In Sinai's pocket of poverty, young Islamists' rage boiling over

[question everything]

In Sinai's pocket of poverty, young Islamists' rage boiling over

By Michael Slackman
NEW YORK TIMES NEWS SERVICE

May 7, 2006

EL ARISH, Egypt – The Melahy tribe of northern Sinai is the poorest in the region, its members herding other people's cattle, farming other people's land, its very name used as a slur among the local Bedouin. And so Nasser Khamis al-Melahy held great promise for his family when he left his sun-baked home here for law school in the Nile Delta.

But he never did practice law. Instead, he returned to this city on the banks of the Mediterranean and, the authorities say, helped set up an Islamist terrorist cell that has staged five suicide attacks in the Sinai, including a triple bombing in the resort town of Dahab last month.

(snip)

In these ways, this northeast corner of the Sinai serves as a microcosm of the forces pulling at the strings of authoritarian governments all over the region, governments that have maintained power by relying primarily on security services. From Syria to Jordan, from Morocco to Algeria, officials have struggled to manage these trends by simultaneously trying to appease and control the rise in religious feelings.

(snip)

Amid the jumble of crumbling public housing clumped along unpaved, sandy lots, there is a burning resentment of the central government, in particular the security services, which have made mass arrests through the region, and there is a conviction that the people here have been ignored for too long. People are furious that they must use salt water to brush their teeth, wash their clothes and cook because that is what comes out of their taps at home.

(snip)

Local community leaders said the biggest problem facing young people is unemployment. One local study concluded that just 8 percent of those ages 20 to 30 have full-time jobs, and 92 percent depend on seasonal work, such as farming.


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http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060507/news_1n7egypt.html

[acmavm]

1. And religion provides the perfect excuse for the disenfranchised to

justify their criminal activities. And lack of education makes them easy to manipulate.

These people need to be brought into the world marketplace. That would eliminate the justifications for martyrdom that the mullahs are pulling on those that feel life is pointless and hopeless.

[question everything]

3. And this is a universal observation

the group that feeds and cloths and provides health care to the poor and the sick will win. This is how the extreme muslims take over where corrupt regimes ignore the masses. And this is where we should take notice, too.

See http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=2606017

[Yupster]

2. If we go into Sudan, then these guys

will head that way to blow themselves up next to us. Egypt has huge numbers of radical Islamists but they haven't showed up in any jihad en-masse yet.

Neighboring Sudan would be their chance I predict.