Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-06-09
EGYPTIAN HIGHWAY
SYSTEM IS PLANNED
Road Will Be Built From Dan
to Beersheba to
Cairo.
BY the Associated Press.

By the Associated Press.
From Dan to Beersheba to Cairo will
be motor highway.
If the section Egypt now plans to
build from Beersheba to Suez had been
constructed long time ago it would
have saved Moses and the children Of
Israel one of the longest detours on
record.
Instead of taking the direct road out
Of Suez across the desert to the promised
land, they took a side trip around the
Sinai Peninsula. Modern detours may
seem long; the weary Israelites spent
40 years reaching their destination.
Custom Of Centuries FIouted.
The proposal to build a Beersheba-
Suez road is revolutionary, the National
Geographic Society points out. 1t
f1outs the custom of centuries. 1t
threatens to discard one of the oldest
things known TO man. Such highway
promises to scrap the ancient caravan
route between Syria and Egypt. Baby
lonians, Assyrians, Egyptians, Mace
domains, Romans, Turks and British
Tommies. every one except the Israelites,
used the Mediterranean seashore road
as the tides of invasion have set now
toward Africa and now toward Asia.
But the Israelites, when they fed
from the slave pens of Egypt, sought
no travelled highway. The wilderness
was their refuge. The Sinai Peninsula,
even today, is one Of the. most i'm
penetrable wildernesses on the face of
the earth. Tourist companies have
attempted to start auto trips to the
Mount of Laws from which Moses spoke,
yet camels still rule the sand damned
and boulder barricaded trail. The Sinai
Peninsula is triangle of old sun
bitten mountains, and the children of
Israel in the exodus went south around
the point and then north to Mount Hor,
which is only 40 miles southeast of
Beersheba.
The road Egypt plans to build from
Suez to Beersheba takes middle course
between the Israelite detour and the
hoary caravan shore trail. From Suez,
at the south end of the Suez Canal, the
road for rs miles to Nakhl Oasis is the
"haj" roulette pilgrim trail loyal
Egyptian Moslems take to Mecca.
Motorists must stop here and study
the signs. "Beersheba, us miles" will
be the one to follow. Up stark hills
and down into barren valleys 1t goes.
Ghost rivers have cut the desert OF
Tih into a forbidding land.
Watch the automobile sections OF
the Sunday papers for the announce
ment of the roads completion. Some
thing like this:
The opening of the Suez-Beersheba
road offers new tour for the family
through a region of many historical
associations With steady driving
Jerusalem can be reached from Cairo
In two days The distance is AIS miles:
All cars should carry extra tanks OF
water, gasoline and oil for desert emer-
gencies.
Just outside Cairo the motorist
passes the famous Egyptian ruins, at
Heliopolis. Lunch at SueZ O6O miles,
on the canal. Travellers will probably
spend the night at the Oasis OF Nakhl
(75 miles, but they are advised to take
their own tents since no modern hotel
has been built.
1T is we'll to make an early start for
Beersheba Q15 miles, next morning
because the MONDAY sun scorches. Five
of the seven wells of Beersheba still are
in use. Abraham camped here also.
Elijah fed to Beersheba. For centuries
it has been considered the southern
boundary of Palestine, hence Dan, IN
the north. to Beersheba, in the south.
Here the desert stops and sparse vegeta-
ton begins. Jerusalem is IS miles north
Of Beersheba. The road runs through
Hebron (45 miles, and (105 miles) to
the little town of Bethlehem