| El-arish |
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( and largest city (with 114,900 inhabitants As Of 2002 ) of the Egyptian Governate of Shamal Sina' , lying on the Mediterranean coast of the Sinai peninsula, 344 kilometers (214 miles) northeast of Cairo . The city sprung up around a Bedouin settlement in the vicinity of the ancient Ptolemaic Dynasty outpost of Rhinocolura . Located halfway between Israel and Egypt, El Arish should be of major archaeological interest - but, surprisingly, no major archaeological project has ever been carried out in it or in its vecinity. In the Middle Ages pilgrims misidentified the site as the Sukkot of the Bible . ''Arish'' means "palm huts" in Arabic corresponding to the Hebrew ''Sukkot''. New fortifications were constructed at the original site by the Ottoman Empire in 1560 . During the Napoleonic Wars , the French laid siege to the fort, which fell after 11 days on February 19 , 1799 . The fort was destroyed by British bombers during World War I . El Arish was briefly under Israeli administration in 1956 and again from 1967 to 1979 , when it was peacefully returned from Israel to Egypt. After being reunited with Egypt it has become a centre for commerce and traffic between the two countries. An increasingly popular tourist destination, El Arish is situated at . |