CAIRO: Three Bedouins from Sinai were killed Tuesday night as clashes continued for a second day between police and locals along the Egyptian-Israeli border before further police reinforcements restored some semblance of calm on Wednesday.
A senior security official traveled from Cairo to the area Wednesday to hold talks with senior tribesmen and bring an end to the protests, according to sources in the area.
Additionally, large numbers of security forces in armored vehicles were deployed.
In two separate incidents, one near Rafah and another further south, angry Bedouins kidnapped 25 and then 51 policemen in checkpoints along 15 km of the border, and then released them, the latest batch being released at dawn on Wednesday.
It was after the release of the kidnapped policemen along the 36-km line of the Egypt-Israel border that police shot and killed three of the protesting Bedouins, two of them from the Tarabeen tribe. Five policemen were injured in the clashes.
Sinai’s Bedouins were angered by the death of a member of the Tarabeen tribe on Monday, who was shot as he turned to drive away from a police checkpoint. His companion in the vehicle is currently being treated in Al-Arish hospital.
The shootings Monday triggered a mass wave of violent protests by Bedouins all along the border, as they burned tires and discharged gunshots.
Twelve people were injured in the immediate fallout, including four policemen.
Bedouins are angry at the aura of suspicion that they claim the police has unfairly latched on them. Tribes living near the border are believed to be the main culprits in the smuggling that permeates the border, whether weapons, drugs or contraband.
And while senior clansmen met with the security official from Cairo, sources in the area said that there is a great sense of anger among the regular tribesmen at the perceived crackdown on the Bedouins for any of a myriad of reasons.
A source who spoke on condition of anonymity said that while some of the Bedouins were implicated in the smuggling, it was done with the tacit knowledge of the authorities in the area.
“There are only a few red lines the authorities have in smuggling, which are Palestinians entering Egypt to attack Israelis, weapons and migrants. As for the smuggling of goods into Gaza and things like that, then authorities turn a blind eye, the source said.
“And just because there maybe members of a certain tribe who are involved in the smuggling, that does not mean the entire tribe is involved in smuggling.
The Tarabeen tribe comprises thousands of members; if they were all smugglers they would be much richer than they are.
“This implication that entire tribes are actively involved in smuggling is a simplistic view presented by the media, the source added.
