Epstein Secrets

urity forces and militants, as well as attacks on checkpoints, have since been reported. A land bridge between two continents, Africa and Asia, the Sinai Peninsula is approximately 60,000 square kilometres in area and contains two of Egypt's 27 governorates. Sinai has a population of about 600,000 p

special committee enjoys legitimacy in the underground smuggling network, and following the recent killing of 16 Egyptian soldiers and officers in Rafah, for example, the committee ordered all tunnel owners to shut down their smuggling operations for a period of three days. This decision had an imm

sraeli occupation and is thus punishing us," Mona Abdo, political activist who ran for parliament under Mubarak, told Ahram Online from her home in Rafah. "I am more Egyptian than other Egyptians living in Cairo or elsewhere, as I reside on the turbulent borders," she said. Political sociologists st

n comes as Hamas finds itself increasingly squeezed between Israel and Egypt, both of which have been hit hard by terrorist groups operating in the Sinai peninsula and in recent months have improved military cooperation to tackle the mutual threat. As both countries crack down on terrorist links betw

down not only on the Brotherhood, but Hamas as well. In addition to destroying tunnels, Egypt has also severely limited Gazans' ability to exit at Rafah, Gaza's main access to the outside world. Israel responded by easing restrictions on people and goods moving through the two crossings it controls,

al controversies, and major and minor events in the capital, up and down the Nile from Alexandria to Aswan, and along the fringes of the country, in Sinai, Al-Wadi Al-Gadid and Marsa Matrouh. The chaos, aggravated by mounting polarisations between the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF), the Mu

they erroneously attribute to Islam, upon which Islamist forces presumably base their political legitimacy. Also, in the immediate aftermath of the Rafah attack, President Mohamed Mursi came under fire for his "ill-considered" decision to establish closer relations with Hamas. It was argued that step

se-fire. Their supporters expect them to take a toug= stance and reject all compromises. These groups are affiliated with terror cells based in the Sinai Peninsula,=and some of them have ties to al-Qaida. In the past, they have already blo=ked the attempts of Egyptian intermediaries to broker a cease-

Mr. Thrall suggested, would be a three-=arty deal in which Hamas vows to contain Gaza's more extreme elements in=exchange for improved trade through Rafah, the border crossing controlled =y Egypt, as well as Kerem Shalom, the commercial crossing managed by Israe=. "The new X-factor is that Egypt is no

n comes as Hamas finds itself increasingly squeezed between Israel and Egypt, both of which have been hit hard by terrorist groups operating in the Sinai peninsula and in recent months have improved military cooperation to tackle the mutual threat. As both countries crack down on terrorist links bet

down not only on the Brotherhood, but Hamas as well. In addition to destroying tunnels, Egypt has also severely limited Gazans' ability to exit at Rafah, Gaza's main access to the outside world. Israel responded by easing restrictions on people and goods moving through the two crossings it controls