CAIRO: After a weekend of unrest in Sinai, fears continue to abound among residents about plans to evacuate buildings within 150 meters of the border with Gaza, especially because the land is owned by the state. Threats to block Al-Oja border crossing if demands were not met did not go through, but the situation remains at a standoff as residents continue to fear the loss of their homes. Local authorities are not issuing residences within 150 meters of the border with permits, whether for electricity or water. A special permission is needed from general security forces, according to the secretary of the Tagammu party in North Sinai Ahsraf El Hefny. "The fear is that the people will lose their land, he told Daily News Egypt, "because all the land on is officially owned by the state The residents claims over the land are unofficial, mostly via informal, unregistered contracts, he explained. Residents fear they can lose their dwellings and are calling for legal ownership of this property. Tribal elder and spokesman for the Bedouin Sheikh Mussa Al-Dilh told Daily News Egypt, "We want to own our land and this is one of the things we are calling for. It is all state land, we want our land. El Hefny said, "They [the residents] don't own the land, with the exception of the Sinai Cement factory, which is privately owned. Residents also fear that the state will change its type of ownership over the land from public property to land controlled by a state-owned holding company. The uncertainty surrounding people's homes near the border and the refusal to grant permits has led to rumors that the land in the proximity of the border will be annexed and used to resettle Palestinian refugees near Gaza. These rumors have been gaining currency among the populace for three months, first for the initial 150 meters but now borne to encompass 400 meters from the Gaza border. The rumor of Palestinian refugee resettlement has also been propagated by members of the Tagammu party, including El Hefny, though he could not offer a reason to believe the rumors apart from government refusal to grant the permits. His colleague at the party Hussein El Qayem told Daily News Egypt that the source of this rumor are Hamas members who have been stranded in Rafah and Al-Arish since the outbreak of clashes in Gaza two months ago. Local coordinator for Palestinian affairs Abdel-Sattar El-Ghalban could not be reached for comment at press time. The Egyptian government and its security forces in the region are attempting to counter the smuggling that goes on through tunnels built underneath the border between Gaza and Egypt.
