He who dies with the most sand wins!
Any minerals in the Sinai?
Unless it has been cleaned up there is just the iron and steel from about 10,000 blown up Egyptian tanks and other vehicles.
Natural gas, oil, copper mines. But above all, control of the Straights of Tiran (access to Eilat and Aqaba ports), which is Israel’s only way into and from the Red Sea, and hence all eastern shipping since Egypt nationalized the Suez Canal in 1956, and barred all Israeli ships.
Jerusalem might be our heart, but Eilat is our cojones, and we can’t afford to let anyone hostile grab hold of either.
When the Israelis held the Sinai before, they developed the tourist industry there to very profitable levels.