Geostrategic Media Political Commentary, Analysis, Security, Defense
Nadia Hilmi
We can understand and analyze the Prime Minister’s conference in Sinai, in the presence of all political factions and artists, and its implications regarding the Palestinian issue and the protection of Egypt’s national security, with an analysis of the Prime Minister’s visit to the 101st Battalion, and the announcement of projects to develop Sinai with large sums of money. This can be understood, analyzed and linked through the following points:
Since the Sinai Peninsula has utmost military and political strategic importance for the American side, Israel and the West are fully aware of this, so the visit of Egyptian Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly and his meetings with the most important figures there came as a reminder of the importance of the Sinai Peninsula as it is the first line of defense for Egypt’s security internally and regionally. Because of its extreme military, political and strategic importance to Israel, which is trying to pressure to obtain it in any way, this is what was chronicled and raised by the late former Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan when he spoke specifically about the Sharm El-Sheikh Naval Base, which is the base that Israel established in the Sinai Peninsula after its occupation. In the War of Attrition in June 1967, he stressed that it was always more important than peace with Egypt, which puts many question marks about the secret of this American, Israeli and Western insistence on acquiring the land of Sinai, by proposing settlement projects and displacing the residents of the Gaza Strip from their lands. Whereas, according to Israel’s military and strategic tactics, the strategic peninsula of Sinai has not left the imagination of the Israelis, as recent British documents reveal, which confirm that the Israelis will not find a substitute for Sinai, which is a dream they have, and they have not and will never forget it in the hope of regaining control over it and occupying it once other again. In a report on the occasion of Egypt’s recovery of the Egyptian land of Al-Arish, as the largest city in Sinai, on May 25, 1979, the text of the speech of the British Embassy in Tel Aviv was accurate, stating that “the importance of Sinai to Israel was, and remains, strategic”. Also, according to the assessment of the Hebrew, American and Hebrew think tanks, the Negev Desert occupied by Israel “will never be for Israel an alternative to the land of Sinai”, which confirms the facts of the reasons for this Israeli and American obstinacy in confronting Egypt after the outbreak of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation before the Hamas movement, and the reasons and secrets of this categorical Egyptian and popular rejection of calls to displace Palestinians from the land of Sinai.
What is most dangerous regarding the issue of the Bedouins, sheikhs and tribes of Sinai for Israel is those intelligence reports and reports issued by international think tanks and research centers, whose focus was on tracking Israel’s relationship with the Bedouin residents of Sinai, and they saw that since these Bedouins are the only ones capable of living in the desert interior areas of Sinai. The Israelis “attached special importance to maintaining friendly relations with a number of Sinai tribes and Bedouins”. Because of the importance of that region to Israel, the Israelis decided to maintain an important principle, which is that “it is better to have friends than to have enemies there”, that is, in the Sinai Peninsula. Therefore, Israeli politicians and military personnel always assert that “Sinai’s response to Egypt is a shocking experience for all of Israel”.
Here comes the importance of the visit of Egyptian Prime Minister Dr.Mostafa Madbouly to the land of Sinai, based on the awareness of the political leadership of President Sisi of the importance of developing a road map for the future of the Egyptian land of Sinai, in which all tribal sheikhs in the Sinai Peninsula participate in developing it alongside the government, with broad participation. From all experts, specialists, the business community and political parties. Therefore, President Sisi assigned Prime Minister “Mostafa Madbouly” the necessity of holding this important and sensitive meeting with the Bedouins, sheikhs and tribes of Sinai, to discuss their conditions and the future of the Egyptian state, as they are its greatest supporter and champion in light of the current regional crises and circumstances, in order to come up with a clear road map. The people of Sinai will participate in it during the coming period, noting that this political, economic, security, development and strategic map for the Sinai Peninsula includes two parts: recovering from the current regional crisis and helping to act as a wall to repel the supply and defend Egyptian lands and their territorial integrity, and the second is to formulate solutions to some of the problems. The chronic problem among the Bedouins, sheikhs and tribes of Sinai, which requires action in the medium and long term to solve all their outstanding problems after the Egyptian state listens to them carefully. Taking into account the importance of the Sinai site as the most important and most dangerous entrance to Egypt at all, which they consider in think tanks and research abroad to be an entrance to an entire continent, with everyone, the entire international community and the political leadership in Egypt aware of all the facts of the correct Egyptian strategy, the first of which was that Sinai is considered the last line of defense for Egypt, because whoever controls it directly threatens Egypt’s security, because of its special importance in the map of international and regional balances, as a point of connection and convergence of the continents of Asia and Africa.
. The importance that the political leadership and the Egyptian state attach to Sinai is great, given its strategic and military importance to the depth of Egypt’s national and regional security, given the intertwining of its borders with the occupied Palestinian state, which we fought many battles to defend in many wars that ended with the expulsion of the Zionist enemy from it after the signing of the late President “Anwar” Sadat of the Camp David Accords in 1979. Here came the Egyptian state’s keenness, according to the available capabilities, to bring about comprehensive development and renaissance on the land of Sinai, specifically through several new development projects, represented by: the Martyr Ahmed Hamdy Tunnel, the Al-Salam Bridge, and the Al-Ferdan Bridge, through which the Egyptian state tried to connect Sinai to each other. These projects undertaken by Egypt aimed to increase the connection between the Sinai Peninsula and the rest of the country, through these three tunnels that the government established, in addition to the three connection points that linked Sinai to the rest of the country, which are, as we mentioned (Al-Salam Bridge, Al-Ferdan Bridge, and Tunnel). The martyr Ahmed Hamdi). In addition to the interest of the state and the political leadership in land reclamation projects to make them suitable for agriculture and life and to create development there, even if the people of Sinai face many difficulties and challenges, given the spread of terrorist hotspots along the vast desert in the heart of Sinai due to the intertwining and overlapping of its borders with the Zionist entity, and the problems that this causes. And crises affect the people of Sinai. Despite this, the state is keen on trying to implement some services in Sinai despite the difficulties it faces represented by the spread of many extremist terrorist organizations and movements, which seek to cause chaos and sabotage, and kill our brave soldiers on the land of Sinai. We note the great interest of President “Abdel Fattah El-Sisi” in the development of the Sinai Peninsula, and the president’s keenness to launch a national project aimed at developing it at all levels since 2014. President “El-Sisi” was also keen to implement several axes for the development of North Sinai, which included security and military axes to purge the governorate of terrorism through the operations and efforts of members of the armed forces, and through the economic axis represented by (constructing new cities, implementing various development projects). As for the social axis, it represented the launch of a number of service projects and community development programs to support and develop the people of Sinai. Therefore, the interest of the state and its political leadership came to implementing a large number of series of development and strategic projects, represented by the expansion of old roads and the construction of new roads, such as the new Sharm El-Sheikh Road and the Taba Road, and the expansion and development of a number of new cities and urban communities as an extension of the Sinai Peninsula, such as the new city of Ismailia, the new Port Said, and the new Rafah and New Bir Al-Abd. The truth is that Egypt possesses a unique strategic treasure in Sinai, which is considered one of the most important elements of the Egyptian state’s strength at all.
This crowned the efforts of the Egyptian state with the success of implementing more than a thousand projects in North Sinai in various sectors since President El-Sisi took power in June 2014. Especially in light of the challenges that faced North Sinai, especially after the Arab Spring revolutions and the January 25 revolution in Egypt in 2011. Therefore, it was necessary for the Egyptian state to intervene immediately to eliminate terrorism and prepare the governorate to implement the comprehensive strategic development plan, due to the belief of the political leadership of President Sisi. The comprehensive and sustainable development of the land of Sinai is the only way to achieve political, national and regional security and stability for Egypt. The Egyptian state budget has also allocated a new development aid package for Sinai valued at $12 billion for the development of North Sinai.
Here comes the importance of the visit of Egyptian Prime Minister “Mostafa Madbouly” at this precise and sensitive time after the outbreak of the “Al-Aqsa Flood” operation by the Hamas movement and the Israeli response to it with the “Iron Swords” operation. Here we find these malicious American and Zionist attempts to present an “alternative project” for displacement and resettlement. The people of Gaza in the Egyptian Sinai, for the sake of a further goal for Israel, which is to exploit the port of Gaza after expelling its people from it and settling them in Sinai – according to the ongoing plan that the Egyptian government, leadership and people reject – and the establishment of “Gurion Port” as an alternative waterway to the Suez Canal according to Israeli planning. The long-term strategy is what the Egyptian state and its intelligence agencies are fully and accurately aware of.
Therefore, the paramount importance that the state attaches to the citizens and people of Sinai is because they are considered an extension of the Egyptian state’s efforts to preserve the unity of the national territory for Egypt’s national and regional security. This was confirmed by Egyptian Prime Minister “Madbouly” during his meeting with the sheikhs and leaders of the North Sinai border governorate adjacent to the Gaza Strip, at the headquarters of the 101st Battalion in the heart of the city of Arish, to launch the second phase of the governorate development project, by emphasizing that the Egyptians and the people of Sinai in particular are ready to sacrifice millions of lives to preserve the soil and territorial integrity of Sinai are free from any deduction or division. Given that the constant danger facing the Egyptian state has always come from this region, this spot holds an important position for Egypt’s security. Therefore, President El-Sisi’s warning came several times before the international community in particular, during his meetings with leaders and heads of state around the world, and during Egypt’s hosting of the international peace conference in the New Administrative Capital, that the continuation of military operations in Gaza will have serious repercussions on Egypt’s security and the safety and stability of the region, and could To get out of control, and portends the danger of expanding the conflict throughout the region, with the chaos and turmoil it will provoke. Therefore, Egypt is trying to persuade the entire international community to support mediation efforts between Israel and Hamas for the benefit of all. For this reason, Egypt demands and strives to facilitate the work of international organizations and the transfer of aid to the Gaza Strip through the Rafah land crossing facing the territory of the Gaza Strip in Palestine. Therefore, Egyptian efforts continued to contain the crisis through intensive Egyptian contacts with both sides of the conflict and with all international and regional parties over the past period, with agreement in visions regarding the necessary need to return to the path of calm, and open new horizons for settlement, in order to avoid the region sliding into a emptied cycle of violence and counter-violence, exposing the lives of civilians to more dangers.
