Eilat

Eilat (Hebrew: אֵילַת‎), is Israel's southernmost city. It is located in the Southern Negev and is part of the Southern District of Israel.[2]

Eilat is located at the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba, on the Red Sea and it is adjacent to the Egyptian village of Taba and Jordanian port city of Aqaba. It straddles the southern end of the geographic line demarcating Africa from Asia.

Eilat is named after the Biblical Elath, believed to correspond with modern-day Aqaba.

Eilat is hot and semi-arid due to its location in the Negev desert, at the southern end of the Arava, in close proximity to the Sinai and Arabian deserts. Summer temperatures often exceed 40 °C and 22 °C in winter. The city's beaches, nightlife and desert landscapes make it a popular destination for domestic and international tourism.

Contents [hide]
1 History
1.1 Biblical era
1.2 Original settlement
2 Modern era
2.1 Growth
2.2 Open borders
3 Tourism
3.1 Attractions
4 Sister cities
5 Climate
6 See also
7 References
8 External links



[edit] History

Fringing coral reef off the coast of Eilat, Israel.
[edit] Biblical era
Eilat is mentioned several times in the Bible, first as one of the stations of the Children of Israel after The Exodus from Egypt. King David conquered Edom, and took over Eilat as well. In 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." And again in 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".


[edit] Original settlement
The original settlement was probably at the northern tip of the Sea of Reeds which is now on the border with Jordan, while the later commercial port city and a copper based economic center are believed to correspond with modern Aqaba, Jordan. Archaeological excavations have uncovered prehistoric tombs, evidence of a Roman road, and the remains of a large copper smelting and trading community which flourished during the Ummayad Period (700 CE) between what is now Eilat's industrial zone and nearby Kibbutz Eilot.

The Darb el Hajj or overland "Pilgrim's Road" from Africa through Egypt to Mecca, passed out of Sinai from the west at Eilat before skirting the sea and continuing south into Arabia.


[edit] Modern era

Israeli soldiers raise the Ink Flag in EilatThe area of Eilat was designated as part of the Jewish state in the 1947 UN Partition Plan. During the War of Independence an old Ottoman police station, called Umm Rashrash in Arabic, was taken without a fight on March 10, 1949 as part of Operation Ovda, in which both the Negev and Golani Brigades participated. (Only one of Umm Rashrash 's mud-brick buildings remains standing in its own park.) Having forgotten to bring an Israeli flag with them, the Negev Brigade soldiers improvised and raised the "Ink Flag" in order to claim for Israel the area upon which Eilat would be constructed.


[edit] Growth
Begun as a military outpost, Eilat quickly grew as the area's resources were surveyed and developed. The Timna Copper Mines were opened and a port constructed, the Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline laid, and tourists began visiting. The Port of Eilat became vital to the fledgling country's development.

After the 1948 Arab-Israeli War all Arab nations maintained a state of hostility with Israel, blocking all land routes; Israel's access to and trade with the rest of the world was maintained by air and sea. Further, Egypt denied passage through the Suez Canal to Israeli-registered ships or to any ship carrying cargo to or from Israeli ports. This made Eilat and its sea port crucial to Israel's communications, commerce and trade with Africa and Asia, and for oil imports. Without recourse to a port on the Red Sea, Israel would have been unable to effectively develop its diplomatic, cultural and trade ties beyond the Mediterranean basin and Europe.

Such a situation took place in 1967 when Egypt's closure of the Straits of Tiran to Israeli shipping effectively blockaded the port of Eilat and was cited by Israel as an additional casus belli, leading to the outbreak of the Six-Day War.

Despite the rise in world terrorism Eilat has been relatively safe, averaging 2-3 incidents per decade for the past 30 years. The last attack, the Eilat bakery bombing, took place in a residential neighborhood of Eilat in January 2007,


[edit] Open borders

North Beach, Eilat, from east.Following peace treaties signed with Egypt in 1979 and Jordan in 1994, Eilat's borders with its neighbors were finally opened. In 2007, over 200 Sudanese refugees from Egypt who arrived in Israel illegally on foot were given work and allowed to stay in Eilat, despite the fact that Sudan is technically still at war with Israel.[3][4][5] Eilat's population includes a large number of foreign workers, estimated at over 10,000, working as caregivers, hotel workers and in the construction trades.


[edit] Tourism

Aircraft parked at Eilat Airport.Eilat became a free trade zone in 1985.[6] Eilat Airport is in the center of town, used largely for domestic flights [7] (domestic code: ETH, international code: LLET). International flights to the city often use Ovda International Airport [8] (code: VDA) some 50 km northeast of the city. Eilat has two main roads connecting it with the center of the country and two border crossings: the Taba Border Crossing that connects it to Taba, Egypt and the Wadi Araba Crossing that connects it to Aqaba, Jordan.


[edit] Attractions

Coral World Underwater Observatory.Eilat offers many attractions and recreational options within a 50km. (35 mile) radius.

Freefall parachuting.
Camel tours.
Coral Beach Nature Reserve, an underwater marine reserve of tropical marine flora and fauna.
Coral World, an underwater observatory that allows visitors to view marine life in its own habitat. The park, located at the southern tip of Coral Beach, has aquariums, a museum, simulation rides, and shark, turtle and stingray. tanks.[9]
Skin diving, snorkelling and scuba diving, with equipment for hire on or near all major beaches. Scuba diving equipment rental and compressed air are available from a number of diving clubs and schools open all year round.
Dolphin Reef, offering visitors an opportunity to swim and interact with dolphins.[10]
Hai-Bar Yotvata Nature Reserve, established in the 1960s to reintroduce wild animals, including Biblical species, that were extinct in this region, and bolster populations of endangered species from similar climates. The reserve has a Visitors Center, care and treatment enclosures, and a large open area where desert animals are acclimated before re-introduction into the wild. Hai-Bar efforts have successfully re-introduced the Asian Wild Ass, or Onager, into the Negev.[11]
IMAX theatre.
Kings City, a biblical theme park located in the hotel area next to the Stella Maris Lagoon.[12]
Ostrich Farm.
Bedouin hospitality.
Texas Ranch, inspired by an actual movie set washed away in a flood, is a camel and horse ranch with organized riding excursions. Several local movie productions have been filmed here.
Birdwatching and ringing station: Eilat is located on the main migration route between Africa and Europe
Timna Valley Park - the oldest copper mines in the world. Egyptian temple of Hathor and King Solomon's Pillars geologic formations. [13]

[edit] Sister cities

Queen of Sheba Hilton. 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, Kamen, Kampen and Los Angeles.


Eilat and Aqaba, Jordan, and Saudi Arabia (at far right) across the Red Sea, against the backdrop of the Edomit Mountains.

[edit] Climate
[hide]Weather averages for Eilat
Month Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov Dec
Average high °C (°F) 20.8 (69.4) 22.1 (71.8) 25.5 (77.9) 31.1 (88.0) 35.4 (95.7) 38.7 (101.7) 39.9 (103.8) 39.8 (103.6) 37.3 (99.1) 33.0 (91.4) 27.2 (81.0) 22.3 (72.1)
Average low °C (°F) 9.6 (49.3) 10.6 (51.1) 13.6 (56.5) 17.8 (64.0) 21.5 (70.7) 24.2 (75.6) 25.9 (78.6) 26.2 (74.7) 24.5 (79.2) 21.0 (69.8) 15.5 (59.9) 11.2 (52.2)
Precipitation mm (inch) 3.5 (1.4) 5.8 (2.3) 3.7 (1.5) 1.7 (0.7) 1.0 (0.4) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 0 (0) 3.5 (1.4) 3.5 (1.4) 6.0 (2.4)
Source: Israel Central Bureau of Statistics[14][15]


[edit] See also
Eilat (destroyer)
Eilot (kibbutz)
Eilat Airport
Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company
Eilat International Film Festival
Eilat bakery bombing
Ezion-Geber
Ink Flag (Israel)
Kings City
Operation Ovda
Ovda International Airport
Port of Eilat
Taba Border Crossing
Yotvata Airfield