The Conquest of Sinai: N.A.

S. Ferrara

The Conquest

of Sinai

From the Suez Fiasco to the Yom Kippur War

––––––––

Front cover: The blockade of the Suez Canal during the Second War in 1956 would last for about 5 months.

Back cover:A view of Southern Sinai: its inaccessibility is evident.

Table of ContentsNumber range CHAPTER

––––––––

Table of Contents 5

Introduction 6

Chapter 1. The Sinai Desert 11

Chapter 2. Diplomacy and Politics 18

Chapter 3 – Egypt 24

Chapter 4. The Suez Canal 47

Chapter 5. – Oil 61

Chapter 6. History of Israel 75

Chapter 7. Naval Conflicts 93

Chapter 8. MiG-25 Foxbat in Action Over the Skies of Sinai 100

Chapter 9. Wars, Weapons, and Supplies 106

General Bibliography 139

Introduction

The Middle East has always been correctly identified as a veritable powder keg, partly because of the power and military belligerence of Israel, which, having to live surrounded by Arab countries, has been forced to a long and difficult coexistence consisting of continuous skirmishes, border clashes and reprisals. A land without peace but of continuous fighting, misery, hunger, poverty, and fanaticism that is not only religious but also has deep cultural and mystical roots, with rigid immobility and truces always too fragile to endure and with unjustifiable violence, which continues even today in the boundless and unspoiled deserts. This is still the Middle East today, which is very rich in oil but is at the same time incredibly poor because no one has ever been able to exploit it, this land of the eternal struggle between three million Jews on one side and three hundred and fifty million intransigent Arabs on the other.

Everyone knows the formula that succinctly sums up the thesis of the Italian politician and philosopher Machiavelli: Every war is just if it is necessary! The wise Florentine secretary appeared then, as he does now, to be a modern supporter of preventive war before that term had been invented, the only kind judged unreasonably necessary.

The Israelis are a people who have always managed to achieve brilliant military victories but have never been able to grasp the true value of peace. Militarily strong and proud, they even managed to lose everything they had won in the military campaigns at the political level. The Sinai alone has been conquered militarily three times: in 1956, during the First Suez War on the side of UK and France, in 1967 during the Six Day War, and in 1973 with the Yom Kippur War, but always had to be sacrificed on the altar of peace, giving it up for the sake of a lasting peace with Egypt, which had held it for centuries. In the 1973 War, Israel paradoxically succeeded in obtaining what the Arab states had never been able to achieve for themselves in half a century of negotiations: the achievement of a community of intentions, with a single common goal: the hated struggle of the whole Arab world against them. The Yom Kippur War alone cost Israel countless victims, the annihilation of its best military units, and the technical and, in particular, the human re-equipping of its armed forces. The losses, especially those of human lives and highly trained specialist cadres such as pilots and technicians, proved to be high and difficult to overcome, at least in the immediate future.

The Arab world has always been a universe broken down into its thousand interests, unable to form a real union or to present itself united in face of a common danger or against military aggression. The sad phenomenon of terrorism, which is viewed negatively and criticized as atrocious and which was fomented by some extreme factions mainly against Israel and USA and covertly supported by some Arab countries in order to complicate relations, was introduced in order to reduce and complicate the tightness of the Arab alliance. The striking series of terrorist attacks against Israel in the early 1970's, including the media-hyped airplane hijackings and the Black September massacres, culminating in the tragedy of Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich in 1972, left scars that are difficult to heal.

If we exclude the example of the birth of the UAR, the United Arab Republic between Egypt and Syria in 1958, and then again the unity talks of 1963, during which enthusiastic crowds carried the Four-Star Flags presenting the countries that would form North Yemen in the streets of Cairo, a symbiosis of Arab communities was achieved in only a few cases in an atmosphere in which it was possible to mobilize huge masses, attracted by simple nationalist and anti-colonial slogans, in the Arab world. All other attempts to find agreements and common visions between countries remained a dead letter.

Lebanon of the1970's lived torn by an internal war that almost put an end to the state itself, which was understood as a national and unitary entity. Even today, the country is militarily contested by its neighboring countries. Endowed by now with little offensive capacity, it nevertheless remains founded on a certain tenacious anti-Israeli determination by its numerous warring factions.

The real problem of Lebanon, once presented as the Switzerland of the Middle East, is the persistence of an internal civil war within the territory, which has Muslim factions opposing the Christian Maronites, and often even fighting one another. The main community is made up of Maronites, who are more numerous than the Greek Orthodox, Catholics and other smaller groups living with as many Muslims. Among the Muslims, there are in turn the Shiites and the Sunnis, who are always in eternal struggle against each other. It should be remembered that, among the Arabs, there is another small people in the region that is non-Arab but close to them: the Druze, who also have their own religion. In short, the achievement of union by the Arabs and the many pan-Arab theories in the Nasserite mold were not only unlikely to stick in the Middle East, but, even if shared, overcoming internal rivalries between the various factions would have been a very difficult hurdle to overcome.

Jordan, which was originally called Transjordan but then renamed in 1946, has always had reasons for contention with its neighboring countries, including mainly the belligerent Israel, but also because of the long-standing problem of the management of Palestinian refugees. Supported by a Western-oriented monarchy, it has in recent times greatly reduced the risks to the Jewish state. Jordanian policy was to avoid military escalation with neighboring countries if possible. Unlike Iraq and Saudi Arabia, it is among the poorest and most backward of the Arab countries: it does not have immense oil fields, and only a portion of its agricultural land is cultivable, with the rest being arid desert. In addition, the Jordanian population has almost tripled since 1948 due to the arrival of the thousands of Arab refugees who escaped from Israel and Palestine. In military terms, Jordan had a very well equipped air force, although of limited size, with 8,000 volunteers and a hundred aircraft, but at the outbreak of the Six Day War could employ only 16 pilots qualified for the 18 available Hunters.

Syriais a classic example of generational and ideological conflict, and is still contested between various Arab societies. In Syria, the French maintained public order, built roads and railroads, as well as an efficient administrative infrastructure, accelerated the process of sedentarization of the Bedouins, increased cultivated land and attempted to transform them into farmers and shepherds and their leaders into landowners. Weak politically and tormented by 10 coups d'état in the space of fifteen years, Syria has always been able to rely on an air force constituted and equipped entirely by the Soviets, with a number of personnel that by the end of the 1980's reached 70,000 men. However, the losses due to the various wars were very high, both in terms of men and especially of resources, the latter being promptly reintegrated with other available resources, always of Soviet origin. Its armed forces, which also included border units, customs personnel and military schools, were numerically very large and always geared to war. Although equipped with modern weaponry, it has never been able to demonstrate significant military results in actual use, however. Some historians have affirmed that the Syrian army was, from the military point of view, far from being an army, was only an organizational structure.

Kuwaitis an independent state, with an area of 17,000 square kilometers and the capital, Kuwait City, comprises more or less the territory of a district. Almost entirely desert and ruled by an emir, the sheikh, with a population that reached 1,250,000 inhabitants in 1975, the year of the last public census, without taking into account the substantial number of foreign immigrants present in the country. The fundamental problem of the country was and has always been its water supply, which is only partially mitigated by modern desalination plants. The climate is torrid and desert, dry all year round with great variations in temperature and a very high percentage of sunshine, which is always difficult for the human organism to tolerate.

The territory is desolately arid up to the seacoasts. Kuwait's economy has historically been based on maritime activities, pearl diving and pastoralism, and thus only marginally productive. After the miracle of oil, which occurred with the discovery of inexhaustible deposits of crude oil, the country became very prosperous within a few decades. Kuwaiti merchants turned from the trade in pearls, the only resource of the country exercised in a monopoly system, and became oil merchants, then new financiers and businessmen. There is no country in the world where the age of oil, not the atom, has inflicted such radical and heavy changes as in Kuwait. Oil has also changed the geostrategic balance of countries in the region and the Middle East.

Iraq. After removing the Baath Party from power in 1964, the new leaders in Baghdad showed a keen sympathy for Nasser's pan-Arab projects and attempted to establish a socialism in Iraq similar to the Egyptian one that would replicate its success. But after the nationalization of some sectors such as banking and some large industries, the government decided to tackle the creation of a national oil company, Inoc, which inevitably clashed with the substantial and delicate interests of international oil companies. The pressure against the ruler was so strong that he eventually had to relinquish power.

In the newborn Algeriaof the 1960's, which was still struggling to achieve independence from the dominant France, Nasser was regarded very highly, also due to the aid and current supplies of weapons granted to the NLF or National Liberation Front arriving by sea or directly through caravans in the desert. At that time, Nasser's voice had become the voice of the Arabs, also because it was the one and only voice on the political scene that could give hope to the miserable living conditions of the Arab and African peoples.

Finally, Saudi Arabia has, for historical and religious reasons, always been the main enemy of almost all Arab countries; despite being much wealthier than the other Gulf countries, it has always been at odds with the countries of the region, just because the Saudis come from a different lineage than the young Arab kings. Openly opposing Nasser's hegemony, for example, there was no lack of criticism from the then-President of Tunisia, Bourguiba, who had never recognized the supremacy of the Egyptian leader over the Arab world so that relations between the two heads of state therefore remained tense.

The Cold Warwas a way of naming the situation of continuous tension between the two blocs, between the two superpowers, although neither of them ever did anything to attack the vital interests of the other side, so that the situation always remained tense but cold and never became a shooting war. The expression has long been used to represent a geopolitical situation of tension involving the two great powers of the two hemispheres, the Western bloc of the USA and the Eastern bloc of the USSR, in the period from the end of the Second World War to the fall of the Berlin Wall, with the consequent crumbling of the Soviet communist regime. The definition emphasized how each of the two powers never directly threatened each other and did not threaten the global interests of the adversary; they were in fact careful not to do so in order to avoid a risky and consequent escalation of crises; but the political climate was so suffocating and oppressive that each of the two countries saw the other as its antagonist and enemy at all levels. The only fields in which they left ample space for action were their powerful and implacable spy agencies, the CIA and the KGB, which bled themselves dry in a fratricidal and endless war, often for the possession of simple information on the adversary, which was considered to be more or less vital.

Another characteristic of the Cold War era was the slow and inevitable loss of colonies by various European countries, such as Britain, France, Holland, Spain and Belgium, which often had to reluctantly grant independence after long rebellions and revolts. The loss of colonies, even small ones, which, through an unscrupulous exploitation of their resources, brought ample financial revenue to their own country, represented a low blow to economic revenue, as well as the end of hegemony in international politics. The fear was that the communist creed would spread in these countries that remained notoriously poor and under Third World conditions and that they would move closer to the Soviet bloc. This was a lesson that remained unheeded by the USA, which, in a vain attempt to counter Soviet expansionism in Indochina, initially managed to stay away from the conflict but later found itself catapulted into the bloody and disastrous epic of Vietnam.

Another important character of the Middle East concerns religious identity. A modern state, at least in theory, is implicitly secular in the sense that laws are made by civil authorities, not religious ones, and are intended to apply equally to all members of the religious community, whether dominant or not. This rule does not apply in the Middle East, however. During the period under review, there were no public schools, classes were absolutely segregated by gender, and society offered an exclusively and solely masculine portrait. Education was minimal and given mostly only in Quranic schools, where children were taught to read, write and repeat the sacred verses by rote (the study of arithmetic has only been included in Egypt only since 1968), without any active participation of the pupils and under the iron discipline of the teacher, who even meted out corporal punishment in case of disciplinary infractions. Civil society was very repressive and this justified the excessive violence of many subjective behaviors, based on the belief that the balance of both society and family can derive from the meticulous and literal observance of religious prescriptions. The application of Islamic law in civil society involved the absolute prohibition on introducing any form of change or alteration of the canons of coexistence, practically condemning the same to immobility and the inability to undertake any form of innovation and even minor changes.

In order to better understand the psychology of the Arabs, it is enough to quote a typical event: at the end of the Six Day War, it was King Hussein of Jordan himself who launched high-sounding declarations of war against the hated enemy Israel, with these words: We will fight until our last breath, ... until we stand before God. ... we will wet the Holy Land with the last drop of our blood. Once the speech was over, no more than half an hour later, his Prime Minister Sad Juma intervened to announce the country's decision to unconditionally accept the ceasefire established by the agreements. The ceasefire and the end of the war with the Jewish neighbors came shortly after.

Chapter 1.  The Sinai Desert

... Drought absorbs all natural moisture, deeply burning the mouth and the viscera.

[History of Alexander the Great].

––––––––

The Sinai

The land of Sinai is the meeting point between two continents, a sort of bridge connecting two hemispheres. To the north lies a large desert plain crossed at that time by a few roads, which are steep and put a strain on even tracked vehicles. Further to the south, a band of rocky hills rises up, which is in many cases impassable for heavy vehicles, which give importance to passes such as the Mitla, which leads directly to Suez. Further to the south, there are mountain ranges, including the hills of Mount Sinai, which are steep and ruggedly rocky and lead to Sharm el-Sheikh and Aqaba.

The plain of Sinai, which is bordered to the north and south by the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aqaba, is an almost exclusively unproductive area, of little economic value if any because of its torrid climate. Its importance derives solely from its strategic position, since it serves as a buffer between two continents, Africa and the Middle East, and becomes a sort of demarcation land, an obligatory passage, the only point of conjunction between the two lands.

The main framework of the peninsula consists of a plateau, variously fragmented by tectonic dislocations dating back to the Mesozoic eras and culminating with the peak of Jebel Catherine. The mountains range from 750 meters to 2,500 meters, with the peaks of Jebel Mus or Mount Moses, which reaches 2,285 meters and Mount St. Catherina (Jebel Katrin) which, at 2,642 meters, is the highest of the peninsula; the other major heights are Serbal, Umm Shomer, and Mount Tarbush. There are also 13 canyons and the main desert: Jebel el-Tih. The territory, which is very rugged and terribly arid, is dotted with small oases, where most of the native and nomadic population, which is mostly devoted to sheep herding, is concentrated. The only animals that inhabit it are reptiles: there are 46 types, including Innes' cobra, beetles, 150 species of migratory birds, and butterflies. The real soul of the Sinai lies in the bare reddish peaks and its unending sandy desert plains, where only the Bedouins continue to live while trying to resist the changing infiltration of the modern environment.

Sinai measures 60,000 square kilometers – more or less – and represents only 6% of the territory of Egypt to which it politically belongs, with gigantic mountains in the South and endless desert landscapes in the North, in desiccated ouadis or wadis, stony expanses where neither man nor animal survives. The sudden alternation of rocks and sand dunes is the characteristic landscape of the peninsula. This land has remained uncorrupted throughout its long and troubled history, however, a passive witness to the passage of time and its battles.

In recent decades, a glimmer of hope has opened on the peninsula, which was considered a huge sandbox. A small source of oil was identified in a desert area near Ras Sudar, on the Gulf of Suez, small but sufficient to largely meet the needs of a small country like Israel. At the same time, there was also the discovery of oil wells in Abu Rudeis, the two discoveries initially seemed to free the small Jewish country from its dependence on foreign countries in the energy field, allowing considerable savings of foreign currency. But after the peace treaties, the oil went to Egypt, depriving the newborn Zionist state of the important source of energy during a period of dizzying growth in the price of black gold. For the rest, it has been an arid and impassable desert until the present, except for the tourist settlements in the South.

Absolutely devoid of water and even of passable roads during the period under consideration, with the high grounds difficult and dangerous to cross because of the climate and the Bedouins. With the exception of a narrow coastal strip in the north of the peninsula, the remaining territory almost never sees rain, the only native inhabitants being some tribes of nomads, the Bedouins, who have always wandered in the hostile desert, plundering and stealing. The only activity practiced in the oasis is sheep herding, and the silence is only disturbed by the whistle of the wind that hisses on the hot sand dunes. Enormous uninhabited expanses, rocky mountains, arid deserts, stony immensities, wadis, and the very rare oasis. Here, man has tried since ancient times to find himself in the immensity of the landscape. This was, and has remained unchanged over the centuries, the Sinai.

Entering the Sinai means entering into the secrets of Bedouin life, with its unchanging and simple existence marked by small things and daily routine for about three thousand years. The word Bedouin derives from the Arabic word baa'adiya, men of solitude, from which they derive their lifestyle. They are all of Arab origin and are divided into tribes; they are constantly looking for water and their life is regulated by ancient customs, based on unwritten laws and handed down orally. Their activity revolves around the possession of camels and black goats, which provide them with milk for their families, transportation, manure for the fire and skins for the tents. Although it remains barely pursued because of the scarcity of pastures, the breeding of flocks remains their main activity, followed by the cultivation of small plots of land with grains. The women make flour and with it the finest traditional breads, while the men, by tradition, do nothing. Being organized according to the model of a tribal society based on clans and tribes, now marauders and then the plundered, spending a very hard and isolated life, they are essentially traders and transporters of goods in the desert. In open contrast to the modern demands of the state, the Bedouins preserve the traditional way of life, which is based on the sacredness of hospitality (providing a safe haven for the traveler lost in the desert), but also the values of the tribal warrior, the sense of honor, and the obligation to avenge any abuse suffered.

The Bedouin must be seen as the true and authentic bearers of Arab culture in the region. However, this perception clashes with the modern world and the ancestral rivalries between the various tribes. The Bedouin are generally accused of lacking civic sense, education, social culture, and even ties to their country. Since 1958, the year in which its code was abolished, the community has been increasingly marginalized and only partially subjected to the laws of the State, because of the differences between these and tribal doctrines. They were accused of living in a primitive state, of weakening national production, of not conforming to the laws and precepts of the country, of not observing its norms, and of being an obstacle to progress and development. Not even the free allocation of land and the abolition of tribal rules turned them into citizens. During the various wars in the desert, the Bedouins were busy stealing weapons that they then sold for high prices. They proved to be enemies of and hostile to both sides, arriving at the point of not hesitating to shoot against anyone who tried to hinder them in the collection of individual weapons. After the Six Day War, huge quantities of weapons smuggled by the Bedouins – Kalashnikovs, landmines, grenades, guns – circulated in the desert for many years. Explosives were dangerously obtained from the dismantling of devices, taken from the old minefields, at rewarding prices. The Bedouins had a highly developed sense of commerce and have no political loyalties. In order to put an end to this embarrassing trade and to limit incidents, the Israelis offered a sum of money for each grenade delivered; the booty recovered was enormous and the turnout massive, with the recovery of machine guns, explosives and portable arms of all kinds. In recent decades, however, the few remaining Bedouins have in most cases adapted to the changing times, becoming a good and generally cheap workforce for common utility work, roads, pipelines and dams.

––––––––

The desert