Israel Matzav

Sinai Peninsula has become terror hub

Remember the story I ran yesterday from the JPost about how Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin had told the Knesset that the Gaza Strip had become a terror hub full of weapons? Well, the Post apparently corrected the story on which my story was based. Although Diskin has said many times before that the Gaza Strip is a weapons Paradise, he wasn't talking about Gaza this time. He was talking about the Sinai. Yes, the Sinai. The area that Israel gave between 1979 and 1982, to the country that is now the third largest recipient of US foreign aid. Menachem Begin must be rolling over in his grave. Does anyone think the US or Israel will take this up with Egypt and its President dictator Hosni Mubarak? Does anyone think it will make any difference if they do?

The Sinai Peninsula has become a "Garden of Eden" for terrorists smuggling arms into the Gaza Strip, Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) head Yuval Diskin warned on Tuesday during his half-yearly review to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.

In a related move, the Counter-terror department in the Prime Minister's Office reissued a stern advisory against Israelis travelling to Sinai, and urged all those there to return home.

Thousands of Israelis are currently said to be at beach resorts in Sinai for their summer vacation, ahead of the new school year next week.

The real question is, with all the terror warnings in Egypt and the Egyptians' hostility to Israel, why do thousands of Israelis insist on continuing to pump up the Egyptian economy with tourism. I have no answers to that question, but if anyone else feels like taking a shot, feel free to do so.

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 6:51 PM