The Netafim Border Crossing ( he, מעבר נטפים) is a border crossing between

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

and

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Med ...

. It is located adjacent to

Highway 12 Route 12 or Highway 12 can refer to: For a list of roads named A12, see A12 roads. International * Asian Highway 12 * European route E12 * European route E012 Argentina * National Route 12 Australia NSW * Western Sydney Airport Motorway ...

, about 12 km north of

Eilat Eilat ( , ; he, אֵילַת ; ar, إِيلَات, Īlāt) is Israel's southernmost city, with a population of , a busy port and popular resort at the northern tip of the Red Sea, on what is known in Israel as the Gulf of Eilat and in Jorda ...

, 1 km north west of Ein Netafim. The control of the border crossing was handed over to the

Israel Airports Authority , native_name_lang = , romanized_name = , former_name = , ISIN = , industry = , fate = , predecessor = , successor = , founded = in Tel Aviv, Israel , founder = , defunct = , hq_location = Ben Gurion International Airport , ...

in 1980; nowadays it is closed. Very seldom it is reopened under special circumstances. There are plans to reopen the border crossing passage as alternative during festivals, in coordination with the Egyptian authorities. The border line is guarded accurately on both sides, on the Israeli side alongside

(one of the two accommodation roads to

) by the

Israel Border Police The Israel Border Police ( he, מִשְׁמַר הַגְּבוּל, Mišmar Ha-Gvul) is the gendarmerie and border security branch of the Israel National Police. It is also commonly known by its Hebrew abbreviation Magav (), meaning border gua ...

and on the Egyptian side from some army positions. The border crossing is in the proximity of the

Israel National Trail The Israel National Trail ( he, שביל ישראל, ''Shvil Yisra'el'') is a hiking path that was inaugurated in 1995. The trail crosses the entire country of Israel. Its northern end is at Dan, near the Lebanese border in the far north of the c ...

, but not exactly on the route, nevertheless many wanderers, who have lost their way, arrive at the border crossing to drink some water.

History

Today's border crossing sits at the eastern end of a mountain pass used by important roads throughout history. The medieval hajj road to

Mecca Mecca (; officially Makkah al-Mukarramah, commonly shortened to Makkah ()) is a city and administrative center of the Mecca Province of Saudi Arabia, and the holiest city in Islam. It is inland from Jeddah on the Red Sea, in a narrow val ...

coming from Egypt and the

Maghreb The Maghreb (; ar, الْمَغْرِب, al-Maghrib, lit=the west), also known as the Arab Maghreb ( ar, المغرب العربي) and Northwest Africa, is the western part of North Africa and the Arab world. The region includes Algeria, ...

passed through here, meeting with the one coming from Syria a little to the southeast, at the town of Aylah – modern-day Aqaba, the twin city of Eilat. The road coming from Egypt had to cross through a mountain pass in Sinai named either 'Aqabat Aylah ("the ascent of 'Aylah), Naqb al-'Aqabah ("the mountain pass of Aqaba") or Ras an-Naqb ("the head/

promontory A promontory is a raised mass of land that projects into a lowland or a body of water (in which case it is a peninsula). Most promontories either are formed from a hard ridge of rock that has resisted the erosive forces that have removed the soft ...

of the mountain pass"). Netafim/Ras an-Naqb keeps its strategic importance until today. The Egyptian military has a base at what is commonly spelled in Egypt as Ras El Naqb, and there is also an airport located there. It should not be confused other sites of the same name, some not far away, such as the Jordanian Ras an-Naqb in the desert between

Petra Petra ( ar, ٱلْبَتْرَاء, Al-Batrāʾ; grc, Πέτρα, "Rock", Nabataean: ), originally known to its inhabitants as Raqmu or Raqēmō, is an historic and archaeological city in southern Jordan. It is adjacent to the mountain of Ja ...

and Aqaba, and the Ras en Naqb village north of

Beersheba Beersheba or Beer Sheva, officially Be'er-Sheva ( he, בְּאֵר שֶׁבַע, ''Bəʾēr Ševaʿ'', ; ar, بئر السبع, Biʾr as-Sabʿ, Well of the Oath or Well of the Seven), is the largest city in the Negev desert of southern Israel. ...

fought over during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

. At the end of the 1948–49 Arab–Israeli War, in the last day of

Operation Uvda Operation Uvda ( he, מבצע עובדה, ''Mivtza Uvda'') was an operation conducted by the Israel Defense Forces during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War, from March 5 to March 10, 1949. It was the last campaign undertaken by the IDF during the war an ...

on March 10, 1949, the

Negev Brigade The 12th Negev Brigade ( he, חטיבת הנגב, ''Hativat HaNegev'') is an Israeli reserve infantry brigade under the Sinai Division, that originally served in the 1948 Arab-Israeli war. History Founding and organization The brigade was ...

captured the abandoned position of the Jordanian

Arab Legion The Arab Legion () was the police force, then regular army of the Emirate of Transjordan, a British protectorate, in the early part of the 20th century, and then of independent Jordan, with a final Arabization of its command taking place in 19 ...

Ras al-Naqb Ras or RAS may refer to: Arts and media * RAS Records Real Authentic Sound, a reggae record label * Rundfunk Anstalt Südtirol, a south Tyrolese public broadcasting service * Rás 1, an Icelandic radio station * Rás 2, an Icelandic radio st ...

(

Hebrew Hebrew (; ; ) is a Northwest Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Historically, it is one of the spoken languages of the Israelites and their longest-surviving descendants, the Jews and Samaritans. It was largely preserved ...

ראס אל-נקב), exactly where the Netafim border crossing is located today. During the

Suez Crisis The Suez Crisis, or the Second Arab–Israeli war, also called the Tripartite Aggression ( ar, العدوان الثلاثي, Al-ʿUdwān aṯ-Ṯulāṯiyy) in the Arab world and the Sinai War in Israel,Also known as the Suez War or 1956 Wa ...

in 1956, Ras al-Naqb was again one of the strategic positions important for gaining control of the

Sinai Peninsula The Sinai Peninsula, or simply Sinai (now usually ) (, , cop, Ⲥⲓⲛⲁ), is a peninsula in Egypt, and the only part of the country located in Asia. It is between the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Red Sea to the south, and is a ...

References

External links

Israel Airport Authority
Egypt–Israel border crossings Eilat {{Egypt-geo-stub