The Egyptian army killed five people and arrested three others in raids in Bir al-Abd, Sheikh Zuweid, and Rafah, an army spokesman said.Amazingly, out of the 200 or so people killed by the Egyptian army in the Sinai since their crackdown on Islamist militants, none have been civilians - according to the Egyptian army.
Ahmad Mohammad Ali said that 34 huts, three bikes, and two pick-up trucks belonging to suspected militants were also destroyed.
That would be an amazing record, if it was true.
Last September, however, a video of four babies incinerated by the Egyptian army was released and confirmed by bloggers and reporters in the Sinai. Al Masry al Youm reported on a village with houses of ordinary citizens burnt and destroyed, and about how the Egyptians have arrested journalists who tried to report the truth.
The Egyptian army has imposed a siege on the Sinai, collectively punishing all residents there for the actions of the terrorists.
With the Sinai operations underway, the locals have many good reasons to complain. Despite virtually all public utilities being cut off, from electricity to water and internet to cell phone networks for most of the time, to many, their biggest complaint is being singled out by the army, just because they are from Sinai.
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The military official told Egypt Independent that checkpoints are an unfortunate convenience [sic] for Egyptians, especially in dangerous areas where they are more numerous, but they are necessary for the civilians’ protection. Checkpoints prevent extremists elements from moving freely inside the country, he says, and it is especially important these jihadist groups don’t make it to metropolitan areas and cause problems.
...Elzamlout says the increasing mishandling of Sinai citizens during the security campaign could create more terrorism because “they treat Sinai’s sons cruelly.”
Menai agreed. “There is no development, but instead torture and detainment. These things create terrorists. If there are terrorists here, they have created them.”
This is still the case today. This Egyptian blogger last month said that while Israel's military operations in the Sinai took only six days and afterwards there were no security problems, Egypt's siege of the Sinai is now six months old and no one can even talk about it.
The danger of Islamists in the Sinai cannot be denied, as the Taba bus bombing shows. However, the double standards of the media and "human rights" NGOs is striking - they ignore Egypt's collective punishment of hundreds of thousands of Sinai residents, with checkpoints, travel restrictions, limitations on electronic communications, censorship, curfews and more.
All this is happening right next to Gaza which has hundreds of reporters and NGO workers ready to write daily condemnations of Israel in order to justify their existence. None of them bother to travel a couple of miles to see what is happening on the other side of Rafah.
How many civilians have been killed by the Egyptian army? How many houses have been destroyed? How many have died because they couldn't access medical help? How many hours are they without electricity? How many have been arrested for no reason?
No one knows, and no one cares to find out.
Egypt's war against murderous Islamists is laudatory, while Israel's war against these same murderous Islamists is a violation of human rights.