Excerpts: Backgrounder Bedouin leader’s view re Sinai.Two million petition
to oust Morsi. Putin, Netanyahu talks. Hizbullah fighters advance to
Syria-Jordan border 14 May 2013

+++SOURCE: Ahram Online via Egypt Daily News 14 May ’13;’Bedouins might form
army to secure Sinai: Tribal Leader Ibrahim Al-Manei’
SUBJECT: Backgrounder Bedouin leader’s view re Sinai.
QUOTE:”Bedouin leader Al-Manei:’ We, the residents of Sinai would never
permit any (foreign) people to hold our lands’ “

BACKGROUNDER

FULL TEXT: Ibrahim Al-Manei decries the state's heavy-handedness against
Bedouin locals, and argues that police forces will 'never' return to the
same extent as before to the troubled region (Ahmed Eleiba0

The security problems in Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula since the January 2011
revolution have become a topic of concern for many; but the inhabitants of
the region also complain about a chronic lack of development, which is
contributing to the other problems.

In tones of despondency, head of the Sinai Tribes Union Sheikh Ibrahim
El-Manei gave Ahram Online his own account of the Bedouins' struggle at his
estate in the Mahdiya region, near Egypt's eastern border.

With the only paved road in North Sinai clogged with desert sands swept by
adverse winds, getting to Al-Manei was far from easy.

There was also a total absence of security forces on the road from North
Sinai's capital, Al-Arish. The route was hard to follow; even road signs
would not have helped without a Bedouin guide.

Al-Manei seemed quite undaunted by the security absence in vast areas of the
peninsula.

"Police [forces] will never return as before," he said, saying that the
relationship between the police and the people of Sinai has become one of
deep animosity and desire for vengeance.

Development remains elusive

Over the last few decades, Egypt has celebrated the liberation of Sinai from
Israeli occupation in 1982, despite there being no tangible shift in policy
towards the neglected region.

"There is no development; the region has long been clinically dead," he
asserts. "People are completely marginalised. No wonder they have taken to
arms and drugs trafficking, jihadism or crimes."

With an ailing economy and an unaffordable budget deficit, the tribesman has
a grim outlook on the long sought-after development in the region. The only
way out, he believes, is capitalising on the peninsula's own resources.

On agriculture, for example, Al-Manei says, a lot of farm lands need an
electricity supply to extract water from wells. He suggests digging one well
every 3-4 km to irrigate lands. This will be implemented, he says, only by
supplying medium-voltage electricity lines to kickstart agriculture in the
region. Yet now, the tribal leader believes only the country's army can
establish other production and industrial projects, rather than foreign or
local investors who, he argues, do not discern the area’s needs.

Despite recurrent security breaches in the peninsula's Areas B and C (where
Egypt's military presence is restricted under the 1979 peace treaty with
Israel), the existing security is still weak and ineffective: frontier areas
still act as a launch-pad for the rockets of jihadist groups into Israel,
and subterranean tunnels have been dug beneath Egypt's borders with both
Palestine and Israel.

Security reinforcement

The Egyptian army had announced plans to set up a buffer zone along Egypt's
eastern frontier – at a depth of 5km – in a bid to shut down Gaza's
smuggling tunnels, a move roundly criticised by Al-Manei.

"Buffer zones, which will swallow 1,000km of our lands and displace 75
percent of the population of Gaza's Rafah just because the army fails to
maintain a necessary presence, will undermine our national security," said
Al-Manei, who has met with Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi and Minister of
Defence Abdel Fatah El-Sisi on multiple occasions.

"We will never allow any entity to do something we are not convinced by."

The head of the Egyptian army's engineering department told Ahram Online
that, because of the objections of local inhabitants, the army is
considering proposals to impose a buffer zone of only half a kilometre
either side of the border.

Numerous Israeli reports claim the Egyptian army is currently reinforcing
its presence at various points in the peninsula, raising concerns among some
Israeli officials, although even if accurate such action would not
constitute a violation of the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty.

The army is instead making logistic security arrangements in view of the
high level of arms among Sinai's Bedouins, which Al-Manei sees as part of a
deep-seated culture in Sinai and among Bedouins and desert communities,
rather than a post-revolution phenomenon.

Refuge from state oppression

Some military officials are reportedly seeking amendments to security
arrangements in the peace treaty with both the US and the Israeli sides, a
move which Al-Manei takes issue with.

"Most of the people in Sinai take refuge from the repression of the police
state in the treaty."

According to him, before the revolution, thousands of local Bedouins were
detained and dozens of women, whom Bedouin communities consider to be a ‘red
line’ in terms of their protection and treatment, were locked up in the
notorious [now-disbanded] State Security Investigations Service (SSIS)
prisons.

The situation is no different under Morsi, elected in June 2012, whose
government has taken its cue, he says, from the regimes of former presidents
Mubarak and Gamal Abdel Nasser.

He cited an incident under Morsi's rule when a drug trafficker killed a
police officer in the Al-Nahda area of Cairo's Dar al-Salam district:
police in retaliation tortured Bedouins living in the area, an old sheikh
was dragged by a police vehicle and later lynched, and 400 head of cattle
and 30 homes were set ablaze.

In Al-Manei’s view, there should not be a security presence in the
peninsula, whether police or military one.

"Camp David has limited sovereignty in the peninsula, yet works in our
interests given the heavy-handedness of the state."

Army of Bedouins

Throwing yet another thunderbolt, Al-Manei said that plans to form an army
of Bedouins to be entrusted with maintaining their own security are
currently on the table.

"This would be a major alternative should the state's policies follow the
same heavy-handed tactics with Bedouin society, across the country not just
in Sinai," he warned, citing Iraq's Pashmerga (armed Kurdish fighters) as an
example of private armies.

The tribal head argues that if the Sawarka tribe, to which he belongs, and
the Tarabein tribe, see eye to eye, many things would be possible.

Jihadism on the rise

Al-Manei seems equally unalarmed by jihadism in the peninsula (particularly
near Area C's borders and throughout Area D, the border with Israel and
Palestine), which has been a stronghold of roughly 7,000 jihadists who
possess arms enough for urban warfare.

Having close ties with them, Al-Manei says jihadists see Israel as a bitter
foe, yet believes the government has to embrace them so as to stem militancy
within some of these groups. He went on to claim such militants are
"fiercely patriotic."

"They bear no grudge towards the army, which has never been the target of
their weapons."

Resettlement of Palestinians

There have been persistent rumours in Egypt about the possibility of
resettling Palestinians in Sinai, with an independent Palestinian state
still seeming unachievable in the near future. Al-Manei describes such
stories as fabrications for political purposes.

"I am present at the [Rafah] border crossing every day. I know what is going
on," he says. "Neither [rival Palestinian groups] Hamas nor Fatah would
accept this. And we, the inhabitants of Sinai, would never permit any
[foreign] people to hold our lands."

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 14 May ’13:”Two Million Egyptians Sign
Petition to Oust Morsi”, Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Two mllion petition to oust Morsi

QUOTE:”The ‘Tamarod’(Rebellion in Arabic0 seeks to withraw confidence from
the Islamist leader (Morsi)”

FULL TEXT:A campaign calling for the ouster of Egyptian President Mohamed
Morsi and for early presidential elections has gathered over two million
signatures, organizers told Agence France Presse.

The "Tamarod" (Rebellion in Arabic) campaign seeks to withdraw confidence
from the Islamist leader because he has failed the revolution that brought
him to power, they said.

Since its launch nearly two weeks ago in Cairo's Tahrir Square, Tamarod's
petition has garnered over two million signatures.

"Because security has not returned, because the poor have no place, because
I have no dignity in my own country... we don't want you anymore," the text
reads.

"The campaign was launched because the president is no longer able to manage
the country," Tamarod spokesman Mahmud Badr told AFP.

"We have gathered over two million signatures to withdraw confidence from
the president (since May 1), which shows that people have suffered a lot
from the political crises and the economic situation," he said.

Tamarod has called for a mass protest outside the presidential palace on
June 30 when Morsi marks one year in power.

Morsi's Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), the political arm of the Muslim
Brotherhood, has dismissed the campaign.

"The only recognized democratic mechanism is the ballot box. Everyone must
respect the results of the ballot box no matter what they are," said Ahmed
Rami, spokesman for the FJP.

Morsi came to power a year ago in Egypt's landmark elections following the
uprising that toppled Hosni Mubarak after 30 years in power.

He got 51.7 percent of the votes in elections held last June, narrowly
beating Ahmed Shafiq, a Mubarak-era prime minister.

But opponents accuse Morsi of having polarized the country by placing the
interests of his Muslim Brotherhood above the nation's.

His tenure has been marked by severe economic crisis, political turmoil and
deadly protests.

SourceAgence France Presse

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 14 May ’13:”Putin, Netanyahu hold crunch talks
on Syria conflict”‘, Agence France Presse
SUBJECT: Putin, Netanyahu talks re Syria
QUOTE;Russian President Putin and Israeli P.M. Netanyahu discussed Tuesday
[14 May]the conflict in Syria as concerns grew about Moscow’s arms
deliveries to the Damascus regime”
Russian President Vladimir Putin and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu discussed Tuesday[14 May] the conflict in Syria as concern grew
about Moscow's arms deliveries to the Damascus regime and a spiraling death
toll.

"I certainly expect to speak with you about the situation in the region,
including around Syria," Putin told Netanyahu at the start of the talks at
the Russian leader's Black Sea residence in Sochi.

"Together we can think about how to make it (the Middle East region) more
secure and stable," Netanyahu replied in televised remarks.

Netanyahu is just the latest world leader to beat a path to Putin's door for
talks on Syria in recent days, after U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and
British Prime Minister David Cameron met the Russian strongman last week.

In the wake of the talks with Netanyahu at Putin's vacation residence in the
southern resort of Sochi, U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is also due to
travel to Russia later this week.

The West and Russia have been repeatedly at odds over the Syria conflict,
with the United States and Europe accusing Moscow of seeking to prop up
President Bashar al-Assad and supplying his regime with military hardware.

The flurry of diplomatic activity indicates some hope on the part of the
West that Russia could be persuaded to soften its line over a conflict that
according to activists has now killed at least 80,000 people.

The West has long sought to get Russia on board over Syria, trying to win
the Kremlin's support by alternately cajoling and berating it.

Cameron said on Monday[13 May] after talks with U.S. President Barack Obama
that London and Moscow had found "common ground" on the crisis.

Obama was more cautious however, saying that there "remains lingering
suspicions between Russia and other members of the G8 and or the West".

The U.S. leader added that Russia as a G8 member had an "interest as well as
an obligation" to help end the violence.

The West and Israel are particularly concerned about Russia's refusal to
rule out further deliveries to Syria of advanced S-300 missile batteries
under an existing contract.

Netanyahu has been expected to emphatically warn Putin against delivering
such weaponry which would severely complicate any future air attacks against
the Assad regime.

Putin has over the last years worked to improve relations with Israel, which
is now home to a large Russian-speaking community, after tetchy ties in the
Soviet-era when Moscow was perceived as staunchly pro-Arab.

The issues to be discussed have some parallels to a trip Netanyahu made to
Moscow in September 2009 for Kremlin talks deemed so sensitive that the
visit was kept secret at the time.

According to Israeli media, Netanyahu is believed on that trip to have
raised fears about a Russian plan to deliver S-300s to Iran that Moscow
decided in the end not to fulfill.

Viktor Kremenyuk, deputy director of the USA and Canada Institute, suggested
that Netanyahu during the current trip would warn Putin that Israeli
airforce would target the S-300s should the Kremlin decide to deliver the
arms to Syria.

"Indirectly, he is letting him know that Israel would destroy the S-300 when
they get delivered and start being assembled," he told Agence France Presse
ahead of the meeting.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said last week that Moscow was
"completing" supplies of equipment to Syria agreed under previous contracts.

According to the Wall Street Journal, citing an Israeli intelligence report,
the 2010 contract with Syria includes six launchers and 144 missiles, each
with a range of 125 miles (200 kilometers).

Particular hope has focused on the agreement between Russia and the United
States to work to convene a peace conference on Syria.

The conference is likely to be held in early June and not this month as the
U.S. works to bring the different sides together, State Department
spokeswoman Jen Psaki said Monday[13 May].

The latest international push to try to find an end to the slaughter in
Syria comes as the war is taking a turn for the worse.

A gruesome video surfaced earlier in which a Syrian rebel fighter is shown
cutting out the heart of a regime soldier and eating it.

+++SOURCE:Naharnet (Lebanon)14 May ’13:”Report:Hizbullah Fighters advance to
Syria-Jordan Border’
SUBJECT: Hizbullah fighters advance to Syria-Jordan border

QUOTE:”Hizbullah fighters played a significant role in helping the regime
troops to take full power of the strategic town”

Hizbullah fighters have been advancing swiftly into southern Syria and have
reached the flashpoint southern town of Daraa near the border with Jordan,
media reports said on Tuesday[14 May].

A source close to Hizbullah told the Kuwaiti al-Qabas newspaper that
Hizbullah fighters played a significant role in helping the regime troops to
take full power of the strategic town of Kherbet Ghazleh near the highway
linking the capital Damascus with Jordan.

The source pointed out that Hizbullah fighters are not just groups backing
the army regime but comprehensive fighting units that includes a full
logistic team.

It said that Hizbullah's military leadership is organizing the transfer of
the units and providing them with weapons.

Last week, rebels withdrew from Khirbet Ghazaleh area after several days of
fighting.

Government forces conducted house-to-house searches Monday[13 May] as troops
reopened the highway, restoring the supply line between Damascus and the
contested provincial capital of Daraa.

Hizbullah Chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah acknowledged recently that members
of his group are fighting inside Syria and suggested Iran and other states
could intervene to support the Syrian regime against rebel fighters.

The party, a staunch backer of Bashar Assad's regime, had announced several
burials in past months, without elaborating on the circumstances of its
members' deaths.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights and the opposition say the army is
backed by elite fighters from Hizbullah.

Hizbullah's involvement in Syria's spiraling conflict has been condemned by
the Syrian opposition, which views it as a "declaration of war," and by the
March 14 alliance in Lebanon.

Since it began in March 2011, Syria's conflict has fueled local tensions
between the communities in Lebanon, with bouts of street fighting and
kidnappings.
==========
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA