Taba, Egypt

Infobox Settlement
official_name = Taba
other_name =
native_name = طابا

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settlement_type = Village
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image_caption = The Flag Plaza


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subdivision_type = Country
subdivision_name = Egypt
subdivision_type1 = Governorate
subdivision_name1 = Janub Sina'
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timezone = EET
utc_offset = +2
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footnotes = Taba (Arabic: طابا) is a small Egyptian town near the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba. Taba is the location of Egypt's busiest border crossing with neighboring Israel. Little more than a bus depot and a luxury hotel (complete with casino), Taba is a frequent vacation spot for Egyptians and tourists, especially those from Israel on their way to others destinations in Egypt or as a weekend getaway. It is the northernmost resort of Egypt's Red Sea Riviera.

Taba was the last portion of Sinai to be returned to Egypt under the terms of the 1979 Israel-Egypt Peace Treaty.

Taba was on the Egyptian side of the armistice line agreed to in 1949, and returned to Egypt when Israel withdrew from the Sinai in 1957. However, when Israel reoccupied the Sinai after the Six-Day War (1967), a 400-room hotel was built at Taba. When Egypt and Israel were negotiating the exact position of the border in preparation for the 1979 peace treaty, Israel claimed that Taba had been on the Ottoman side of a border agreed between the Ottomans and British Egypt in 1906 and had, therefore, been in error in its two previous agreements. After a long dispute, the issue was submitted to an international commission composed of one Israeli, one Egyptian, and three outsiders. In 1988, the commission ruled in Egypt's favor, and Israel returned Taba to Egypt later that year.

As part of this subsequent agreement, travellers are permitted to cross from Israel at the Eilat - Taba border crossing, and visit the "Aqaba Coast Area of Sinai", ( stretching from Taba down to Sharm el Sheikh, and including Nuweiba, St Catherine and Dahab ), visa-free for up to 14 days, making Taba a popular tourist destination. The resort community of Taba Heights is located some 20 km south of Taba. It features several large hotels, including The Hyatt Regency, Marriott, Sofitel and Intercontinental. It is also a significant diving area where many people come to either free dive, scuba dive or learn to dive via the many PADI courses on offer. Other recreation facilities include a new desert style golf course.

On October 7, 2004, the Hilton Taba was hit by a bomb that killed 34 people [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/3728436.stm (BBC)] , including Israeli vacationers. Twenty-four days later, an inquiry by the Egyptian Interior Ministry into the bombings concluded that the perpetrators received no external help but were aided by Bedouins on the peninsula. [http://reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=worldNews&storyID=6676122&section=news (Reuters)] [http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/3972635.stm (BBC)]

Transportation

Since Taba existed only as a small Bedouin village, there was never any real transportation infrastructure. More recently, Al Nakb Airport, located on the Sinai plateau some 35 km from Taba, was upgraded and renamed Taba International Airport (IATA: TCP, ICAO: HETB), and now handles half a dozen charter flights a week from the UK as well as weekly charter flights from Germany, Belgium, France, Holland and the Czech Republic. Many tourists enter via the Taba Border Crossing from Eilat, Israel and a marina has been built in the new Taba Heights development, some 20 km south of Taba, and which has frequent ferry sailings to Aqaba in Jordan, although these are restricted to tourists on organised tours.

ee also

* Taba Border Crossing
* Taba International Airport
* 2004 Sinai bombings
* Hilton Taba

External links

* on Wikitravel
* [http://www.tabaheights.info TabaHeights.info]
* [http://www.mygreategypt.com/East/South_Sinai/Cities/Taba_Heights/ Photographical Impressions]
* [http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=amman,+jordan&ie=UTF8&om=1&z=16&ll=29.490955,34.89687&spn=0.007919,0.021629&t=h&iwloc=A Taba at Google Earth]