discovered the potential of the locality during the Israeli occupation – contributed to a spate of building projects. Environmental zoning laws currently limit the height of buildings in Sharm el-Sheikh so as to avoid obscuring the natural beauty of the surroundings.
In 2005, the resort was hit by the Sharm el-Sheikh terrorist attacks, which were perpetrated by an extremist Islamist organisation, and aimed at Egypt's tourist industry. Eighty-eight people were killed, the majority of them Egyptians, and over 200 were wounded by the attack, making it the deadliest terrorist action in the country's history (exceeding the Luxor massacre of 1997).
The city has played host to a number of important Middle Eastern peace conferences, including the 4 September 1999 agreement to restore Palestinian self-rule over the Gaza Strip. A second summit was held at Sharm on 17 October 2000 following the outbreak of the second Palestinian intifada, but it failed to end the violence. A summit was held in the city on 3 August 2005 on developments in the Arab world such as the situation in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Again in 2007, an important ministerial meeting took place in Sharm, where dignitaries discussed Iraq reconstruction. The World Economic Forum on the Middle East was also hosted by Sharm el-Sheikh in 2006 and 2008.
Amidst the 2011 Egyptian protests, President Hosni Mubarak reportedly went to Sharm el-Sheikh and resigned there on 11 February 2011
