“Unfortunately, we have been isolated and marginalized for more than 40 years,” said Shaeer Abdulsalam, one of hundreds of displaced residents of Rafah (on the northeastern border in Sinai Province) evacuated by the Egyptian military in October 2014, in order to create a buffer zone between Egypt and the Gaza sector to besiege terrorist groups. The Egyptian government attributed its decision to the tunnel network running under the residential areas, supplying terrorists with weapons at that time.

“Unfortunately, we have been isolated and marginalized for more than 40 years,” said Shaeer Abdulsalam, one of hundreds of displaced residents of Rafah (on the northeastern border in Sinai Province) evacuated by the Egyptian military in October 2014, in order to create a buffer zone between Egypt and the Gaza sector to besiege terrorist groups. The Egyptian government attributed its decision to the tunnel network running under the residential areas, supplying terrorists with weapons at that time.

“The valiant men of this area spent their lives defending Egypt against the Israeli enemy, yet the area was excluded from the development plans and ignored by state officials,” said Abdulsalam, who had been born and raised in Rafah.

At first, Abdulsalam and his family were shocked by the evacuation order. However, state officials came to the area soon after and explained to the people that they would be compensated. Five months later, Abdulsalam received the full monetary compensation of 1200 Egyptian Pounds (US $1351) per square meter for his 200-square-meter house and 300-square-meter olive grove where he worked.

“There were bitter and sad moments when we collected our belongings and moved to the unknown. I rented a small flat in Al-Areesh city, and I had to sell half my furniture because it did not fit in such a small space.”

Abdulsalam says that the hundreds of displaced people led to overpopulation in certain neighborhoods in Al-Areesh like “Dahiat Al-Salam, Al-Safa and Al-Masaied”, which made it ever more difficult to find a flat suitable for a large family.

Since then, the government has removed 1220 residences that house 2044 families. In return, it set a compensation of 1200 Egyptian Pounds (US $1351) per square meter, and 300 Egyptian Pounds (US $34) for three months to rent a new home. Moreover, the North Sinai Province provided every family with 1500 Egyptian Pounds (US $169) to help them find a new home until their financial compensations are fully covered.

New beginnings  

Haj Fadel Subhi, a displaced Rafahian, says that he owned a large olive grove of 300 square meters attached to a large house in Rafah. Both the grove and the house were removed because of the war on terrorism, and he was left to grieve his trade, his house, and the grove he took after ancestors and watered with his own sweat.

Haj Subhi says that this displacement was the hardest experience he had ever been through; he felt he was uprooted from his land. However, Haj Subhi welcomed the government decision, for it came as a response to terrorist expansion in North Sinai Province. “I am ready to sacrifice anything for his country,” he said. “I fully support the military and police forces in the war on terrorism. “ 

Today, Haj Subhi and his family of 15 people (children and grandchildren) live in two-story house Al-Areesh city. He managed to buy the new house with the compensation he received a year and half ago. Now, they are all content with living in Al-Areesh, despite cuts in water and electricity.

Dreams of return

Hamed Al-Abdullah, another displace Rafahian, says that he left his 200-square-meter house and received 220 thousand Egyptian Pounds from the government one and half years ago. Soon after, he bought a flat in the safe Al-Salam neighborhood in Al-Areesh. Today, he lives there with his six-member family, and he works in vegetables trade. The vegetable trade is the only available trade in Al-Areesh despite the difficulties in transporting these goods within Al-Areesh because of the ambushes and the large number of security checkpoints.

Al-Abdullah and his family long for their land and he sometimes goes to Rafah to take a look at the place where he was born and raised. He hopes that one day the terrorist groups will be destroyed and that Sinai will be once again safe and free of terrorism so he could go back to his land with his children.

People of Sinai Pay the Price

Some of the displaced are still not convinced about the government procedures. Dr. Naeem Jabr, one of the elders of the Sawarka tribe in north Sinai and a resident of “Sheikh Zowaid” area, 50 kilometers away from Rafah, says that those who are now paying the price of marginalization and isolation are the marginalized people of Sinai. They are the owners of the land and they hold this land to be sacred; to them, the land cannot be compensated for and they are deeply attached to it.

Dr. Jabr says that terrorism exists in Sinai as much as it exists in any other Egyptian province; however, unlike others, the people of Sinai have always suffered severe marginalization and a lack of development and government attention.

Shaeer Abdulsalam says that hundreds of displaced Rafahians dream of returning to their beloved lands because they are not leading happy lives in their new homes, be they owned or rented, for they are in a constant search for a new or more suitable place. Renters are more at risk of losing their homes because of impermanent rental contracts.

The Reappearance of Camps

Hasan Azzam, an activist from Sinai, accuses state officials of displacing the people of Rafah and throwing them into homelessness with disregard to article 63 of the 2014 constitution, which states: “The arbitrary and forceful displacement of citizens is forbidden under any circumstance, and it is a crime with no statute of limitations.” This, according to Shaeer, is the most conclusive response to the displacement of the people of Sinai.

Azzam added that dozens of the displaced citizens who could not find apartments, now live in tents and farms outside the buffer area. The towns of Al-Areesh, Bier Al-Abed and Al-Kantara on the coastal line of north Sinai are now severely over populated.

Moreover, says Azzam, dozens of citizens suffered a great injustice when they were denied compensation for when they lived near the buffer area. In addition, the people who live in a certain area in Al-Safa neighborhood in Al-Areesh have left their homes due to the military operations nearby and moved to live in camps in Al-Midan area west of the city. These people now suffer extremely hard circumstances with neither water nor electricity.

Sheikh Hassan Zoughbi, a resident living along the border in Rafah and also a displaced citizen, said he suffered after he was denied compensation because he left his house after it was repeatedly attacked by terrorists. Zoughbi left his home for fear of his children and grandchildren, and  he now lives in Al-Midan camp area because of the over population in the north Sinai cities.

They now live out in the open where they have to buy water, and sleep in fear of death due to the heavy weapons used by the terrorist groups. He said that his only wish from god is to be able to return to his land in Rafah to die in it, rather than die as a stranger in a strange place.

 “We have now accepted displacement, and we live in Al-Aressh,” Adulsalam said. “However, here we do not have running water; therefore, we have to buy it at a high price. The electricity is off almost all day, and the telephone and cell phone networks are off because of military operations. We have accepted the displacement, but we wish that President Abdufattah Al-Sisi would pay attention to our conditions and provide us with basic life necessities so we could simply live.”