Arish residents blast planned demolitions for development plan, Province of Sinai attacks continue

Aside from the ongoing conflict between militants and security forces in North Sinai, residents of Arish and Sheikh Zuwayed are now also having to contend with government development plans to demolish residences in certain areas to make way for new highways in the governorate — a hot button issue that has affected Cairo and other cities across the country. Meanwhile, Sheikh Zuwayed, which has been under a virtual military lockdown for years, saw checkpoints being removed and the city opening up as the Province of Sinai has moved its operations further west after suffering setbacks from the military.

Arish residents oppose government development plans that include home demolitions

A government plan to partially demolish a number of residences in downtown Arish to make way for new highways linking the main streets of the governorate capital has sparked outrage among local residents. Residents first learned of the plan in late February, when government workers arrived with surveying equipment and began writing numbers on the sides of buildings on Fatih and Geish streets, in the area between the Salam suburb bridge and Atlawy Square.

The residents were horrified to learn that the numbers posted on the houses indicated the number of meters needed in order to widen the streets. In most cases, a street expansion of a few meters would mean destroying the entire residence. Days later, on February 24, a number of neighborhood residents attended the governorate’s town hall meeting with North Sinai governor Mohamed Abdel Fadil Shousha, along with North Sinai representatives from both chambers of Parliament. At the meeting, an official from the Executive Sinai Reconstruction Agency presented the plan for the first time, outlining the new highways and the widening of the roads.

Several residents who were present at the meeting told Mada Masr that organizers prevented them from taking any notes on the details of the development plan, which were displayed on a large screen inside the hall.

Hossam Ahmed, a resident who attended the meeting, told Mada Masr that he spoke to the North Sinai governor and a senator about how he had recently returned from working outside the governorate to settle in Arish after the situation had stabilized somewhat, only to find out that authorities were planning to demolish the apartment building where he lives with his family. Ahmed says that the governor ignored his pleas.  “Senator Fayez Abou Harb told me,  ‘Take your compensation and go work outside the governorate again,’” Ahmed said.

“As youth, we don’t want compensation,” Ahmed told the governor. “If you want us to leave, then give us visas to emigrate from Egypt, because things have become really tight for us,” he said, before walking out of the town hall. 

Attendees described the meeting as an attempt by authorities to impose a fait accompli without considering any alternative solutions. The development plans enraged Arish residents, with a number of them taking to social media to call for the governor’s removal from office.

The following day, the governor addressed the issue on his weekly radio appearance and said that it was President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi himself who proposed the idea to develop Arish and build new highways. Shousha denied any responsibility for the development plans, saying, “We’re not the ones who set these development plans. The [Armed Forces] Engineering Authority came and did the survey, and identified the obstacles it would face to implement it.”

According to the governor’s comments, the preliminary development plans, costing LE500 million, will be carried out by the Armed Forces Engineering Authority and include the construction of three highways parallel to the coast that will cut through the city. The first will be through the development and widening of Fatih Street (the coastal road), from the entrance of Arish to the area of Risa. The second will be the development and widening of Geish street in downtown, from the security directorate in the suburb of Salam to Atlawy Square — the most-populated area of the city. The third will run through the southernmost part of the city, comprising a ring road that will border residential blocks in the area and would require the least demolition.

During his radio talk, the governor also broached the subject of planned compensation for residents of homes damaged by the new developments. According to his comments, compensation will be divided into two categories: owners and tenants. Owners will be offered a choice between receiving financial compensation or being allocated an apartment in the government housing projects in the areas of Sabil, in the westernmost part of Arish, and Obour in the southeast, both of which are far away from the city’s residential block. Meanwhile, tenants will be allocated a rental apartment in the same government housing units. 

At the town hall meeting, the governor also said that married children of owners who live in apartments in the same buildings will be treated as tenants, according to a meeting attendee.

When residents realized that authorities were moving forward with the development plans without considering their grievances, they began to organize on the ground to make their voices heard. Residents announced they would hold a series of meetings for concerned and affected citizens in an attempt to find alternative proposals and solutions. Four meetings were held which were attended by members of Parliament and prominent residents, who said they had been unaware of the development plans prior to the town hall.

Among the proposals that emerged from the four community meetings was to call on the North Sinai branch of the  Engineers Syndicate to draw up alternative plans for the same developments in the city that would avoid demolishing any residential buildings. In his radio appearance two weeks ago, the governor seemed responsive and said that the governorate was waiting to see the syndicate’s alternative proposal. He said the governorate would present the proposal to the Armed Forces Engineering Authority, which is overseeing the construction.

Residents also embarked on more direct actions to oppose the development plans. Two weeks ago, residents of Saha Street —  which branches off from Geish Street and also has a number of buildings that have been marked for demolition — prevented government surveyors from carrying out their work for a couple of days, while others spray painted “No to demolition” on a number of homes.

Aside from the three highways, residents were also alarmed by the governor’s comments about another development plan that would include additional highways running perpendicular to the coast that would cut vertically through the city that residents say would completely change the landscape of Arish and its residential areas.

Sheikh Zuwayed residents welcome lifting of security measures yet fear similar development plans as Arish

East of Arish, in the city of Sheikh Zuwayed, residents woke up on March 11 to find that nearly all the military checkpoints that had practically shut down the city had been removed and the city’s main square in downtown and other principal streets were opened for the first time in years.

Ever since the militant group Province of Sinai —the Islamic State affiliate in the peninsula — tried to take over Sheikh Zuwayed in a coordinated armed assault in July 2015, the entire city had been turned into a military garrison with fortified army checkpoints that controlled all movement and practically shut down the city.

A resident told Mada Masr that when the checkpoints were finally removed last month it felt like a dream. “I roamed freely around the city and I took some photos,” he said. “I reached areas no one could even look at before.”

Two days after the sudden withdrawal, all remaining checkpoints on the coastal highway in the area were also removed (except for the Khorouba checkpoint) and cars were allowed to drive in both lanes, significantly easing travel between Arish and Sheikh Zuwayed. Whereas it once took several hours to pass through all the checkpoints, it now takes 30 minutes. School teachers based in Arish but working in Sheikh Zuwayed, who have to commute between the two cities on a daily basis, will be among the prime beneficiaries of the move.

Within the city, work began on renovating streets downtown and planting trees in neighborhoods. Security agencies also requested owners of shops that have been shut for years to install security cameras inside and outside their establishments as a prerequisite to them being allowed to reopen at a later date.

Sheikh Zuwayed residents also demanded the return of functioning mobile networks inside the city, where there has been no coverage for years, and to a reduction of the curfew, which begins at 7 pm. They also called for the return of weekly street markets to try to lift the local economy out of its dire straits. 

According to Senator Fayez Abou Harb, who represents Sheikh Zuwayed, the governor also agreed to allow a gas station to operate in the city for the first time in years. Residents have had no choice but to fill up their tanks in Arish, where a fuel rationing system has been in place since 2018.

While residents welcomed the loosening of restrictions in Sheikh Zuwayed, other changes sparked concern. particularly the construction of high walls in areas close to the main residential area of the city. A local source told Mada Masr that large, concrete walls began to take shape near the village of Shallaq, which is adjacent to the city’s residential block on the eastern side. Meanwhile, smaller dirt walls are being erected on the western side between Sheikh Zuwayed and Rafah.

Separately, a local source and sources close to construction companies working in North Sinai told Mada Masr that Sheikh Zuwayed is also slated for development, with house demolitions set to make way for the building of new highways, widening of roads, as in Arish. This could “bite off quite a big portion of the remaining residential block downtown,” one of the sources said.

According to the sources, there are plans to develop three roads in the city into highway axes. The first is in the south of the city, starting from the area of Karam al-Qawadis to New Rafah. The second is the main international road cutting across the residential block, which is set to be widened. The third road is on the city’s coast, starting from Shallaq to the west all the way to the city of Rafah to the east. According to the sources, there is also development underway to build a new port on the coast of Shallaq, which will be linked to the Arish airport by a new road. 

The conflict persists: Though reduced, Province of Sinai activity continues in west

While development plans have dominated discussion in North Sinai in recent weeks, the conflict between militants and the army and security apparatus that has raged across the governorate for the past eight years also continued, albeit with less intensity.

On March 23, a number of residents of the Gaza Strip announced on social media that a member of the Province of Sinai from Gaza — Amgad Wael al-Arawi, also known as Abou Odei al-Ghazawi — was killed following an air raid in Sinai. At the time, Egyptian fighter jets flew extensively over Arish and Sheikh Zuwayed at low altitudes followed by the sporadic sound of explosions. Arawi’s father had announced a year earlier on Facebook that his son had disappeared from the Gaza Strip and urged anyone with information to contact him.

Arawi’s death came a day after the Union of Sinai Tribes — a contingent of Sinai tribes fighting alongside the Armed Forces and police against Province of Sinai — announced the death of Salim al-Hamadeen. The union described Hamadeen as a leader in the Province of Sinai who was killed in a joint operation by the military and union fighters and posted photos of a body it said belonged to Hamadeen.

However, four days later, Province of Sinai denied the killing of any of its leaders in Sheikh Zuwayed or Rafah. The group did not mention anyone by name nor deny that the operation took place. It described the union’s statements as “deluded achievements, with so many titles given to any mujahid who gets killed on the battlefield, especially if they managed to keep his body and take pictures,” according to Al-Naba, the group’s publication, implying that the union was exaggerating the success of its operation.

Militant operations by Province of Sinai have decreased significantly in recent months in northeastern areas of Sinai, namely Arish, Sheikh Zuwayed and Rafah

On March 9, the spokesperson for the Armed Forces posted a video titled Sirat shaheed (Biography of a martyr) that featured confessions of three Province of Sinai militants who turned themselves in to security forces in Sheikh Zuwayed and Rafah after they found themselves besieged by the military and short on food.

Security agencies launched an initiative last year to encourage militants to turn themselves in. Under the deal, they would be granted amnesty, although they would have to submit to extensive interrogation by the security forces. As a result, a significant number of militants turned themselves in this past December.

While militant operations significantly decreased in the northeast of the governorate, civilians have continued to suffer casualties. In mid-March, a woman was killed and her daughter injured when an unidentified projectile fell on their home in the Dhahir village south of Sheikh Zuwayed, according to the Facebook page “Sheikh Zuwayed and Rafah electricity news,” which reports on news from both cities. Meanwhile, two other children were injured when a hand grenade exploded as they played on a farm near the Maaniya village.

While the Province of Sinai has largely retreated in the east, the militant group has resumed operations in the west and center of North Sinai, particularly in Bir al-Abd and Hasana, according to accounts from locals. Sources told Mada Masr that the group’s fighters have begun reemerging in villages west of Arish and east of Bir al-Abd, including Toloul, Rawda and Mazar, as well the areas of Sabika and Aboul Husein. Locals see this as a sign that the Province of Sinai is trying to regroup after suffering setbacks from the Armed Forces, which forced it to retreat from several villages around Bir al-Abd where it previously had a foothold.

On March 25, dozens of armed militants stormed Amouriya village, east of Bir al-Abd, kidnapping at least 14 members of the Dawaghra tribe who had gathered for dinner at one of the tribe’s headquarters in the village, a local source told Mada Masr.

Meanwhile, in central Sinai, a man and his son were killed on March 11 in Mashaba, a village near Hasana City. Armed militants stormed their home, killed the son in front of his family, and kidnapped the father who was found dead the next day, according to a local source. The two victims belonged to the Qambeezi clan of the Tarabin tribe, which leads the Union of Sinai Tribes. Province of Sinai later claimed responsibility for the attack and described the victims as sahawat — the term the group uses for civilians who cooperate with the Armed Forces.

A week before this attack, an explosive device detonated in a private car in the Tofaha village, south of Bir al-Abd, killing two children and injuring two men, according to a local resident in the village. The Armed Forces allowed the residents of Tofaha to return at the beginning of the year after Province of Sinai retreated from the village. Yet booby-trapped explosive devices still claim the lives of residents from time to time.

With the Province of Sinai moving its operations to the west of the governorate, a Coptic man was shot dead by militants on March 4 in the village of Galbana — which is located within Sinai, but falls administratively under Ismailia Governorate. A local source told Mada Masr that the man was driving on a side road leading to the international road when he was ambushed by militants. As soon as he revealed his identity, they killed him and seized his car.