The Newest Terrorist Training Camp
JERUSALEM—The Sinai Peninsula, about 70 miles southwest of Jerusalem, is the new terrorist training ground here in the Middle East. Ever since the United States undermined then-Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak last year, Islamist extremist cells have been popping up all over the Sinai.
“Vast areas of Egypt’s Sinai desert have descended into lawlessness in recent months, providing fertile ground for small cells of extremist militants that have emerged from the shadows and quietly established training camps near the Israeli border, according to Bedouin elders and security experts,” the Washington Post reported last week. “Drawing little notice during a period of dramatic developments in Cairo, the militants have become increasingly bold and visible amid a broader breakdown of security in the strategically important desert, a buffer zone between Israel and Egypt.”
After Mubarak’s regime crumbled, the Egyptian police and military practically disappeared from the Sinai almost overnight, which led to a chaotic free-for-all. Hundreds of Islamists that were either released from prison or escaped in the midst of the political upheaval have since taken up refuge in the lawless region, and have since been joined by other terrorists from Afghanistan and Pakistan. In the absence of local police or district courts, Islamist scholars have set up their own local courts based on sharia law. To this point, there has been little indication that the Egyptian army will regain control of the troubled region.
“In the recent turmoil, militants have been carrying out attacks on lightly armed police officers in recent months and have repeatedly bombed the pipeline that carries natural gas to Israel,” the Post continued. “Bedouin tribesmen with grievances against the state, meanwhile, have kidnapped foreign tourists and international peacekeepers. Drug runners and human smugglers have also seized the moment, making both lucrative trades increasingly violent.”
To the detriment of Israel, the breakdown of security in the area has led to an increase in weapons smuggling and several cross-border incidents involving Israeli soldiers and citizens. The increased violence prompted Israel to announce last week that it would be installing a rocket interceptor system along its border with Egypt, similar to the one currently used to intercept incoming fire from Gaza.
According to locals interviewed by the Post, the right combination of developments in the region could provoke a violent reaction against Israel from people who would be otherwise unwilling to fight.
“If Israel responds to protect its land, it would be a disaster—a massacre,” said one local merchant. “Even normal people, not just jihadis, would fight and die if Israelis came back.”
This dramatic radicalization of the Sinai is just one of the curses the Trumpet predicted would fall upon Israel when it began giving land away in an attempt to bring peace. We wrote in 2006:”A lamentable reality is that every parcel of land Israel has vacated is now being used for the same purpose: as a base from which its enemies can attack. This is a grim sign of the hollow hope presented by the ‘peace process.’ The Trumpet has long forecast that Israel will pay an increasingly painful price for putting its faith in its enemies.”
