Sheikh Zuweid (also spelled Sheikh Zoweid, Shaykh Zuwayd, or Sheikh Zouède; ar, الشيخ زويد , ,

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

: ''Bitulion'') is a Bedouin town in the

North Sinai Governorate North Sinai Governorate ( ar, محافظة شمال سيناء ') is one of the governorates of Egypt. It is located in the north-eastern part of the country, and encompasses the northern half of the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered in the north b ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

near the border with the

Gaza Strip The Gaza Strip (;The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p.761 "Gaza Strip /'gɑːzə/ a strip of territory under the control of the Palestinian National Authority and Hamas, on the SE Mediterranean coast including the town of Gaza.. ...

. It is situated between the cities of Arish and

Rafah Rafah ( ar, رفح, Rafaḥ) is a Palestinian city in the southern Gaza Strip. It is the district capital of the Rafah Governorate, located south of Gaza City. Rafah's population of 152,950 (2014) is overwhelmingly made up of former Palestini ...

and is 334 kilometers (214 miles) northeast of

Cairo Cairo ( ; ar, القاهرة, al-Qāhirah, ) is the capital of Egypt and its largest city, home to 10 million people. It is also part of the largest urban agglomeration in Africa, the Arab world and the Middle East: The Greater Cairo metro ...

. It has a population of around 60,000 as of 2015.

History

A remarkable

mosaic A mosaic is a pattern or image made of small regular or irregular pieces of colored stone, glass or ceramic, held in place by plaster/mortar, and covering a surface. Mosaics are often used as floor and wall decoration, and were particularly pop ...

from Late Antiquity (between the mid-fourth and mid-fifth centuries) was found in Sheikh Zuweid in 1913, known from the archaeological literature as the Sheikh Zouède mosaic (leaning on the French spelling: Cheikh Zouède). It is currently preserved in a museum in

Ismailia Ismailia ( ar, الإسماعيلية ', ) is a city in north-eastern Egypt. Situated on the west bank of the Suez Canal, it is the capital of the Ismailia Governorate. The city has a population of 1,406,699 (or approximately 750,000, includi ...

. The 6th century Madaba Map shows a settlement called Betulion (Greek Β �τ�λιον) in this location, possibly the Bethulia where Judith beheaded Holofernes in biblical legend. The town is named after Sheikh Zuweid, a commander of the Rashidun Islamic army who fought during the

Muslim conquest of Egypt The Muslim conquest of Egypt, led by the army of 'Amr ibn al-'As, took place between 639 and 646 AD and was overseen by the Rashidun Caliphate. It ended the seven-century-long period of Roman reign over Egypt that began in 30 BC. Byzantine ru ...

alongside

Amr ibn al-'As ( ar, عمرو بن العاص السهمي; 664) was the Arab commander who led the Muslim conquest of Egypt and served as its governor in 640–646 and 658–664. The son of a wealthy Qurayshite, Amr embraced Islam in and was assigned impor ...

. He died at the site of the present town in 640.Unkown (sic) assailants attack Sheikh Zuweid Shrine
''

Ahram Online ''Al-Ahram'' ( ar, الأهرام; ''The Pyramids''), founded on 5 August 1875, is the most widely circulating Egyptian daily newspaper, and the second oldest after '' al-Waqa'i`al-Masriya'' (''The Egyptian Events'', founded 1828). It is majori ...

.'' 2011-05-15. During the 2011 Egyptian revolution, protests against the government of

Hosni Mubarak Muhammad Hosni El Sayed Mubarak, (; 4 May 1928 – 25 February 2020) was an Egyptian politician and military officer who served as the fourth president of Egypt from 1981 to 2011. Before he entered politics, Mubarak was a career officer in ...

were held in Sheikh Zuweid. On 27 January, one protester was killed by security forces attempting to disperse the demonstrations. On 14 May 2011, an unknown group bombed the

Sufi Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, ...

shrine in Sheikh Zuweid. As many as 70 ISIS affiliated militants using mortars and car bombs attacked five Army checkpoints just north of the city on July 1, 2015. The attacks killed 30 Egyptian soldiers and were part of a larger group of coordinated attacks across the Sinai."Stratfor"
/ref>

Climate

Köppen-Geiger climate classification system classifies its climate as

hot desert A desert is a barren area of landscape where little precipitation occurs and, consequently, living conditions are hostile for plant and animal life. The lack of vegetation exposes the unprotected surface of the ground to denudation. About one ...

(BWh), as the rest of

, but because it is close to the sea, its climate is highly moderated by prevailing

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the ea ...

winds, typical to the

north coast of Egypt The Northern Coast of Egypt ( ar, الساحل الشمالي, "'", North Coast, commonly shortened to "'", "The Coast" or "The Egyptian Coast") extends for about along the Mediterranean Sea, it covers entirely the northern territory of Egypt. ...

and the east Mediterranean coast.

References

{{reflist Populated places in North Sinai Governorate Cities in Egypt Egypt

History

Climate

See also

References