Yamit () was an Israeli settlement in the northern part of the Sinai Peninsula with a population of about 2,500 people. Yamit was established during Israel's occupation of the peninsula from the end of the 1967 Six-Day War until that part of the Sinai was handed over to Egypt in April 1982, as part of the terms of the 1979 Egypt–Israel peace treaty. It was the largest Jewish town in Sinai. Prior to the return of the land to Egypt, all the homes were evacuated and bulldozed.
History
thumb|Yamit town plaza|left
Located in the Rafah Plain region south of the Gaza Strip, Yamit was envisioned as a large city for 200,000 people that would create a buffer zone between the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula. Construction of Yamit began in January 1975. When the first fifty residents arrived there were no buildings, roads, electricity or water. Nevertheless, ambitious plans were drawn up for a port, a flour mill, a Dead Sea canal, a hotel and a university. A cornerstone was laid for a yeshiva. By the second year, the population reached 100.
Before the establishment of Yamit, the area south of Gaza known as the Rafah salient was farmed by Bedouin who grew almond, peach, olive and castor-oil trees, as well as wheat. Other crops were grown near the coastline, where groundwater rose almost to the surface. They also herded sheep and goats. Some lived in tents, but others lived in tin shacks and concrete houses'.
Expulsion of the Bedouin
On January 14, 1972, Ariel Sharon ordered the expulsion of the Bedouins of the Rafah Plain, about of land in northeast Sinai. According to Eyal Weizman, their orchards and water wells were also destroyed. Most of the population was composed of secular Israelis who were attracted to the pristine settings near the Mediterranean and the low cost of housing. The settlement was positioned about half a kilometre away from the shore, adjacent to Bedouins who lived nearby along the shoreline itself.
Evacuation
thumb|Israeli soldiers evacuating Yamit by force
The evacuation of Yamit was part of the final stage of Israeli evacuation from Sinai. It was carried out in the face of powerful domestic opposition in Israel. Moshe Arens (of the Likud party), the head of the Knesset's Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, and professor Yuval Ne'eman, the leader of the right-wing Tehiya party, led that opposition. They wanted to stop the evacuation and revoke the peace treaty with Egypt, arguing, that once Egypt had the entire Sinai, it would cancel the peace treaty with Israel and rejoin the rest of the Arab world.
Yamit was evacuated on April 23, 1982, amid resistance by some Yamit settlers and other supporters. Some residents barricaded themselves on the rooftops before being dragged into buses by Israeli soldiers. Political extremists from the rest of the country infiltrated Yamit to demonstrate their solidarity and sabotage the withdrawal.