CAIRO – The security breakdown, in the coastal resort of Al-Arish the governing town of North Sinai, is posing the threat of an inter-tribal war, according to eyewitnesses. As the governorate lies on the border with Palestine and Israel, the smuggling of arms into Al-Arish has become a thriving business especially in the absence of a strong police grip. Armed thuggery among Bedouin tribes is escalating in Sinai despite the efforts of the tribal chiefs, clan heads and sheikhs to contain the situation. According to unofficial estimates, approximately 500 cars have been stolen in the course of a few weeks, some of which have been restored thanks to the intervention of Bedouin leaders. However, police authorities there are being accused of laxity in not taking decisive measures and preferring not to engage with the local people. The Sinai Peninsula, which is divided between North and South Sinai, has a mainly Bedouin population numbering some 500,000. Tribal tradition and customary law are therefore held in high esteem even in relation to the diffusion of tension and reconciliation between members of different tribes. Under the Mubarak regime the relation between the police and the Bedouin was not at its best because the former failed to understand the nature and tradition of the latter's life. The police resorted to massive arrests disregarding the fact that these Bedouin had – and still have – many complaints related to unemployment and land ownership. Today with the spread of arms smuggling across the Israeli borders, chiefs have partially lost their influence over members of their tribes. According to the Bedouin culture of Sinai, disputes over debts are entitled to what is termed the 'right to be enchained'. A creditor has the right to steal and tie the camel of the one indebted until he pays the due money, a 'legal crime' in Bedouin culture and customary law. The tradition was, however, followed on a limited scale when police stations provided the protection needed. But with the prevailing chaos and absent police role, enchainment has become the norm as far as cars are concerned, since camels have long ceased to be a major means of transport. Sherif Ismail, North Sinai security adviser. has said that the tribal chiefs are trying to face the phenomenal spread of enchainment, which is today responsible for wreaking havoc in the governorate. He told the Arabic Al-Ahram newspaper that security agencies are trying to co-operate with senior tribe members in order to seize arms smuggled into the border city. The compounded situation has prompted Darul Iftaa (board of senior Muslim clerics that issue religious edicts) to appeal to the people of Sinai to abide by general rules and religious tenets which prohibit the practice of all forms of enchainment. Bedouin society is generally ruled by customary laws, applied by an advisory council of wise men and tribal elders, but the case is getting out of hand, says Yehya el-Ghol, a member of one such council in Sinai. The extensive use of enchainment is likely to jeopardise the relation between tribes. A high profile security source has disclosed that car stealing in Sinai has outnumbered similar other cases in the entire nation. Meanwhile, el-Kashef Mohamed el-Kashef, chairman of the Sinai Farmers Society, warns against the adverse effects of the prevailing state of insecurity on agriculture in Sinai. He explained that the crop of olives produced on hundreds of thousands of feddans (acres) is under threat because dealers coming from other governorate fear for their lives. He added, in his capacity as an activist in a campaign aiming at restoring security to Sinai, that a series of meetings will be held with tribal representatives to form a specific council of wise men and elders to collect arms. One of the suggestions, he said, is to assign to known honest Bedouin the protection of vehicles transporting olive and also peaches out of the governorate.
