Nostalgia Sunday – Eilat

August 21, 2011 - 7:00 PM by Rachel Neiman

We tend to think of Eilat as a tourist spot, a destination for fun in the sun, a tranquil if trashy oasis. The Israeli equivalent of Miami beach — if not that classy. The horrific events of this past Thursday served to remind us, like a slap in the face, that the unending desert is a facade behind which danger can, and does, hide and Eilat, like much of our little country, is a border outpost.

Umm Rashrash was the name of the town upon which the modern city of Eilat was built. The area was designated as part of the Jewish state in the 1947 UN Partition Plan. On March 10, 1949, Umm Rashrash — then under control of the Jordanian Arab Legion — was taken by the Palmach Negev Brigade in Operation Uvda (also Ovda). The aim of the campaign was to conquer the Negev and Arava regions before signing the Armistice Agreements with Jordan. It was done without firing a single shot.

Following the taking of the town’s police station, the soldiers raised an home-made flag — known popularly as “The Ink Flag” — which became a symbol of the victory. According to the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs website, “The improvised flag was made on the order of the then Negev Brigade commander, Nahum Sarig, who discovered that the Brigade did not have an Israeli flag in its possession. The soldiers found a white sheet, drew two ink stripes, and sewed between them a Star of David torn off from a first-aid kit. The raising of the ink flag marked the climax of Operation Ovda, the last operation of the War of Independence.”

“When the Golani advance guard arrived two hours later, the two brigade commanders, Nachum Sarig and Nachum Golan, sent the following telegram to the front commander, Yigal Allon: ‘Inform the Government of Israel: On the birthday of the Haganah – 11 of Adar – the Palmach Negev Brigade and the Golani Brigade hand over the Gulf of Eilat to the State of Israel. Eilat (Um Rashrash) 9 of Adar, 10.3.1949, 1600 hours.’” (The online Palmach museum has a presentation [in Hebrew] with maps showing the progression of the Operation Uvda campaign).

A detailed first-hand account of Operation Uvda is available online; it contains excerpts from the book “Eyes of the Beholder” by David (Migdal) Teperson, a member of the Hayot Ha-Negev (Negev Beasts) Jeep commando. Teperson notes that later on, an official flag was procured and an honor guard held.

A stamp commemorating the raising of the Ink Flag was issued in 1998, part of a three-stamp sheet presenting Israel’s three battle fronts in the War of Independence.

Eilat’s first residents worked at the Timna copper mines and, following the 1956 Sinai Campaign that opened the Straits of Tiran, at the new Port of Eilat. Initially, the city operated under a Municipal Council; it took a full decade until Eilat was officially recognized as a town with 6,000 residents in March 1959.

With the opening of the Eilat Hotel in 1958, the city’s first hotel, Eilat became a tourist spot but really took off after 1967′s Six Day War, when the Sinai peninsula was captured. The highway to Sharm El Sheikh was completed in 1969 and Eilat became a way-station for beatnikim (aka: hippies) en route to find peace of mind in the Sinai. The first direct European charter flights began in 1975 and tourism boomed. After the Sinai was returned to Egypt, Eilat branded itself successfully as a destination separate from the rest of Israel; the strategy worked for a good number of years. In 1985, it was declared a Tax Free Trade Zone and nine years later, in October 1994, Eilat was the site where the Israel-Jordan Peace Treaty was signed.

Today, the city boasts 11,000 hotel rooms and a range of activities, from snorkeling among the coral reefs, swimming with dolphins, hiking and bird watching to fun parks, VAT-free shopping, resto-pubs and nudie bars. And of course, the annual Eilat-Eilot Renewable Energy Conference (the region is slated to go 20% solar in the next half-year) — which is the only reason why I venture there. But my smug taste in holiday activities is not the point. The point is that in less than 60 short years, Eilat has become an international tourist destination, a success story, and God damn those who would try to take that away.

My City Eilat is a very interesting online archive, run in conjunction with the municipal museum, that has a wealth of photographs, news clippings and other documents about the city’s history; events such as the tragic 1954 Maale Akrabim bus massacre that so sadly echoes current events, and happier ones, as seen in this wonderful slide show by photographer and local historian Shmulik Taggar.

Eilat's History ההיסטוריה של העיר אילת

View more presentations from Eilat’s History Museum

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