Taba restored

War done and victory ensured, there remained a small part which Egypt regained not by fighting, but by negotiations, recociliation and arbitration; Taba.

Dr. Younan Labib Rizq writes that the battle of restoring Taba was detrimental for the myth saying that Israel is the most brilliant, while Arabs are stupid and downgrading; cannot exist in our contemporary life. The Egyptian competent team defending Taba managed to refute all the evidences of Israel; the team presented documents of proof to all the parties concerned and spread that all over the world.

Our military, diplomatic and legal qualifications managed to conquer the surprising situations and manoeuvers of Israel.

Dr. Younan Labib Rizq had all the requirements needed to speak about Taba. He is a Professor of Modern History and he wrote many articles on Taba. He was a member of the Egyptian authority that defended Taba. Consequently his personal view on the whole case came from the heart of truth. His style in presenting the case was full of varieties. The following comprehensive article is one chapter of his famous work; "Taba...The Era's Case".

Dr. Rizq says, To deal with history is very logical, to find heroes make history is someting acceptable; but to find a one-km2 land conquering history is a most-weird thing. The question why to burst into history for that issue, is not some kind of exaggeration; it is a fact. Arab and Egyptian national sentiment did not witness a case - imposed like that of the small window overlooking the Aqaba Gulf; Taba.

Proofs were numerous, and all asserted the deep concern about such narrow coastal line; as it became the heart of the Arab-Israeli relations.

It has a position
The position that Taba took in the dispute; the position that made each party, completely, stand firm, till the Head of the Arbitration Panel pronounced the sentence. For six years, each party had a team of International Law experts; 25 representatives for each. The sessions held in January, March and April 1988, witnessed the list of representatives.

Very expensive
Before leaving the first proof, an observation looks marginal, but it is fatal; The Egyptian and Israeli governments were ready to waste any amounts of money; to win the battle on whatever costs. As a matter of course, many exceptional funds were earmarked on both sides, the matter which made the price of the square meter in Taba very expesive.

The gross value of the funds allocated is still a top secret, sure it is a large figure; three years of debates, negotiations and proceedings must be expensive. What soften the events, was the patriotic stance of our dear Egyptian experts of International Law; they declined to claim any payments along the years of the case.

American attitude The US' basic role underscores the case of Taba. All the indications referred to the American intention to terminate the battle indecisively; no winners, no losers. Reports briefed that the US intended to allow for confrontation rather than arbitration, and all the time America did not give up the hope of such indecisive solution.

The Egyptian government stood firmly all the time; no middle solutions, and no acceptance of compromise; sovereignty is the only solution.

While the Israeli government, as official documents and speeches assert, moved in two different directions, and only if one option was achieved, it would be satisfactory for them.

The first option is the Panel's acceptance of one of the two marks proposed by Israel; a far-reaching probability. The second option is the arbitration panel's failure to reach a proper resolution. For Israel it was a most-preferred option that would lead to the maintenance of the status quo; Taba will be under the Israeli control, till the end of negotiations. Such failure does not deny the American intervention at all levels (1982-1988).

Media campaigns
The information pursuit for this case, the counter-arguments refuting the other's situation and articles of condemnation, are all decisive proof of the importance of Taba. Concerning the Israeli side, we choose two important articles; the first is, "Recently-Discovered British Documents Confirm the Forgery of the Egyptian Map", published on November 26, 1985, by Mr John Kimhey, a British reporter, specialized in inter Arab-Israeli relations.

He visited Egypt and met the daughter of Barker Basha, the Sinai former Governor. She gave him some photographs that affected the case.

The article was published in a time that witnessed a strong struggle and sharp dispute resulting from the Egyptian insistence on arbitration and the Israeli protest of it. The report was just a letter of menace directed to the Egyptian side; arbitration would bring evil consequences.

The second article, published on the newspaper "Hotam", in 1987, implied two maps of Egypt. The first map was before 1982, while the second was after, in which a noticed difference was introduced on the southern part. Such difference comes in term with the Israeli unduly assumption. The paper charged the Israeli government of forgery and withdrawal of the right map of Egypt from markets.

Despite the Egyptian defendant team indebteness for these two maps, the team wanted to embarrass Israel. Dr. Nabil El-Araby, the Egyptian representative, asked the Israeli Party to translate the article of "Hotam" into English and present it for the Panel. The article made Israel dig a trench; Mr Loter Bakht, the Israeli first lowyer intended to ask an Israeli retired officer about "Hotam" in an official session, March 24,1988. The retired officer answered that he does not read such untrustworthy and unreliable-source newspapers!

A con stream
In Egypt, there was a stream protesting arbitration; their logic was concluded; no arbitration on sovereignty.

The problem was aggravated, reasons could not be known except within its general frame; the Arab-Israeli conflict.

One of the most astonishing observations, was that all parties concerned, completely, know Taba's being a political case not a legal one, and that all the Israeli actions and reactions are part and parcel of its aspired dreams of expansion.

To rob Egypt
For Israel the case was how to steal an Egyptian land, the matter for which the Egyptians became furious.
Vice Admiral, Mohsen Hamdy, Commander of the Egyptian technical team, appeared before the arbitration panel and in his testimony he said, "During debating and presenting evidences of the prosecution of the mark 91, an Israeli member presented his weird evidence and tried to elaborate his point unlogically, the matter which made his boss say to him, what an idiot robber!

Israel presented the strongest indication of their devilish act, when the day before holding the oral session, they presented two photographs to the panel of arbitration; while their intention was destroying the Egyptian legal base, such photoes proved the Israeli intention to robbery.

Another reason for the Israeli persistance on robbering Taba was that, Israel is already a Mediterranean sea country, but with Taba it will be a semiRed Sea country. Of course this would benefit Israel with its strategic and economic consequences. Geo-political colour

Let's say that Taba case took a geo-political colour, aiming at capturing a position on the Red Sea.

So long as the strategic goals are characterized with being unchangable, expansion of the Israeli window would always be the dream of Israel; Egyptians shall never forget that.

Such strategic goal links with some economic considerations. Scientists of phyiscal geography assert that Ilat is full of coral reefs on which no industry or tourist projects could be established, while Taba is in fact a mudy delta on which tourist projects could be etablished. Mr. Sable, the Israeli representative's words indicate the Israeli economic greed; he said, "the concerned position has a great importace for Ilat, actually it is a part of it.

 The Egyptian counter-memo revealed that Egypt has no economic or tourist interests in Taba. Egypt was the landlord, but it did not exert any effort in structuring any civilian residence. So the Egyptian existence is not logical". Such nonsense of the Israeli representative reveals the weakness of the Israeli position.

Once again the comic myth of super-power rose to the surface. Such myth was a base in the Israeli policy towards Taba battle. They worked in two directions; deception and surprise.

Deception not sustained
Deception by changing some sites of Taba, a most dangerous change was the deletion of the spur reaching to the Gulf and paving a new way linking between Ilat and Taba. The last mark of theh Egyptian boarders was deleted by establishing the new road. A matter that, firstly, deceived the Egyptian team, but soon they recognized the fault and gave a notice to the Panel.

Here comes the second technique of surprise; they presented a delusive photo to the arbitration panel, by which they hoped to embarrass our party and consequently win the battle. By presenting such photo, the panel of arbitration recognized the Israeli intention of robbery.

Once again the myth was broken and, globally, they become a people, not God's chosen1 people.

Today, the picture is totally different.

Serious efforts have been made to turn Taba into an attractive resort for domestic and international tourism. In fact, it has already become popular among Cairenes as a destination for holiday breaks.