Correspondents' Correspondence
SALPETER, ELIAHU
Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS. Desert Crossing Tel Aviv--A dramatic meeting of...
...The few hundred Bedouins in the widely separated oases--severely poverty-stricken, even by the traditionally low standards of Sinai--barely managed to subsist on their little herds of skinny goats and melancholy camels that ravenously scavenge every meager patch of vegetation in sight...
...Desert Crossing Tel Aviv--A dramatic meeting of 20th-century civilization and a nomadic way of life dating back to Biblical times is occurring today along the eastern coast of Sinai, There the Israel Public Works Department is building a highway between Elath--the country's southernmost point and only port to the Red Sea and Indian Ocean--and Sharm-el-Sheikh, the southern tip of the Sinai Peninsula...
...A major tourist attraction are the gaily saddled camels (exact copies of the beasts and decorations offered every week at the Bedouin market in B'er Sheba) on which Mr...
...The small Egyptian border garrison was supplied by a motor boat that used to stop about once every fortnight...
...Before the war, only a camel track connected Sharm-el-Sheikh with the string of tiny oases scattered northward along the coast...
...Bedouin children were sipping chocolate malts in plastic containers dispensed from Israeli buses, while their elders sat around listening to Radio Cairo on their brand new Japanese transistor sets...
...The day may also be coming very soon, if the effect of the highway construction is any indication, when they will prosper again.--Eliahu Salpeter...
...It would seem, then, that centuries ago these lands were not as forsaken as they appear today...
...The cause of this sudden boom, of course, is the new highway now under construction--a triple source of income for the desert Arabs...
...Threading between the deep-blue waters of the gulf and the yellow-bronze-pink mountain sides that crowd against the shoreline, it crosses a moonscape of deep wadis separating craggy peaks of yellow-gray desolation...
...And to those remaining at home in their oases, the still unfinished highway is bringing a steady stream of souvenir-hungry Israeli tourists, who push their way south right behind the bulldozers...
...Others serve as watchmen, guarding the heavy equipment and stocks of cement, steel and asphalt piled along the roadway...
...Many are employed as unskilled laborers on the road gangs...
...Eager to buy up the few native handicrafts available, they willingly pay twice the Tel Aviv price for goods of a quality far inferior to what is sold in arts-and-crafts shops at home...
...Some time ago one enterprising Bedouin offered a cut-rate price of half a pound for the thrill of mounting his camel--but then charged another pound for giving his animal the order to kneel down and let the bargain-shopper dismount...
...Lefkowitz from Haifa or the Bronx can have his photograph taken in Sheik-of-Araby pose for the paltry sum of one Israeli pound (about 30 cents...
...By searching the areas around the small clumps of trees marking traces of underground water, the traveler can find ancient stone inscriptions and--at three of the oases--well-preserved ruins of what were once large-scale habitations, including a veritable fortress on the coast...
...The highway itself runs through some of the most spectacular scenery imaginable...
...They are invading this newly accessible region with a zeal that is reminiscent of the first days after the war...
...Since the Egyptian quartermaster was not especially punctual, the Israeli soldiers stationed at the checkpoint across the border often gave their Arab counterparts food and water so they could survive in the blazing desert...
...It was from Sharm-el-Sheikh that the Egyptians blockaded the Gulf of Elath in June 1967, triggering the chain of events that led to the Six Day War and ended in Israel's occupation of the entire peninsula...
...Correspondents' Correspondence BRIEF TAKEOUTS OF MORE THAN PERSONAL INTEREST FROM LETTERS AND OTHER COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED BY THE EDITORS...
...Driving through the region recently, I was struck by the signs of a remarkable new prosperity in the desert...
Vol. 54 • January 1971 • No. 2
