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Sinai for Human Rights
@Sinaifhr
Dernière modification :
10:27 PM · 14 févr. 2024
▻https://twitter.com/Sinaifhr/status/1757879298940149921

Egypt to create a gated high-security area in the reception of Palestinian refugees from Gaza

The Sinai Foundation obtained information through a relevant source that indicates that the construction work currently taking place in eastern Sinai, is intended to create a high-security gated and isolated area near the borders with Gaza strip, in preparation for the reception of Palestinian refugees in the case of the mass exodus of the citizens of Gaza Strip.

The foundation interviewed two local contractors who said that local construction companies had been commissioned this construction work by Ibrahim Al-Arjani - A close businessman to the authorities - Abnaa Sinai For Construction & Building, who had been directly assigned the commission through the Egyptian Armed Forces Engineering Authority. The construction work is intended to build a gated area, surrounded by 7-meter-high walls. After the removal of the rubble of the houses of the indigenous people of Rafah, who were displaced forcibly and their houses demolished during the war against terrorism against ISIS. The area is expected to be levelled and ready in no more than 10 days. They said this information is being circulated in closed circuits to avoid publication, noting that the work is being done under the supervision of the Egyptian Armed Forces Engineering Authority under heavy security presence.

Sinai Foundation published a report two days ago -►https://sinaifhr.org/show/333 - with exclusive images showing the Egyptian authorities starting rapid construction on the border area of eastern Sinai. Additionally, this morning the Institution’s team observed the building of a cement wall of 7 meters in height starting at a point in Qoz Abo Raad village south of Rafah city, directed towards the Mediterranean Sea north, parallel to the border with Gaza Strip.

In an interview with Mr Mohannad Sabry, @mmsabry
a researcher specialising in Sinai and Egyptian security, he said: “ The construction works seen in Sinai along the border with Gaza—the erection of a reinforced security perimeter around a specified and open stretch of land—are serious signals that Egypt could be preparing to accept and allow the displacement of the people of Gaza into Sinai, in coordination with Israel and the United States”.

The construction works that started early Monday, February 12 have its eastern borders lying between a point southern of the Rafah border crossing and another southern of the Kerem Shalom border crossing, while its western borders lie between Qoz Abo Raad village and El-Masora village. Military intelligence officers are present as well as the ‘Fursan Al-Haitham’ militia that stems from the Sinai Tribal coalition headed by businessman Ibrahim Al-Arjani, near the Qoz Abo Raad area south of the city of Rafah, along with construction tools, bulldozers and local contractors.

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“if they are forced out of Rafah”... Ah;je suis rassuré !

Standoff over Rafah assault tests Israel’s most important alliances
By Steve Hendrix, Claire Parker and Miriam Berger
February 15, 2024 at 12:27 p.m. EST
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2024/02/15/israel-rafah-gaza-war-displaced
▻https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-apps/imrs.php.jpg
Tents housing displaced Palestinians near the border separating the Gaza Strip and Egypt in the Rafah refugee camp on Tuesday. (Loay Ayyoub for The Washington Post)

Egypt is concerned that an influx of Palestinians would destabilize northern Sinai, a sensitive military zone where its military recently spent a decade fighting off an Islamist insurgency.

Cairo also opposes the displacement of Palestinians into Sinai on political grounds, refusing to become complicit in what President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi describes as the “liquidation of the Palestinian cause” — or a permanent exodus of Gazans from the Strip.

But a report this week from U.K.-based Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, which has a monitoring team in northern Sinai, suggested that Egyptian authorities were creating an area to house Palestinian refugees who crossed the border.

Footage obtained by the organization and shared exclusively with The Post shows trucks and bulldozers clearing debris from a rectangular plot of land measuring about eight square miles adjacent to the Gaza border, with a concrete wall being built around the perimeter. The Post verified some of the footage and obtained satellite images that show that two square miles within that area were cleared between Feb. 5 and Wednesday.

Asked for comment, an Egyptian official referred The Post to a statement last month by Diaa Rashwan, head of the State Information Service. “Egypt has full sovereignty over its land, and has complete control over its entire northeastern borders, whether with the Gaza Strip or with Israel,” the statement said.

Despite its public refusal to entertain any scenario in which Palestinians are pushed into Egypt, the country is probably preparing contingency plans, a former Egyptian official said.

“If as a result of the attacks [in Rafah] tens of thousands of Palestinians cross the border, do you think the Egyptian army would shoot at them? The answer is no,” they said. “Any responsible government would have to think, ‘Okay, if we have the worst-case scenario, how would we deal with that?’”

L’Égypte aménage une zone qui pourrait abriter des Palestiniens à la frontière avec Gaza
16 février 2024
▻https://www.france24.com/fr/moyen-orient/20240216-%F0%9F%94%B4-en-direct-la-communaut%C3%A9-internationale-tente-de

L’Égypte aménage une zone près de sa frontière avec Gaza où des Palestiniens pourraient être accueillis si une offensive israélienne à Rafah provoquait un exode vers son territoire, ont déclaré quatre sources à Reuters. Des installations de base, qui pourraient accueillir des réfugiés dans une zone située dans le désert.

L’Égypte, qui a nié avoir entrepris de tels préparatifs, a prévenu à plusieurs reprises de la possibilité que l’offensive lancée par Israël dans la bande de Gaza déplace des Palestiniens dans le Sinaï, ce qui, selon le Caire, serait totalement inacceptable.

L’une des sources a déclaré que l’Égypte avait bon espoir que les négociations visant à conclure un cessez-le-feu permettraient d’éviter un tel scénario, mais qu’elle établissait la zone à la frontière en tant que mesure temporaire et de précaution.

16 février 2024 (10:55 GMT)
Palestinian exodus into Egypt’s Sinai would mean ‘disaster’: UN
►https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/2/16/israels-war-on-gaza-live-17000-children-torn-from-parents-un-says

A mass movement of refugees from Rafah into Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula would be a disaster for Palestinians and prospects for peace in the Middle East, the UN’s high commissioner for refugees says.

Filippo Grandi, speaking at the Munich Security Conference, said Egyptian authorities have made it clear that displaced Palestinians must receive assistance.

“It would be a disaster for the Palestinians, … a disaster for Egypt and a disaster for the future of peace,” Grandi said of Israeli’s planned Rafah ground invasion.

Asked whether Egyptian authorities had contacted Grandi’s agency about contingency plans, he said: “The Egyptians said that people should be assisted inside Gaza, and we are working on that.”