CAIRO: Ever since it stopped merely being a stage for war, Sinai has seen a boom in tourism almost unparalleled in Egypt over the past two decades. The original inhabitants of the peninsula, however, feel the benefit of this prosperity has passed them by, showering everyone else but them with the manna of travel packages.
“For all the Bedouins in Sinai it’s like passing by a barbeque and merely smelling the meat being grilled, but not being able to eat it, Gameel Attiya Hussein, who runs an eco-camp in St. Catherine’s, told Daily News Egypt.
For years, residents of Sinai have complained of being disenfranchised by a government that doesn’t trust them, which has kept them from reaping the benefits of the huge profits generated by tourism in Sinai.
“Sinai has suffered from a lot of problems because of the sensitive relationship between security and development, head of the sociology unit at Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies Nabil Abdel-Fatah told Daily News Egypt, “and due to the many wars from 1948 to 1973 with Israel and then the dangers of terrorist acts carried out in the area from radical groups like Al-Qaeda and others from Palestine who were able to recruit some of the people of Sinai.
Abdel-Fatah added, “There is also the conventional sensitivity by the government towards some of the people of Sinai in areas such as drug growing or drug smuggling as well as other forms of smuggling, such as smuggling people across the border.
“This has increased the sensitivity in how the government treats the people of Sinai and thus the development of the area.
Similar sentiments were echoed by Moussa El-Dilh, a Bedouin from the Tarabeen tribe in Sinai. “We’re being subjected to great injustice here, and the situation is becoming very dangerous, he told Daily News Egypt, “All we’re asking for is security – for us as well as the businessmen. There might be clashes if the situation remains [as it is]. We don’t know anything but the whip of the police.
Egypt’s total tourism revenues totaled $10.5 billion from January to August 2007, while overall investment in tourism surpassed the LE 100 billion mark in the same period, according to the Minister of Tourism Zoheir Garranah. A sizable chunk of this money is directed to the many tourist resorts in Sinai.
The Tourism Ministry also has a website dedicated to investors interested in the tourism sector.
Yet for the residents, what they manage to wrestle from all this is, at best, a lowly job catering to the continuous influx of visitors.
“The people of Sinai do not profit from the development in the area. The most they can do is drive a cab in Sharm El-Sheikh or carry out desert safaris. The real money goes to the investors, Hussein said.
At 61,000 square kilometers, Sinai accounts for six percent of Egypt’s landmass, but the more important statistic is that it contains 30 percent of Egypt’s coasts, with water surrounding it on three sides, hence the attraction for resort-building.
According to Abdel-Fatah, many people in Sinai believe they are the sole owners of the land, but “it is part of the state and belongs to all the Egyptian people and it doesn’t belong to them unless they can prove ownership of specific parts of it through legal means.
North-south divide Of the area’s 1.3 million residents, only about 400,000 live in Sinai proper, with the rest of the population living on the other side of the Suez Canal.
Sinai proper is split into two governorates, North Sinai and South Sinai. Tourism is focused more on South Sinai which hosts the main hotspots Sharm El-Sheikh, Dahab and Taba.
North Sinai is less developed in regards to tourism, but Al-Arish was once the premier destination in Sinai (mainly for Egyptians) before the development of the resorts down south. Now it is a ghost town due to its proximity to the Gaza border and the troubles that have occurred since the Rafah border crossing was shut down a year ago.
Ahsraf Ayoub from the Tagammu party in North Sinai talks about a distinction between North and South Sinai, first saying that “tourism in Sinai is for the benefit of the regime and those around them.
“Look at Al-Arish. It is supposed to be a summer resort, yet it is suffering from a lack of facilities, he told Daily News Egypt.
Ayoub added, “Tourism is in South Sinai because it is close to Israel. The Camp David Accords stipulate that some areas.cannot be utilized for tourist purposes. The North suffers while the South flourishes. There is no development in Sinai unless Israel benefits.
Egypt regained Sinai in 1982 after the Camp David Accords of 1979 and peace with Israel. The final piece of Sinai, Taba, was returned to Egyptian hegemony in 1988.
History, pitfalls and solutions”There is a gap of mentalities between those of the valley (officials) and the desert (residents). Those who come to Sinai are from the valley and sometimes a clash occurs with the residents of Sinai who believe the desert belongs to them and don’t necessarily believe they are answerable to the laws of the others, Abdel-Fatah said.
“There are the customs of the desert and then there are the set of laws in Egypt, he added.
“This should have been treated through dialogue and civil planning, but this tension increased especially with the development of tourism in Sinai, which brought a sense of isolation to the residents who were excluded from the fruits of this development, Abdel-Fatah added.
It is not only tourism that Sinai can boast, the area is rich with mineral and agricultural resources (over 180,000 acres are cultivated), and has vast deposits of oil and natural gas to boot.
“There is a gap between two perceptions: the rural mentality of the bureaucratic and security apparatus and the desert mentality, Abdel-Fatah said, “This must be addressed. And more social and medical services should be provided to the residents of Sinai. We cannot leave the people of Sinai to be disenfranchised and manipulated by external powers.
Meanwhile, El-Dilh said, “There is unemployment and poverty, which is pushing people towards crime. These people lived on this land and they have priorities. The investors are welcome, but we want them to hire our children, not take the profits and have us thrown in jail.
“We want proper solutions and a delegation from all the ministries to come to talk to us, not just the Interior Ministry.
“If you treat us with violence, it will be returned with violence.
“Development needs to be reconsidered in Sinai in a way which can integrate the people of Sinai through rehabilitation and increased health and educational services for the residents, Abdel-Fatah said.
