SINAI - Under the burning sun of the South Sinai desert, some Egyptian Bedouin tribes live in harsh conditions. But they're sticking to their land, hoping for a better future, especially after celebrating the Egyptian revolution and then their first Sinai Liberation Day without Mubarak. "The revolution has raised the name of Egypt high, as also happened when Sinai was liberated and the Egyptian flag was raised on the last inch of land in Taba in 1988," says Hamedan Def Allah, the head of the governmental Development Association for Bedouin Society in Nuweiba, South Sinai. Al-Hassan, 27, who lives with his tribe, Al-Ababda, in Sinai, has a degree in law from a university in Cairo and wants a better future for his tribe. He totally dismisses the idea of leaving his land and carving out a new life for himself in Cairo. "This is my tribe and my land. I cannot leave them, but I think it's high time for the Bedouin to get their rights, especially after the revolution. We haven't received any of our rights," says Al-Hassan. In Sinai, the infrastructure is still in dire need of being expanded and extended in order to make life easier for its residents. "Three main problems should be discussed: clarifying their military service status; providing hospitals here with more professional physicians; and giving our schools more professional teachers," Hamedan adds. Each Bedouin tribe has its own traditions and taboos, handed down over the generations, that govern their social life. They felt threatened by the ex-regime and the spread of urbanisation. In South Sinai, there are about 12 tribes, the most well known being Al-Tarabeen, Al-Ehawyat, Al-Taygha, Al-Karersha, Al-Sawalaha, Awalad Saeed, Al-Gabaliya, Al-A'olyqat and Al-Hamaza. Approximately 66,500 people live in South Sinai and 314,000 in North Sinai. Despite the lack of infrastructure facilities that would make life so much easier for Sinai's Bedouin, they still struggle hard to grow crops and raise livestock. The price of land varies across the Peninsula: in the North, it only costs about LE3 per square metre, in the South, LE30-LE40 per square metre. The people of Sinai want their governors to set fair prices for the land. Since the mid-1980s, the Bedouin who held desirable coastal property have lost control of much of their land, because it was sold by the Egyptian Government to hotel operators. In the summer of 1999, the latest dispossession of land took place when the Army bulldozed Bedouin-run tourist campgrounds north of Nuweiba, as part of the final phase of hotel development in the sector, overseen by the governmental Tourist Development Agency (TDA). The director of the TDA dismissed Bedouin rights to most of the land, saying that they had not lived on the coast before 1982. Bedouin had been living on the coast, but their traditional semi-nomadic culture has left them vulnerable to such claims. Many of the Sinai Bedouin have been living in Sinai since the 14th century AD.The tribal life in Sinai is totally different from the modern life of Cairo. The Bedouin are a hardy lot, eschewing the luxuries of city life. Each tribe has its sheikh, who governs this tribe and has the authority to represent its demands to the State. Each Sinai tribe knows how to resolve its disputes with other tribes. Over the past 30 years, Sinai has become a tourist destination due to its natural setting, rich coral reefs and biblical history. The most popular tourist destinations in Sinai are Mount Sinai (Jabal Moussa) and St. Catherine's Monastery, which is considered to be the oldest working Christian monastery in the world, as well as the beach resorts of Sharm el-Sheikh, Dahab, Nuweiba and Taba. Most tourists arrive through Eilat, Israel and the Taba border brossing, by train or bus from Cairo or by ferry from Aqaba in Jordan. During the recent unrest in Egypt, about 35 individuals bore responsibility for protecting the borders from Taba till Wadi Al-Wateer in Nuweiba. In his speech on Sinai Liberation Day, Prime Minister Essam Sharaf told the Sinai tribes that they should engage in Egypt's political life as a whole and represent themselves and their issues to a higher institution, which the Minister said is going to be established, solely concerned with Sinai and its future. “These [Sinai] men have proven that they can help protect this nation, and we cannot forget their role in all our wars, the last of which was the October 1973 War [against Israel]. All love and respect for them,” said Commander of the Second Field Army General Sobhi Sedki on Sinai Liberation Day, stressing the importance of Sinai's tribes as an integral part of the community. The citizens of Sinai told the ministers and the Prime Minister that no-one listened to them for 30 years, even though their demands were so modest: land ownership rights; the development of Sinai, especially the central area; boosting the Peninsula's financial status with industrial and touristic projects; providing jobs for the locals; revamping the infrastructure; the possibility of creating a railway system; and better treatment from the police. Marking Sinai Liberation Day on April 25, Minister of Interior Mansour el-Essawi ordered the release of prisoners who have served half their sentences. The Ministry of Interior often makes such gestures on national and religious occasions. The ministers and the officials have promised to work on these demands, especially land ownership rights.
