Israel worried about the Sinai

Emboldened by the chaotic protests in Cairo, Bedouin gangs in the Sinai Peninsula have escalated attacks on police forces, prompting Israel to agree to an Egyptian force being deployed in the region. The move on February 1 marked the first time Egyptian troops have entered the Sinai since the 1979 treaty established it as a demilitarized zone.

“According to information that has arrived in Israel,” the Jerusalem Postwrote, “Egyptian police authorities have abandoned dozens of police stations throughout the peninsula after they were attacked by Bedouin armed with missiles and assault rifles.”

Reports of rocket-propelled grenade attacks on Egypt’s state security headquarters, which is located close to the Gaza border, surfaced early in the month. Terrorists were also responsible for bombing a gas terminal and setting a church in Rafah ablaze.

Already known as a “lawless land,” the Sinai Peninsula has long been plagued with Bedouin gangs refusing allegiance to Cairo.

“Some members of the group have taken to smuggling, and now dominate the trade across the border to the Gaza Strip, largely through tunnels under the border,” the Wall Street Journal reported (February 5).

The Bedouin gangs are notorious for their help in smuggling weapons to Hamas militants.

Today, with Egyptian police forces largely defunct since the January 28 call for them to step down and now further fleeing in the face of increased Bedouin violence, Israel fears the abandoned peninsula could become a breeding ground for jihad.

“In recent years, the Sinai has turned into a launching pad for attacks against Israel,” continued the Post, “including by Hamas, which several months ago launched Katyusha rockets into Eilat from the Egyptian territory.”

Now, Israelis in the Sinai have been urged to go home amid fears that Hamas will overtake the volatile peninsula to launch attacks on Israel along the 240-kilometer-long border between Egypt and Israel.

“There is also concern that without a real Egyptian security presence in the Sinai, Hamas will be able to increase the amount and quality of weaponry and explosives it smuggles into the Gaza Strip via Egypt,” the Post wrote.

Last week, “Arab media reported that Egyptian forces had gone on high alert along the Suez Canal out of fear that Hezbollah and Hamas terrorist cells planned to take advantage of the chaos in the country to attack the strategic waterway,” the Post also reported (February 7).