For thousands of years, the sitting figure of Ramses II watched over the Nil, till the construction of theAswandam threatened to drown the ancient temple under the waters of the river.
Thus the cold war spread to north Africa and Egypt (the Russians duly stepped in to finance theAswandam, and much else), and Israel became ever more closely tied to the United States.
The historical Nubian Temples campaign, for the protection of the Egyptian monuments in Nubia from the rising waters of theAswan High Dam, mobilized the international community for the protection of the World Heritage.