CAIRO: Relatives of three Bedouins found partially buried in the desert near the border have spoken out on the grievances they harbor towards the regime and the treatment meted out by security forces in Sinai. Traveling to Cairo along with many residents of Sinai representing various political and social currents in the area, the relatives spoke of the wider problems that Sinai faces, during a seminar organized by the freedoms committee of the Journalists Syndicate. Beshir Gherbany, the cousin of Marawan Jameel, one of the three Bedouins killed and later found half buried in the desert during a recent spate of clashes between security forces and Bedouin tribes, said that continued police willingness to post various charges against the Bedouins was exacerbating tensions in the area. Is the benefit the government is gaining from Sinai worth the blood of one martyr of Sinai? The people of Sinai are Egyptians and their problems are the problems of Egypt, he said. Clashes erupted last month when a Bedouin was killed at a police checkpoint. Violence ensued between tribesmen and security forces which resulted, at one point, in the temporary takeover by the Bedouins of a police station with its policemen inside. During the clashes, three Bedouins from different tribes were discovered partially buried in the desert, which inflamed people in the area further as photos spread of the battered bodies. Shaymaa Aboul Fajr, the wife of detained Bedouin activist Mussad Aboul Fajr, said, I am a strong woman, I did not cry when my husband went to jail. What he is doing is right and as we know, the people who do what's right here end up in jail. Yet when I saw the images of the three dead sons of Sinai I cried. Throughout the two-hour session, Sinai residents presented numerous examples of problems they faced and wanted to rectify, including repeated detention and a plethora of charges piling up against them, the inability to own the homes they live in and the lack of government resources to support the residents. Ashraf El Hefny, secretary of the Tagammu party in North Sinai, said, The government has handed Sinai to two Egyptian businessmen, and we are caught in the middle between them; all but forgotten. We keep talking about facing our problems in Sinai but we will not achieve anything if we continue to have divisions amongst us. Sinai residents also bemoaned the perception of them in the media, as well as the general perception of them in the wider Egyptian populace, where they are viewed as disloyal and unpatriotic. Before people talk about Sinai, they must see the reality on the ground. We are being accused of treason although we have always been on the frontline; but you must ask yourselves, what have you done to make us feel we are one people? Gherbany said. Mohamed Abdel-Quddous, head of the freedoms committee at the Syndicate said, On behalf of the freedoms committee of the Journalists' Syndicate I would like to apologize to the people of Sinai for the way some media outlets have portrayed you. A conference comprising four Bedouin tribes took place Dec. 15 in Al-Ajira near Sheikh Zowayed. Participants released a statement in the wake of the conference reiterating their demands and gave the government an ultimatum of Jan. 15 to acquiesce. Magdi Hussein, former editor of Al-Shaab newspaper, placed the blame for Sinai s problems squarely at the door of the government. This is a regime that is either treacherous or stupid; I just don t know which one, he said. The way they handle any crisis is always misguided, and always results in them having a problem with everyone. So I must ask, are they traitors or are they stupid? Abdel-Quddous said, Sinai has problems. There are gross human rights violations taking place there. That is made more complex with the lack of development in the area. If the millions that were squandered on Toshka had been spent on Sinai, it would have been developed long ago.
