British documents reveal Israeli plans to nullify Egyptian sovereignty over strategic Sinai Peninsula
The story of Israel’s ambitious plan to grab the Sinai Peninsula, or at least part of it, from Egypt, goes back to around 57 years ago. It involved pro-Israel lobbyists in the West, and started to raise questions about the legitimacy of Egypt’s sovereignty over the strategic territory after the June 1967 Six Day War, British documents unearthed at the National Archives in Kew reveal. | During the war, Israel occupied Sinai, along with the West Bank and Gaza in Palestine, as well as the Syrian Golan Heights. The Sinai Peninsula covers an area of about 61,000 square km, approximately six per cent of Egypt’s total area, and is equivalent to nearly a quarter of the area of Israel. ● The documents show that although Britain’s position was that Egyptian sovereignty over Sinai was evident, it considered the judicial status of this sovereignty a “card” to use when it served British interests. Ever since the 1967 war, they reveal, the Israelis “have from time to time flown a number of exploratory kites on the future of Sinai.”