By Nasser El-Azzazy
Dozens of members of the Al-Ghul family, a sub-clan of the larger Al-Fuwakhiria tribe of North Sinai, protested outside Sinai University preventing students from entering and taking their final exams for their first term.
Protestors demanded compensation worth the value of the land taken from them, which was then used to build the university in the tourist city of Sama Al-Arish.
Sabri Al-Ghul, a member of the sub-clan, stated that they would use peaceful methods of resistance until they had their land returned to them.
Dr. Hasan Rateb, president of the board of directors for the “Sama” Companies, and proprietor of Sinai University, said that he had elicited the help of the army and the country’s security services to address the issue of citizens breaking into the headquarters of the university, adding that the problem would be solved in a matter of hours. He said that Egypt is a nation of laws and that all problems will be solved through the nation’s court system, not by “baltagia.”
Rateb stated that he had purchased the land from a representative of the state in North Sinai in 1985 at the price of EGP 5.6 per metre, which he noted was more expensive then the surrounding lands. He said he built the university and several tourist attractions to help benefit the people of Al-Arish.
