Taba

   A small (1.2 square kilometer) enclave on the border between Egypt and Israel that remained in dispute when the international boundary was established between the two countries following the Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty of 1979. Israel retained the area after withdrawing from the Sinai Peninsula in 1982, arguing that the maps showed incorrect lines. After years of fruitless negotiations, the issue was submitted to international arbitration. The arbitrators reported in September 1988 that the area belonged to Egypt. Israel and Egypt signed agreements on 26 February 1989 that returned Taba to Egypt. Egypt thus regained control of all of the Sinai Peninsula captured by Israel in the Six-Day War (1967). Taba itself was an insignificant piece of land, but it became symbolic of a number of difficulties in the Egypt-Israel relationship following the signing of the peace treaty.

   See also Arab-Israeli Conflict.