with Egypt and other Arab countries, and Arabs refused to establish Arab countries in accordance with United Nations resolutions.

The next day, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Iraq, Syria and Lebanon declared war on Israel one after another, which was called the "First Middle East War" in history. Egypt is the most populous country and the main force against Israel.

As a result, six Arab countries were defeated by a small Israel. The Afghan army was killed10.5 million, while the Israeli army was killed only 6,000. In the war, Israel occupied four fifths of Palestinian land. This war can be said to be the war of the founding of Israel, and the Jewish state was preserved. Egypt, Syria and other Arab countries have become sworn enemies with Israel, obsessed with expelling Jews and recovering Palestine.

However, shortly after the fiasco of the First Middle East War, a military coup broke out in Egypt.

Second, Egypt briefly lost the Sinai Peninsula for the first time.

Although the Farouk dynasty in Egypt was independent from Britain, it was not completely independent. Britain still retained many privileges, especially the control of the Suez Canal, which made the Egyptian people seriously dissatisfied. Finally,1In July, 952, the "Freedom Officers Organization" headed by Nasser launched a military coup, overthrew the Farouk dynasty controlled by Britain and established the "Republic of Egypt". The territory inherited the Farouk dynasty, including the Sinai Peninsula, but the Suez Canal was still controlled by Britain and France.

▲ Nasser launched a coup and established the Republic of Egypt.

In order to gain complete independence, Nasser announced that the Suez Canal Company would be nationalized. The negotiations between Britain and France failed and they decided to retake the Suez Canal by force. In order to solve the problem of insufficient troops, Britain and France decided to win over Israel, the enemy of Egypt.

Egypt is Israel's deadly enemy, so Israel and Britain and France hit it off. Because of the disparity in strength, the Egyptian army was defeated, Israel occupied the Sinai Peninsula in Egypt, and Britain and France recovered the Suez Canal.

However, the war led to the long-term closure of the canal, and the security situation of the canal was worrying, making it impossible for international shipping vessels to sail safely. The actions of Britain, France and Israel have been unanimously condemned by the international community. Even their ally, the United States, was seriously dissatisfied, and the United States stopped its economic assistance to Britain.

At the same time, the United States submitted a motion to the United Nations Security Council, demanding that Britain and France immediately withdraw their troops. However, Britain and France are both permanent members, and the US proposal was rejected by Britain and France by one vote. So the United States ordered American troops around the world to be put on alert, threatening Britain and France. At the same time, the Soviet Union claimed that it would use nuclear weapons and threatened Britain and France to quit.

In the end, Britain and France were forced to announce their complete withdrawal, which proved that the international pattern after World War II had completely changed from Britain and France to the United States and the Soviet Union. After the withdrawal of Britain and France, Israel was unable to support itself and withdrew from Sinai Peninsula, and Egypt finally saved Sinai Peninsula.

However, the subsequent Third Middle East War made Egypt lose the Sinai Peninsula.

Third, Egypt lost the Sinai Peninsula.

In the Second Middle East War, although Egypt failed on the battlefield, it won strategically. Egypt has gained unprecedented prestige in the world, which has strengthened the confidence of Arab countries to recover Palestine, and Arab countries have gradually increased their joint efforts to contain Israel.

1958 February, Egypt and Syria merged to form the United Arab Republic (UAE). Israel faces the threat of a joint attack from the north and the south. From 65438 to 0965, the Palestine Liberation Organization was founded, and the Palestine Liberation Organization constantly attacked Israel on the border between Palestine and its neighboring countries.

1967, the Soviet Union reported that Israel was assembling its forces and preparing to attack Syria. Nasser ordered the closure of the southern Israeli port of straits of tiran. A few days later, Egypt and Jordan signed a five-year defense treaty. Faced with the joint containment of Arab countries, Israel made up its mind to go to war with Arab countries, and Israel decided to strike first.

1June 5, 967, the third Middle East war broke out. Israel dispatched almost all available fighter planes and attacked the air base in Egypt. Most planes in Egypt were destroyed before taking off, and then a large number of planes in Syria and Jordan were destroyed. Arab countries that have lost their air superiority can only be passively beaten.

Israeli ground troops continued to attack Egypt, targeting at the Suez Canal, annihilating Egypt's five divisions on the Sinai Peninsula along the way, all the way to the east bank of the Suez Canal. In just three days, the Sinai Peninsula was completely captured by Israel, and in just six days, the third Middle East war ended in a complete victory for Israel.

▲ Israel pre-empted and basically eliminated the air force of Arab countries.

In this war, Arab countries suffered heavy losses, with more than 60,000 casualties and prisoners, while Israel only killed more than 900 people. The third Middle East War completely established Israel's status as a military power.

In this war, Arab countries not only failed to recover Palestine, but also lost more territory. Israeli occupation of the Sinai Peninsula, Gaza Strip, Golan Heights and other well-known areas, occupied 65,000 square kilometers of land in Arab countries. The war made the national self-confidence of Arab countries fall to a low point, and Egyptian President Nasser died of depression three years later.

Unlike Israel's return to the Sinai Peninsula after the Second Middle East War, this time Israel is prepared to occupy these new territories forever. Israel has established military administrative zones in these new territories, which are directly managed by the Israel Defense Forces. And constantly immigrated to these areas, and built many fortifications in Sinai Peninsula and Golan Heights.

197 1 year, Israel invested a huge sum of money to establish the Palestinian defense line called "maginot line in the Middle East" along the Suez Canal. At this time, the Suez Canal became the border between Israel and Egypt. Although controlled by Egypt, Israel is not allowed to pass, but it is directly threatened by the Israeli army.

▲ Baleff defense line

Four. Israel's return to Sinai Peninsula

Sinai Peninsula is very important to Egypt. Without Sinai Peninsula, Israel's territory would extend to the Suez Canal. Most of Egypt's population is concentrated in the Nile Delta, just next to the Sinai Peninsula. If the Sinai Peninsula is occupied, most people in Egypt will be threatened by Israel.

After taking office, the new Egyptian President Sadat devoted himself to recovering the Sinai Peninsula, and he took many measures to successfully recover the Sinai Peninsula.

▲ Most of Egypt's population is concentrated in the Nile Delta west of Sinai Peninsula.

Strategically, Sadat constantly lobbied for moral and material support, and finally won the support of more than 100 countries, even Britain and France. At the same time, Sadat threatened Israel, claiming that Egypt was prepared to sacrifice 1 10,000 people in order to recover Sinai Peninsula.

Tactically, Sadat deliberately spread false news about attacking Israel many times, and launched military exercises in the Suez Canal many times before the war, but in the end he did not launch a war. In response to the military exercises in Egypt, Israel had to raise its alert status, which cost Israel tens of millions of dollars.

▲ Without Sinai Peninsula, Egypt's population of nearly 1 100 million will lose its strategic buffer against Israel.

After telling the story of the wolf to Israel many times, Egypt finally raided the Balaf line on June 6, 1973 at/kloc-0. This day was chosen because it is Yom Kippur in Israel and the most important festival in Israel. Most Israeli soldiers are celebrating the festival, which is the weakest day of the Israeli army.

During the war, most Arab countries provided Egypt with funds and weapons and equipment. At the same time, Syria also launched an attack on Israel, and Israel was caught off guard. The solid Palestinian defense line was successfully broken by Egypt, and the situation was good. It seems that Egypt will succeed in defeating Israel and retaking the Sinai Peninsula.

But Egypt underestimated Israel's mobilization ability and American support ability. After seeing that the war situation was seriously unfavorable to Israel, the United States finally gave Israel great assistance, transported a large number of war materials to Israel by plane, and provided satellite photos to Israel. In the end, Israel reversed the war, successfully repelled the attacks of Egypt and Syria, and counterattacked the territories of Egypt and Syria.

Finally, under the mediation of the United Nations, the two sides signed a ceasefire agreement. In this war, 8,500 Arab troops died, and 2,800 Israeli troops also paid the price of death. The comparison of the death toll between the two armies is not as wide as the third Middle East War.

Although Israel won the final victory of the war, it also paid huge casualties and material consumption. Israel realized that the power balance between the two sides was no longer as wide as it was in the third Middle East War, and Arab countries also realized that it was difficult for them to defeat Israel militarily, which forced the Arab-Israeli negotiations to begin.

Because the United States aided Israel and the Arab countries imposed an oil embargo on the United States, the international oil price rose sharply, which made the United States, which relied on oil imports, miserable, while the Soviet Union, which exported oil, made a lot of money, and the United States had to try its best to repair the peace between the two sides.

Finally, on September 9th, 1978, at the invitation of American President Carter, Egyptian President Sadat and Israeli Prime Minister Bei Jing came to Camp David, the retreat of American President, and the three parties held a summit meeting, and then Egypt and Israel signed the famous Camp David agreement.

According to the agreement, Egypt recognized Israel and signed a peace treaty with Israel to establish normal diplomatic relations. Israel returns to Sinai Peninsula, but Israeli ships can sail freely in Suez Canal.

▲ Egypt, Israel and the United States signed the Camp David agreement.

According to the agreement, the Israeli army completely withdrew from Sinai Peninsula on 1982 despite the opposition of Jewish settlers in Sinai Peninsula.

Egypt finally recovered the Sinai Peninsula, but it abandoned other Arab countries and signed a peace treaty with Israel alone, which caused serious dissatisfaction among other Arab countries and broke off diplomatic relations with Egypt one after another, causing serious division among Arab countries. They believe that Egyptian President Sadat betrayed the Arab world, and Sadat was assassinated by extremists two years later. Sadat paid the price of his life for regaining Sinai Peninsula.

As far as Israel is concerned, the Arab countries have been fighting on their own, and the alliance of Arab countries against Israel has existed in name only since then, and there has never been a joint siege of Israel. This has greatly improved Israel's external environment and avoided fighting on two fronts. This is the main reason why Israel agreed to return the Sinai Peninsula.

▲ There are many Arab countries around Israel, among which Egypt and Syria are the most powerful.

In addition, although the Sinai Peninsula has a vast territory, most of it is desert, so it is of little use value. The Golan Heights is an important water source for Israel. Occupation of it can not only ensure the safety of drinking water, but also deter Syria from condescending. In order to avoid fighting on two fronts, it is more wise to give up the first line and the Sinai Peninsula.

Moreover, the international community has never recognized that the Sinai Peninsula and the Golan Heights belong to Israel, and even its ally, the United States, demanded that Israel withdraw from the occupied Arab territories as soon as possible, which made Israel finally choose to give up the Sinai Peninsula.