WITH the successful release of the seven abducted servicemen, one should not see this as an end to the Sinai crisis. Instead, it should cause the opening of the neglected Sinai file and the start of amending the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty, enabling Egypt to obtain full security and military control of the peninsula. Curiously, the Muslim Brotherhood, who had called for cancelling this treaty, while still in opposition under Mubarak's rule, have not requested an amendment to it despite the tragic incidents hat have hit Sinai because of the absence of security and military control over all its territories. These events started with the bombing of the l gas pipeline several times, the escalation of rates of smuggling of commodities and weapons, the murder of some 16 border guards in Rafah and ended with the abductions of six central security conscripts and one soldier. So what stops the MB regime from seeking this badly needed amendment of the peace accords? Israel has no right to oppose amending this treaty, firstly because of the article allowing periodical amendments to any of its articles by mutual agreement and secondly because of its continuous complaint of the growing presence of Jihadist groups in Sinai threatening its national security. Until the 1979 treaty is amended, the state authorities should strengthen the security grip on the peninsula and rebuild the police stations demolished during the early days of the revolution, especially in the border town of Rafah as well as the cities of Sheikh Zayed and Al-Arish. However, obtaining strong security and even exercising a strong military grip on Sinai will not resolve all its crises without closing off all sources of terrorism of the peninsula. The armed forces should continue its process of destroying the underground tunnels with the Gaza Strip and create legal means of transport of commodities and citizens between the two countries to ease the living conditions of the besieged people of Gaza. Additionally, , the state authorities should conduct reconciliation process with the Bedouins of Sinai who had been subjected to mass arrest and real injustice by the security agency for many decades under the toppled regime, even if this requires the retrial of some detained suspects in different cases. The MB regime in co-operation with their Salafist supporters should work to convince the Jihadist groups in Sinai to abandon their use of weapon against the state and accept the rule of law rather than launching terrorist operations against the different vital institutions, citizens and security personnel in Sinai. Otherwise, they would be considered as terrorists that should not have mercy or support from any political party. Herein, we can start debating the creation of the mega- development project to achieve the real integration of Sinai into its motherland instead of abandoning it for a Zionist-Jihadist project, turning it to an Islamist emirate and an extension of the overpopulated Gaza Strip.
