The Daily News Egypt reports…
The Bedouins in Sinai plan to arrange a conference on Monday to demand justice from authorities for the victims of recent violent clashes between tribes and security forces near the Egypt-Israeli border.
According to sources in the area, heads of the tribes met Friday to decide on the representatives who will attend on behalf of the five main Bedouin tribes in North Sinai.
The venue for the conference is being kept under wraps for security reasons, as the tribes are reticent to announce it after a previous conference was scuppered before it took place.
According to Sinai-based journalist and activist Mostafa Singer, local officials have been initiating contact with the tribes to calm things down but the Bedouin response has been one of mistrust as the prevalent feeling was that the officials were merely paying lip service as opposed to making concrete offers.
“The Bedouin are demanding full justice for their clansmen who were killed, and the mood today is ‘if the authorities don’t give it to us we will take it with our own hands,'” he said.
A policeman was shot as a checkpoint in Sinai Thursday in the latest act of violence between Bedouins and security forces which was sparked by the death of a Bedouin on Monday.
Sinai’s Bedouins were angered by the death of a member of the Tarabeen tribe on Monday after he turned to drive away from a police checkpoint. His companion in the vehicle is currently being held in Al-Arish hospital as he receives treatment.
The shootings Monday triggered a mass wave of violent protest by Bedouins all along the border, as they burnt tires and discharged gunshots. Twelve people were injured in the immediate fallout, including four policemen.
In two separate incidents, one near Rafah and another further south, angry Bedouins briefly kidnapped 25 and then 51 policemen in checkpoints along 15 km of the border before releasing them, the latest batch being released at dawn on Wednesday.
