Bir Tawil, the Mysterious No Man’s Land That No Country Claims and Could Offer a New Solution
A rare visit to Bir Tawil, documented on social media under Section 27A of the Copyright Law. In a world where countries fight over every square meter of land, it is hard to believe that there is an entire area that no one wants. This is not the summit of Mount Everest or the frozen glaciers of Antarctica, but a hot, rocky and rugged stretch of land called Bir Tawil, literally, “deep well.” It is an unusual geographical quadrilateral spanning more than two million dunams, an area about 200 square kilometers larger than the Golan Heights, lying exactly between Egypt and Sudan.
On the face of it, this is a remote hole on the map. There is no government, no paved roads, no hotels and no cellular reception. But the reality on the ground is very different from the desolate image. In practice, the area is bustling with life. An ancient nomadic tribe called the Ababda has lived there continuously since Roman times. Alongside them, a large gold-mining industry operates in the area. Independent miners with metal detectors and heavy industrial excavators extract treasures from the desert soil. Around them, workers’ camps have sprung up, a main street with small shops under corrugated tin, money changers and, surprisingly, even telephone booths and armed Bedouin guards protecting the territory from trespassers.
Victims of a British brushstroke. How did it happen that two neighboring countries refuse to recognize a territory lying right between them? The answer lies in British bureaucracy. In 1899, after the Mahdist War, the British drew a straight, clean border line between Egypt and Sudan. Three years later, in 1902, they changed their minds and drew another, more curved line designed to take local tribal migration into account. The problem began when no one bothered to clearly declare which of the lines was the official border. Over the years, Egypt and Sudan gained independence and began to quarrel over the area. Ironically, they were not quarrelling over Bir Tawil. To its east lies the Halaib Triangle, a vast area rich in natural resources and with easier access. Egypt has clung to the original border, which gives it Halaib, while Sudan adopted the second border, which grants it the same area. International law says you cannot have it both ways, a country that claims ownership of the small Bir Tawil automatically gives up its claim to the prestigious Halaib. The result is total diplomatic stalemate, with the territory left orphaned.
More on this. A 14-year-old founded his own country, became the world’s youngest president and is already at war. This is what the world’s smallest remote country looks like, and you will no longer be allowed to visit it.
Bir Tawil is shown here in white, hidden between Egypt to the north and Sudan to the south. / Screenshot, public domain
A Virginia farmer’s dream kingdom. This power vacuum has attracted quite a few colorful figures from around the world. No fewer than nine different people have tried to declare themselves rulers of the area. The best known is Jeremiah Heaton, an American farmer who traveled there in 2014, planted a flag in the sand and declared the establishment of the Kingdom of North Sudan. The official reason for the arduous journey was a promise he had made to his young daughter, who dreamed of becoming a real princess. The story received cheerful international coverage, but the locals were much less enthusiastic. Tribal elders saw it as a bitter insult and even threatened to harm him if he dared return, since they are not prepared to accept the virtual rule of a foreigner over the internet. While some tourists came only to plant ridiculous flags and pose for photos, experts and diplomats understand that this lawlessness carries the potential for much more than a social media curiosity.
The grand plan that could change the face of the Middle East. This is where a particularly surprising angle comes into play, one that directly concerns our region. A diplomat and writer named Grant Arthur Gochin published a revolutionary proposal in The Times of Israel. According to him, Bir Tawil meets a rare criterion, there is no sovereign rule there, there are no official permanent citizens and there are no claims by a third state. This is a dormant legal status, so instead of recycling ideas that have failed for decades, the area could be turned into a sovereign and independent Palestinian state. Gochin proposes a phased process requiring the consent of Egypt and Sudan in exchange for enormous economic incentives, investments from the Gulf and access to alternative trade routes. The first stage would include building water desalination and solar energy infrastructure to green the desert. The initial cost of the project is estimated at the huge sum currently required just to rebuild the Gaza Strip, about 80 billion dollars, or 292 billion shekels.
His idea is to redirect the funds that are repeatedly poured into destruction and reconstruction toward building a modern state infrastructure from scratch. Under the plan, the move would be entirely voluntary and would offer Palestinians full citizenship, financial compensation and relocation assistance, with no hint of coercion. The new state would be completely demilitarized, supervised by international forces in a format similar to that in Sinai, and the presence of armed militias would be prohibited. In his words, this is not a spontaneous leap or a quick miracle solution, but a work plan that offers an alternative to the endless cycle of bloodshed and shifts the decision onto the field of those who demand sovereignty, provided they are willing to build it from the ground up on desert land.
