Eilat

Today, a little to the southwest, the modern Eilat has become a sundrenched paradise for holiday- makers coming to bathe, to explore the offshore coral reefs or to wander around the jewelry workshops specializing in the green Eilat stone. The ancient town of Elath served through the centuries as a busy port of Judah and as a key point in the Byzantine defense system. When the Muslims came to Elath, they gave it the name Akaba. A Jewish community existed in Elath until the mid-10th century; by the 14th century the town was deserted.

In 1949 the modern Eilat (three miles west of Akaba and known then as Umm Rashrash) was occupied by Israeli forces in the War of Independence. The town's real growth began after the Sinai Campaign of 1956, when the Straits of Tiran were opened to Israel-bound shipping and a new port was built. In 1967, Gamal Abdul Nasser of Egypt again blockaded the Tiran Straits, threatening Eilat's future as Israel's gateway to the east. This move sparked off the Six-Day War. During the Yom Kippur War of 1973, shipping to Eilat was blocked by Egypt at the southern end of the Red Sea. The blockade was later lifted. By 1993 the population of Eilat was near 28,000.

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