Elat

Elat or Eilat, southernmost town in Israel, a port on the Gulf of Aqaba (also called the Gulf of Elat), an arm of the Red Sea. Elat is located at the tip of the Negev Desert, between the borders of Egypt and Jordan. It is about 6 km (4 mi) northwest of the Jordanian city of Al ‘Aqabah. Industry and tourism are Elat's main economic activities. Oil from Egypt is piped through Elat to refineries at Ashqelon and Haifa, both in Israel, on the Mediterranean Sea. Elat also serves as a loading port for mineral exports extracted from the Dead Sea. The town's main imports include metals, sugar, electronic audio equipment, and automobiles from Japan. In order to stimulate economic activity in Elat, Israel designated the area a free trade zone in 1985, eliminating a large measure of taxation on production and commerce. Elat is accessible by air and road from Jerusalem, and direct flights also link the city's small airport to many European cities.

Each year Elat draws numbers of Israeli and European vacationers to its beaches and coastal attractions. Points of interest include the Coral World Underwater Observatory, which has a viewing room built within a coral reef; the Coral Reserve, a protected offshore nature park with outstanding scuba and skin-diving sites; and Dolphin Reef, where swimmers can observe dolphins and other sea creatures at close range. Elat also has a growing number of luxury hotels, restaurants, and shopping areas.

The location of present-day Elat has long been on the land route of armies and pilgrims passing between Africa, Europe, and Asia, so it has changed hands many times. During the time of King Solomon, in the 10th century bc, the port of Etzion Geber was built in the area. During the European military expeditions known as the Crusades, Christians took control of the area in ad 1116. Muslim military leader Saladin seized the region in the 1160s. In subsequent years the port declined. A British military post called Umm Rashrash was established at what is now Elat in 1906. In 1922 the area became part of the British mandate over Palestine, which lasted until Israel was created in 1948. Israel developed the port following the war with Egypt in the adjacent Sinai Peninsula in 1956, and Elat itself was officially established in 1959. Since Elat is Israel's only outlet to the Red Sea and the Indian Ocean, an important naval base was created there to protect Israeli shipping interests. In 1967 Egypt's president, Gamal Abdel Nasser, blocked the Strait of Tiran (the entrance to the Gulf of Aqaba), preventing all shipping to and from Elat. The blockade was one of the factors that led to Israel's attack on Egypt and the subsequent Six-Day War.

A peace treaty was signed between Israel and Egypt in 1979, and between Israel and Jordan in 1994. These developments have generated joint Egyptian-Israeli-Jordanian talks concerning environmental and commercial cooperation in the area of Elat, including the organization of a joint Al ‘Aqabah-Elat sea and air port authority. Population (1999 estimate) 38,200.