A May 3 WAR Report describes in some detail the economic reversal of fortunes that has struck the once well-off tribes of the northern Sinai peninsula in Egypt . Tribes that used to earn wealth and prestige by serving as guardians of an important trade route connecting Asia Minor and Northern Africa were first circumvented by the Suez Canal. After that, Egyptian government policies continued to strip them of other sources of income, while investing heavily in the tourism sector of the once poorer and weaker southern Sinai Peninsula. The anger of the northern Sinai tribes over their impoverishment has been worsened by the knowledge that they once had money and status and have been deprived of both by a central government made up almost exclusively of Egyptians from other parts of the country. The northern Sinai tribes are often characterized as being neglected by the central government, but neglect is more benign than reality. Land policies directed by Cairo have been particularly harmful. For instance, most northern Sinai residents cannot by law own the land that they farm or use as pasture because the Mubarak regime has ordained that government possession of these lands, which border Israel , is a defense priority (source).
This is compounded by disappointment over development initiatives, which had raised the expectations in the northern Sinai that things may get better. Most prominent among these is the North Sinai Agricultural Development Project (NSADP), meant to bring quality water to the area for human and agricultural use. A number of projections now show that the project may not improve the quality of life in the area to the degree expected and will, over time, actually increase the salinity in the water in the area, a condition many in the northern Sinai complain of already. Some contend that the purpose of the NSADP is to bring Nile water to Israel. Also, such development projects in the Sinai were also supposed to bring jobs, but the Egyptian government has been infamous for importing labor from the Nile Delta area (around Cairo) rather than employing the local residents of the Sinai. According to one study, only eight percent of male residents of the northern Sinai between the ages of 20 and 30 have full-time work.
Another indication that the root of the trouble in the Sinai is more economic than Islamist or Jihadist can be seen in demographics. It is the poorest Bedouin tribe in the area, the Melahi, that is being accused of violence. The ?mastermind? of the Dahab bombings was from this tribe. The Melahi are so poor that their name is used as a slur among other tribes (source).
On top of this, there are now security raids, in which many Sinai residents are rounded up. At times, almost whole villages have been reported imprisoned, with the detainment of women and children especially fomenting anger and resentment among the tribes of the region. Although the terrorist organization thought to be responsible for terrorist attacks in the Sinai has adopted the language of the international Jihadist movement, as demonstrated by their name, Egyptian Tawhid and Jihad , the actual source of unrest in the Sinai seems to be more universal, traditional economic causes. Articulating these complaints in the language of Jihad, employing justifications to almost indiscriminate violence that accompanies Jihadist ideology, and adopting the tactics and techniques of Jihadists is what makes this situation all the more volatile and dangerous.
To ameliorate the situation, the Egyptian government should adopt a different approach to dealing with terrorism in the Sinai than it has in dealing with Egyptian Islamic Jihad and other Salafi movements in the Nile Delta area. The latter were known to have middle class or even privileged class membership, and motivations stemmed from a strong commitment to a certain ideology and an obsessive resentment of Egypt?s foreign policies and lack of domestic political rights. In the Sinai, with source of resentment differing significantly, it would behoove the Egyptian government to offer economic incentives to counterterrorism cooperation and direct funds into ailing al-Arish and the surrounding area. Egypt has an opportunity to stop the Sinai from becoming an incubator of extremism; radical Islam is a new phenomenon to the area, and things have not yet reached the point where a significant minority is supportive of terrorism. By way of example, Sinai tribes have initiated a de-mining program in the area in order to prevent terrorists from getting ahold of mines to use them in future attacks. There is a willingness among much of the local population to partner with the government in Cairo against terrorism, but if Cairo decides to continue with its current policies?security raids, indiscriminate detainment?they will lose local cooperation quickly.
