THE nation will tomorrow celebrate the 28th anniversary of Sinai's liberation. State officials have been talking about inaugurating some development projects in the Peninsula during the celebrations. The Governor of North Sinai told the local press that this year's anniversary would include the launching of 275 projects, costing about LE300 million. One of these projects is a village built in only six weeks and containing workshops and training centres for young people. Governor Mourad Mowafi has promised to create a similar village in every town in North Sinai. Apparently, this project will create jobs for the unemployed youngsters of Sinai, who have felt somewhat marginalised and isolated by successive governments since the final liberation of their land in 1982. The unjustified delay in giant development projects in the Sinai Peninsula has taken its toll on the tribes there, who live in very primitive conditions. The long years of negligence and the lack of trust between the citizens and the Government because of security issues have contributed the citizens' sense of isolation from the rest of the country. People keep wondering about the suspension of the giant Es-Salam Canal projects that was supposed to allow the reclamation of around 500,000 feddans of land in Sinai. Why has this project not taken off, although water now enters the Peninsula via tunnels beneath the Suez Canal? Sinai could also accommodate many industrial, technological and educational projects, along with health centres for Bedouin living in remote places. Sinai, Egypt's eastern gateway, deserves more attention from the Government, rather than just occasional celebrations and minor projects launched every year to celebrate its liberation from Israeli occupation.
