International Journal of Research and Innovation in Social Science (IJRISS) |Volume VI, Issue XI, November 2022|ISSN 2454-6186
Interlinkages between Marginalisation of Bedouins and Security Crisis in Sinai Peninsula
Muneer Ahmed
PhD Student, MMAJ Academy of International Studies, Jamia Millia Islamia University, New Delhi, India
Abstract: The Sinai Peninsula has always served as a geo-strategic pivot point in power struggles between opposing major players. Throughout the fight for domination between ancient Egypt and the Assyrians, the Ottoman and British Empires, and more recently the ongoing confrontation between Israel and Egypt, the peninsula has served as the focal point of the regional balancing forces. The study makes an effort to investigate the Sinai Peninsula’s security crises as a function of power tussle between states and quasi states. It will examine the Bedouins who live in Sinai and their interactions with the state, the persistent pattern of Bedouin marginalisation in Sinai, together with their opposition to or difficulty participating in official Egyptian decision making. It will test the premise that both Egypt and Israel have failed to adequately address the needs of the local Bedouin population in Sinai and have instead chosen to ignore them. Thus, the formation of militant groups and their function as third parties will be examined in the same framework.
Keywords: Autochthonous, Geo-Strategy, Marginalisation, Militants, Security
I. INTRODUCTION
With Gaza, Israel, and the Gulf of Aqaba to its east, the Mediterranean Sea to its north, and the Suez Canal to its west, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula is situated in an important strategic triangle. One of the busiest and most important economic routes in the world, the Suez illustrates the strategic significance of the Middle East and Africa region in general, and Egypt and its Sinai Peninsula in particular. Around 12% of global trade and 30% of container traffic pass through the Suez, moving more than USD $1 trillion worth of goods each year. [1] With an average of 50 ships passing through the canal each day, carrying goods worth $3 to $9 billion USD, the canal is both strategically and economically significant. Here are five of Egypt’s twenty-seven governorates. Sinai is the only part of the country that is in Asia. Sinai, which makes up 6% of Egyptian territory, has a population of more than 600,000 and a physical area of around 61,000 km2. [2] The majority of the administrative divisions on the Sinai Peninsula are the South Sinai Governorate and the North Sinai Governorate. Three more governorates that cross the Suez Canal into African Egypt are the governorates of Suez at the southern end of the canal, Ismailia in the middle, and Port Said in the north. The bulk of people in the North are concentrated around the coast, despite the fact that a sizable section of the nomadic population lives in the hilly interior. Three smaller governorates with denser populations cross the Suez Canal.