During the Sinai conflict in 1956 it was captured by Israel and restored to Egypt in 1957. A peacekeeping force of United Nations was then appointed there until the 1967 Six-Day War when it was captured again by Israel and officially was renamed as Mifratz Shlomo, Hebrew for "Gulf of Solomon"; but the name "Sharm el Sheikh" or "Sharm" remained in general use. Sharm el-Sheikh bared Israeli control until the Sinai Peninsula was given back to Egypt in 1982.
The the Gulf of Aqaba adopted a plan then where their components were subdivided into zones, cities and centres. In keeping with this approach, the Gulf of Aqaba zone was subdivided into four cities: Taba, Nuweiba, Dahab and Sharm El-Sheikh. Sharm El-Sheikh city then has been subdivided into five centres which were: Nabq, Ras Nusrani, Naama Bay, Umm Sid and Sharm El Maya. Sharm El-Sheikh is considered to be the heart of where tourism is being developed. According to the land plan the total area of Sharm El-Sheikh is expected to be about 42 km², in the year 2017. This area is designed to include:
- Tourism resorts 08.4%
- Tourism Facilities 40.9%
- Green & Open areas 12.3%
- Social Services 09.9%
- Roads 12.2%
- Urban Housing 13.7%
- Bedouin Housing 01.6%
- Hand crafts & small industries 01.0%
Business development began taking place in the area when Sharm was under Israeli possession. Before 1967, Sharm el-Sheikh was a simple base for local fishermen; the nearest permanent settlement was in Nabk, north of Ras el-Nasrani ("The Tiran Straits"). The Israelis built the town of Ofira with views over Sharm el-Maya Bay, and the Nesima area, and established the first facilities that were meant to satisfy the needs of tourism industry six kilometers north at Naama Bay. These included a marina hotel on the southern side of the bay, a nature field school on the northern side, diving clubs, a now popular promenade, and the Na`ama Bay Hotel.
When Sinai was restored to Egypt in 1982, the Egyptian government decided to initiate investors in order to support and continue the development of the city. Consequently some of these investors that had already seen the prospective of the place as a tourist destination during the Israeli occupation - contributed to a mass of building projects. However at present environmental zoning laws bound the height of buildings in Sharm el-Sheikh so as to maintain the natural beauty of the surroundings.
The city of Sharm has hosted a number of important Middle Eastern peace conferences, including the one on September 4, 1999 when agreement to restore Palestinian self-rule over the Gaza Strip was achieved. A second meeting was held at Sharm on October 17, 2000 right after the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada, but there were no results accomplished against violent actions. A summit, was held on August 3, 2005 in this city on developments in the Arab world such as the situation in Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
The past couple of years there were two massive disasters in the city. On January 3, 2004, Flash Airlines Flight 604 crashed into the Red Sea a little while after leaving Sharm el-Sheikh's airport. On July 23, 2005 Sharm was attacked by terrorists and a barrage of bombings killed more than 80 people. |
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