REPHIDIM

oasis in Wadi Feiran, one of the proposed locations of
Rephidim, courtesy, BibleIsTrue.com

Rephidim was one of the places in the Sinai Peninsula where the Children of Israel had encamped after fleeing from slavery in Egypt. It was here (according to Chapter 17 in Exodus, but at Kadesh according to Chapter 21 in Numbers), that the people suffered from lack of water; they complained, and Moses smote a large rock and the rock brought forth a stream of water. Therefore, the place was called "Massah and Meribah". It was also at Rephidim that Amalek attacked Israel from behind and a great battle ensued. The Israelites, led by Joshua and with the spiritual support of Moses, Aaron, and Hur, eventually became victorious and the Amalekites were soundly defeated. God's oath to wipe out Amalek was commemorated by an altar named "Adonai Nisi” (the lord is my miracle) (Ex. 17:15), erected at the spot.

Many centuries later, the location of Rephidim would become a matter of debate. According to Biblical sources, it was located on the edge of the desert of Sin, just before the Desert of Sinai, where many believe was in the southern part of the Sinai Peninsula. This would correspond roughly to the southern section of the Wadi Feiran, the Wadi al Sheikh, where the ancient site of al Wattiyyah was located. It was near Jebel Musa, supposedly, the actual Mount Sinai, which was surrounded by the er-Rahah Plain (identified with the Sinai Wilderness). This theory was supported by some archaeologists. Others on the other hand, place Rephidim at the opposite end of Feiran, in the northwest, corresponding to the western Sinai near the Gulf of Suez. Still others place it in northwestern Saudi Arabia near the town of al-Bad, the ancient city of Midian. Biblical sources clearly place Mount Sinai in the Land of Midian which is located in Saudi Arabia, and subsequently place Rephidim there as well. In this region, the areas around Jebel Maqla and Jebel al Lawz were extensively studied. Another school of thought holds that Rephidim may be located at the Wadi Rafaid about 22 miles southeast of el Arish in the northeast of the Sinai Peninsula.

Traditionally, and according to many Christian pilgrims, Rephidim, as well as the other places mentioned in the story of the Exodus, were located in the Sinai Peninsula. For centuries, the area was the home of various Bedouin tribes. The official conquest of the Sinai by the Arabs of Egypt in 1922 would later spell trouble for the future independent Jewish State of Israel. Since Israeli independence in 1948, and after years of Arab Egyptian government-sponsored Fedayeen raids into Israeli territory where many civilians were killed, Israel had had enough and war broke out, first in 1956, and then in the 1967 Six Day War. Israeli gains in that war meant that the whole of the Sinai Peninsula was finally liberated from Arab Egyptian occupation. Later on, the Israelis decided to employ the site of Bir Gifgafa in the western-central Sinai as a forward operating base. Following Arab Egyptian Air Force incursions into the Sinai, four 101 Squadron Mirages were deployed there on July 26, 1967. Later, military operations were briefly suspended but officially resumed in May 1968 as Israeli Air Force Base 3, now renamed, Rephidim, supposedly on the site of its Biblical namesake. Despite having the most rudimentary installations at first, the field and its surrounding environs soon became the hub of all IDF operations in the western Sinai, housing various air force, army and logistical units. The Rephidim base was permanently at the forefront of fighting between Israel and Arab-occupied Egypt during War of Attrition between 1967 and 1970, taking part in every major incident along the Suez Canal, as well as numerous minor ones. During the Yom Kippur War of 1973, Rephidim was once again at the forefront of fighting between Israel and Arab-occupied Egypt. Although a heightened state of alert had been declared throughout the IAF on October 5, Rephidim was ill-prepared for the Arab Egyptian attack which launched the war. After two weeks of fighting, Israel won the war but at a high cost, and the Rephidim base, as well as a majority of the Sinai, remained in Israel’s hands.

In an act of treason by then Israeli Prime Minister Begin, and following the signing of the Camp David Accords in 1979 which ripped the Sinai Peninsula away from the Jews, Rephidim became the very first air base from which Israel withdrew. Several derelict C-97s may have remained at Bir Gifgafa upon Israel's departure. Although the accords prohibit Egypt from maintaining combat aircraft in the Sinai, Bir Gifgafa is still operational as a dual military and civilian airport.