# Sinai



## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

ISMAILIA, Egypt, Sept 28 (Reuters) - Most Christians living near Egypt's border with Israel are fleeing their homes after Islamist militants made death threats and gunmen attacked a Coptic-owned shop, a priest said on Friday.

The departure of nine families that made up the small Christian community in the border area of Egypt's Sinai peninsula will fuel worries about religious tolerance and the rise of militancy after the overthrow of president Hosni Mubarak last year.

"Coptic Christian families decided to leave ... out of fear for their lives after the threats and the armed attack," said Mikhail Antwan, priest at the Coptic Margirgis church in the North Sinai town of al-Arish.

Death threats had been printed on flyers circulating in the desert area, he added.

Two armed men riding a motorcycle opened fire on a Coptic-owned shop in Rafah on Wednesday but no one was injured.

Two families from the small community had already left while the rest were still packing up their possessions in Rafah and Shaikh Zuwaid after living 20 years in the area, he added.

All were planning to move to al-Arish, the administrative centre of North Sinai, where security was better, the priest said.

Islamists with possible links to al Qaeda have gained a foothold in the area, analysts say.

Israel has voiced concern about security in Sinai, where at least four cross-border attacks have taken place since Mubarak was toppled in February 2011.

Egypt's new president, Mohamed Mursi, has vowed to restore order. But efforts to impose central authority are complicated by the indigenous Bedouin population's ingrained hostility to the government in Cairo.

A local official, who asked not to be named, confirmed the departures and said the families planned to return when security improved. It was the second wave of Christian departures - another seven families left soon after Mubarak's fall. (Reporting By Yousri Mohamed; Writing by Tamim Elyan)

Egypt's Copts abandon Sinai homes after threats, attack | News by Country | Reuters


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

Earlier I was reading that the largest Evangelical church in Egypt had been attacked but now I can't find it.. wonder if it has been taken off line, Lots of incidents are not making the news.. censorship still lives


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

MaidenScotland said:


> Earlier I was reading that the largest Evangelical church in Egypt had been attacked but now I can't find it.. wonder if it has been taken off line, Lots of incidents are not making the news.. censorship still lives


According to Al Masry Al Youm, Kasr El-Dobara, the largest evangelical church in the Middle East, located in Egypt, was recently besieged by "unknown people" hurling "stones and gas bombs." The first gas bomb thrown at the church Thursday afternoon, September 13, was signaled as an error by police, but it was soon followed by other bomb attacks, which went into midnight and early Friday. Worshippers locked themselves inside the church and put on masks to avoid gas poisoning.

Some of those trapped inside looked for help by trying to contact politicians, journalists, and even the "moderate" Muslim Brotherhood. All the latter did was announce on TV that the attackers were not members of the Muslim Brotherhood. After the besiegers left and the trapped Christians finally came out, not a single police or security agent to counter the attacks or protect the church could be found.

And today, Reuters reports that "Most Christians living near Egypt's border with Israel are fleeing their homes after Islamist militants made death threats and gunmen attacked a Coptic-owned shop."


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## DeadGuy (Jan 22, 2010)

They're not Muslims of course, _whoever _they are


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## MaidenScotland (Jun 6, 2009)

North Sinai Governor Sayed Harhour asked Copts living near Rafah city in Sinai to wait until Thursday to see if the security situation stabilizes, in the wake of many being forced from their homes due to threats by extremist groups.

Harhour made the request during a meeting in Arish Sunday with Coptic citizens that Bishop Qezman of the local Masaeed Church also attended. During the three-hour meeting, the citizens asked to be allowed to leave Rafah for Arish and to be allowed to stay there for at least six months.

State-run news agency MENA said citizens eventually agreed to stay until Thursday to make sure the situation stabilized again.

About 15 Coptic families had left their homes in Rafah after unknown people put up leaflets ordering them to leave. Later, two armed men riding a motorcycle opened fire on a Coptic-owned shop in Rafah Wednesday, but no one was injured.

On Sunday, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a human rights group, slammed the state’s reaction to what it described as a forcible evacuation of Copts in Rafah last Thursday.

Ishaq Ibrahim, the organization’s representative for freedom of religion, said the incident was another episode in a series of assaults on the lives and properties of Christian citizens.

He said their evacuation was under the state’s sponsorship, adding that the recent incident cannot be handled separately from other events, such as the forced evacuations of Copts in Dahshur and Amreya.


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## aykalam (Apr 12, 2010)

The UK has repeated its offer to help Egypt with military advice in its military campaign against Islamist militants in Sinai, London-based Al-Hayat newspaper reported Monday.

The paper said Armed Forces Chief of Staff Sidqy Sobhy met with Lieutenant General Simon Vincent Mayall, Middle East adviser at the UK defense ministry, to discuss military cooperation between the two sides.

In the talks, Mayall said Britain could help Egypt with military advice in its “battle against gunmen in the Sinai Peninsula,” according to the paper.

Egypt deployed aircraft and tanks in Sinai for the first time since the 1973 war with Israel to pursue Islamist militants blamed for killing 16 border guards in an attack on 5 August.

Last week, the British newspaper The Guardian reported that UK Prime Minister David Cameron, during his first meeting with President Mohamed Morsy in New York, offered to help Egypt with advice on how to steer Bedouin tribes in Sinai away from smuggling.

UK offers to advise Egypt in crackdown on Sinai militants | Egypt Independent

I really don't like the sound of this


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