Evacuation and displacement are not the solution

And so the Egyptian army started its plan to evacuate areas in Rafah city , North Sinai demolishing houses and displacing the families there as part of its war against terrorism according to the orders of Prime minister Ibrahim Mahlab.

In this stage we are speaking about 802 houses to be evacuated and 1,156 families to be displaced.

A copy from the PM's decree to evacuate the area

A map showing the areas to be evacuated

I do not know how evacuating the area and displacing hundreds of families will give you an Upper hand to fight terrorism. Already terrorists will leave the area and will go to the next populated place if you think in this way.Not to mention you will create an angry population that can not stomach your existance.

If it is about tunnels with Gaza , well most tunnels with Gaza have been destroyed in the past two years. Also for more than area the army used to destroy the houses with tunnels so why to destroy the houses without tunnels.

Needless this decision which is unconstitutional needs a parliament in the first not a president or pm alone. Again we need to revise the security and military strategy in Sinai carefully so we can win this war against terrorism without losing Sinai once again.

It is worth to mention that Al-Arish or specifically Rafah and Sheikh Zowaid are now like military zones so reporters will find it hard to reach the people there.For the past year Al-Arish was unreachable for media except for what the regime wants to show. Sinai citizen journalists seem to be the only source for the time being covering what is happening.
Here are photos taken by tweeps there as well wires' photographers from Gaza. They are just sad photos.

TV shows and public press only feature news and reports like the families of Rafah are so happy with the evacuation order. But it seems that on the ground it is opposite. The major correspondents of newspapers and journalists from the locals there are angry and sad.

From what I see online from comments, tweets and posts the people in North Sinai specifically in Rafah are angry for the displacement order. I follow a number of tweeps from North Sinai , from El-Sisi supporters to Revolution supporters to Morsi supporters and amazingly they are all united by rejecting the displacement decision especially those in Rafah.


Sinai leftist activist and member of Constitution committee Massad Abu Fagr who is originally from Rafah is furious describing the displacement order as the last straw in a tweet yesterday.

الترحيل هو القشة التي قصمت ظهر البعير..— Massaad abufajr (@abu_fajr) October 28, 2014

Abu-Fagr who was a supporter to El-Sisi is being attacked madly by the president and army's supporters who called him a traitor

A hashtag called "The displacement is not solution" was launched yesterday and has been active since then with nearly 28,000 tweets.


According to several tweeps from North Sinai as well the governor of North Sinai Major General Abdel Fattah Harhur on Tuesday the displacced families are going to have LE 300 as a monthly compensation when the least rent for a flat in Al Arish city is said to be LE 1000. According to the PM's decree above replacement houses should be provided , where are these houses now ??

Now on Wednesday evning we got sources from presidency saying that the compensation will reach up to LE 950,000.

This means one thing : This decision of evacuation and displacement has not been studied enough and it was taken in a hurry as usual.

Interestingly here is an old video for El-Sisi in 2012 in a meeting with army officers saying that the military solution alone including the displacement of the locals in Sinai was not preferrable because we may end up lose Sinai in the same way Sudan lost its south. The words are clear. It seems that El-Sisi in 2012 was much more wiser than a president in 2014. Already I wonder what happened in those months that made him change his mind.

Strangely evacuating Rafah is what Israel wanted from long time ago. I remember that during Morsi's presidency this topic was raised and all the media was speaking about that MB/US/Turkish/Qatari/Israeli plot to empty Sinai from the people so it could be a substitute homeland for the Palestinians.

Historically there is the fourth major displacement for a certain group of people in Egypt after the first and second Nubian population displacement as well the displacement of Suez Canal cities people in 1967. The Nubians are seeing now a deja vu in front of them.

Today marks the anniversiary of the Israeli invasion to Sinai in 1956. Now in 2014 I am scared that we may lose not only Sinai again but our people there. I feel sad and truly afraid.