In this Wednesday, Aug. 22, 2012 photo, Egyptian soldiers secure the area as a bulldozer demolishes part of a smuggling tunnel on the Egyptian side of the Egypt Gaza border, as seen from Rafah, southern Gaza Strip. A senior Egyptian security official says that Egypt is carrying a slow-paced military operation aimed at uprooting militants from their strongholds in northern Sinai close to borderline with Gaza and Israel. — AP CAIRO – The situation in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula remains tense. For now, the army seems to have slowed down its advance on alleged terrorist hangouts, pending negotiations with army chiefs. But the political overtones of the security dilemma are becoming harder to decipher, writes Ahram Online. For one thing, the government is using non-official negotiators to talk to Sinai's militants, something that provoked the ire of Sinai activists who scorn the idea of those they consider extremists having an impact through talks on matters of national consequence. Also, no one knows exactly how much of the blame should be placed at the doorstep of the Hamas government of Gaza. According to Ramallah-based officials, it is all the fault of Hamas, whose agents have gained a lot of clout in Sinai in recent years. The claim is strenously denied by Hamas officials, however, who say that they would never take action to harm Egypt. Indeed, since the election of Islamist-leaning Mohamed Morsi to Egypt's presidency, Hamas has a clear stake in humouring, rather than antagonising, the Egyptian authorities. For now, it is a mixed bag of actions and reactions, claims and counterclaims. To underline the graveness of the situation, Army Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Sobhi Sidqi met during his recent Sinai visit with tribal chieftains, hoping to get them on the side of the army in any future operation, or perhaps to cooperate more with the intelligence services. President Morsi lent vehicles belonging to his office to a group of mediators, including well-known Islamists, to go to Sinai and try to talk sense into the militants. Preparations are underway for a meeting in Cairo this week, during which an initiative for ending the violence may be hammered out. Critics of the recent wave of government-led diplomacy want the government to find other ways of imposing law and order, however, aside from cajoling suspected members of violent groups. Ashraf Al-Hefni, of the Revolutionary Socialists movement, said: “The affiliation of the men currently involved in the negotiations is well known. It would have been more advisable for the government to prosecute those who embrace jihadist thinking instead of talking to them and trying to influence their thinking. There are some families in Sinai who have lost sons because of the violence.” Al-Hefni said that the government has to pick its enemies. “We will support the government if it takes action against extremism and its manifestations,” he said. According to Sinai activist Mosaad Abu Fajr, the government is still using the same heavy-handed tactics of the past, while failing to address the core of the problem. “In 2007, we fought hard for the State Security chiefs to be replaced. The State Security policies were lethal and murderous. And today, these same chiefs are coming back to Sinai and implementing the same old policies,” Abu Fajr stated. He added: “Even after the ouster of the regime of repression, we're back to square one – if not worse. In the past, security was handled by the Ministry of Interior. Now the government is bringing in the army, which should be the last resort.” Abu Fajr's main concern is that the real problems are not being addressed. The current mediators, sent or sanctioned by the government, are holding talks with violent groups that dream of an Islamic state in Sinai, he said. “This is an expression of failure. The state is not being defeated by social forces with a different political approach. It is being defeated by groups involved in violence,” Abu Fajr asserted. According to Abu Fajr, the government is not yet addressing the fact that Sinai was never fully integrated into the rest of the country. “What is hampering security in Sinai is not the Camp David accords, or the security addendum of the peace treaty. What is hampering security in Sinai is the lack of political imagination ... Shall we address Sinai with the imagination of Nelson Mandela? Should we forget about the mindsets of Abdel-Nasser, Mubarak, and Morsi, and think instead outside the box? Unless we do that, we may lose Sinai forever,” he posited. But the army doesn't seem to be listening to its critics. It has, however, been talking to the Israelis, the Bedouins and the Palestinians. It has also slowed down, if only temporarily, ‘Operation Eagle,' the codename for the military campaign to eradicate terrorist hangouts in mountainous areas. A source from Al-Halal Mountain, allegedly a prime militant stronghold, says there is no security presence on the part of the army, nor are there military operations going on at the moment. Squads of police, army, and intelligence services have continued, however, to search for suspects in the areas around Rafah, Sheikh Zoweid and Al-Arish, according to Sinai lawyer and activist Islam Kodeir. Several suspects, including Palestinians, have been arrested. And images found on their phones were said to connect them with the Rafah incidents. The suspects are currently being interrogated. – Agencies
