Al 'Arish
From Free net encyclopedia
Al 'Arish (alternate spelling El Arish) (Arabic: العريش ) is the capital and largest city (with 114,900 inhabitants as of 2002) of the Egyptian governate of Shamal Sina', lying on the Mediterranean coast of the Sinai peninsula, 344 kilometers (214 miles) northeast of Cairo.
The city sprung up around a Bedouin settlement in the vicinity of the ancient Ptolemaic Dynasty outpost of Rhinocolura. Located halfway between Israel and Egypt, El Arish should be of major archaeological interest - but, surprisingly, no major archaeological project has ever been carried out in it or in its vecinity. In the Middle Ages pilgrims misidentified the site as the Sukkot of the Bible. Arish means "palm huts" in Arabic corresponding to the Hebrew Sukkot. New fortifications were constructed at the original site by the Ottoman Empire in 1560. During the Napoleonic Wars, the French laid siege to the fort, which fell after 11 days on February 19, 1799. The fort was destroyed by British bombers during World War I.
El Arish was briefly under Israeli administration in 1956 and again from 1967 to 1979, when it was peacefully returned from Israel to Egypt. After being reunited with Egypt it has become a centre for commerce and traffic between the two countries. An increasingly popular tourist destination, El Arish is situated at Template:Coor dm.he: אל עריש