Um Fares, a 30-year-old Bedouin woman who has been married since she was 15 and now has four children, is afraid to leave her home in Sheikh Zuweid.  Like many women in the Sinai region, she fears Ansar Bait al-Maqdi – a Siani-based terrorist group that pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State last year – which kidnapped and murdered Fares’ neighbour this past April.

Um Fares, a 30-year-old Bedouin woman who has been married since she was 15 and now has four children, is afraid to leave her home in Sheikh Zuweid.  Like many women in the Sinai region, she fears Ansar Bait al-Maqdi – a Siani-based terrorist group that pledged its allegiance to the Islamic State last year – which kidnapped and murdered Fares’ neighbour this past April.

“The Ansar Bait al-Maqdis group broke into the house of our neighbour Maha Ibrahim and killed her for allegedly collaborating with the army,” said Fares.  “Since then, fear and horror have gripped us all, and we no longer leave our homes. I used to sell eggs, milk and cheese in the market. Now, I sell my goods in front of my house for fear of the continued clashes between the army and terrorists,” she said.

Unprecedented

“It is the first time that a Bedouin woman has been killed in such a horrible way,” says Alia Ismail, a teacher at a school in Joura District in Sheikh Zuweid, not far from where Ibrahim was murdered. “Ansar Bait al-Maqdis stormed her residence and kidnapped her after tying up her husband.”

Ismail says the following morning, villagers found Ibrahim’s body lying in front of her house, with a bullet in the head. Since then, women villagers have become afraid of standing near any soldiers or security men, lest informers tell terrorist groups.

Some parents have stopped sending their children to school, Ismail says. “Only a few students go to the school where I work, and sometimes no one goes at all.” Ismail and her colleagues have struggled to promote education in this economically deprived area but now, Ismail says,“ we are back to square one.” She says that children are afraid of terrorists.

Undersecretary of Education in North Sinai Governorate Hassan Higazi says education has been disrupted in Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid, especially since February of this year, five schools located along the border strip in Rafah have been destroyed in the crossfire amidst clashes. School buses were also unable to reach schools.

Additionally, all residents have been left without healthcare, as the medical centre here has also closed its doors due to the constant exchange of fire. Doctors stopped turning up for work for fear of their lives. Um Fares lost a child during birth because there was no one to deliver her baby in time.

Affront to tribal customs

Hamad Saad, a political activist from Sawarka tribe in Northern Sinai Governorate, says the incident challenged tribal customs and traditions in Sinai because Bedouin women are not to be touched under any circumstances.

Such an audacious act by the terrorist group, says Saad, suggests an irrepressible animosity with the tribes, especially after the unity among Sinai tribes against the group. He argues that the terrorists wanted to send a message to the tribes that their decision to unify against them would not go unpunished. An incident of that type is unprecedented and is absolutely destined to be avenged by the tribes.

Daily lives disrupted

Mona Zaghloul, a political activist of Bedouin origin in northern Sinai says the daily lives of Sinai women since that incident have been completely disrupted. Zaghloul used to go to her job early in the morning then go shopping to buy vegetables and other basic items for her family. Now, things have become very difficult due to the sustained fighting and the daily skirmishes.

“Now, we only go to work once a week due to repeated closures of roads and intermittent exchange of fire between the army and terrorists,” says Zaghloul. “Whenever he goes shopping, my husband purchases large quantities when we cannot go outdoors.”

Um Fares says most women are terrified of running into Ansar Bait al-Maqdis on the roads, hoisting the black banner of the Wilayat al-Sina. “They stop you and frisk you, and you do not know what your destiny will be. Will you return home or get shot?”