ISRAELVALLEY EXCLUSIVE. Taba is an Egyptian village near the northern tip of the Gulf of Aqaba and the Israeli border. This morning, Israeli television announced that Israel is accessible through Taba.
TABA.
Its population has never exceeded a handful of Bedouins, and Taba was the last piece of land returned to Egypt in 1989 as part of the Israeli-Egyptian peace treaty, after an international commission determined Taba’s position relative to the border.
Today, Taba’s main function is to serve as a crossing point for travelers to and from Israel, with its luxury hotel (Hilton, known as Sonesta during the Israeli occupation), casino, and bus station. Taba is now a resort destination for Israeli weekenders who want to gamble or scuba dive. They are allowed to stay for up to 48 hours without a visa.
In January 2001, peace talks between Israelis and Palestinians took place at the Taba summit.
On October 7, 2004, the Hilton hotel in Taba was targeted in a terrorist attack by Al-Qaeda, killing 34 people, including many Israeli tourists. After 24 days of investigation, the Egyptian Ministry of Interior concluded that the terrorists received no external help, except from Bedouins in the peninsula.
On February 16, 2014, a bus exploded near a hotel complex close to the border between Egypt and Israel, killing and injuring Korean tourists staying there.
Taba has an airport (Taba International Airport; IATA code: TCP).
Some major international hotels are located about twenty kilometers from the city in a place called Taba Heights. Since December 2010, Club Mediterranee has opened the Sinai Bay village by the sea there.
