WHAT's going on in Sinai? How has the security situation become so bad that the Ministry of the Interior had to mount a crackdown there? According to recent media reports, the purpose of this security campaign was to arrest some suspects in central Sinai. Two of armoured cars and three houses were destroyed in a fierce gun battle between the police and Bedouin during recent clashes. One wonders about the kind of weapons the Bedouin of Sinai must have to be able to destroy two armoured vehicles and also why the security forces had to use such excessive force against members of the public, destroying several homes as they tried to make them reveal the whereabouts of the wanted persons. In the past, the security authorities used to deal with Sinai inhabitants via the tribal heads who punish criminals according to the orfi (common) law or hand them over to the authorities if their crimes affect state security. However, this recent heavy-handed policy has apparently caused a deep rift between the Sinai Bedouin and the authorities. In many previous cases, tribal members have been arrested en masse, in order to force suspects to surrender to the authorities. This has hurt the pride of the big tribes in Sinai and deepened the sense of estrangement among Egyptian citizens living in Sinai. For a long time now, some people have been calling for the creation of a special ministry that would be responsible for the development of Sinai, working to end the marginalisation of the Bedouin living in the Sinai Peninsula, Egypt's buffer with Israel. The insistence on treating every inhabitant of Sinai as a suspected drug dealer or terrorist won't help Egypt's national security or bring stability and development to this sensitive part of the country.
