MONKS at St Catherine's Monastery in the Sinai desert, in Egypt,
are welcoming pilgrims again after a three-week closure forced on
them by the country's military-backed transitional government (News, 13
September). But military action against armed Islamists in the
northern Sinai threatens to worsen the plight of Palestinians
living in the nearby Gaza Strip.
The Egyptian authorities ordered the closure of St Catherine's
in August, after monitoring reports that the sixth-century
monastery was about to be attacked. This was a time when Christian
property across Egypt was being targeted by groups of Islamists in
retaliation for the army's ruthless action against supporters of
the deposed President, Mohammed Morsi, a member of the Muslim
Brotherhood.
But, although St Catherine's has reopened, the atmosphere in the
region is far from normal. Army and police units have been deployed
around both the monastery and the town of St Catherine's, with
pilgrims reaching their pilgrimage destination under armed
guard.
The Greek Orthodox monks also say that their financial plight
and that of the 400 Bedouin agricultural workers employed by the
monastery remains critical. Tourism in Egypt has declined
dramatically as a result of the unrest of the past two years, and a
return to the days when the hotels, shops, and other visitor
facilities at St Catherine's were packed seems a distant
prospect.
While Cairo and other large cities continue to witness clashes
between Morsi supporters and the security forces, the Egyptian
military is preoccupied with a campaign to eliminate a threat to
its authority in the northern Sinai, about 160 miles north of St
Catherine's. Jihadi Islamists, operating in a region close to the
border between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, have been carrying out
almost daily attacks on army positions, resulting in the deaths of
more than 100 troops. In an intensified military response over
recent days, dozens of what the authorities call "armed terrorists"
have been arrested, and large stocks of weapons, including
anti-aircraft missiles, have been captured.
The military's suspicion is that the Jihadists are receiving
support from Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, a territory governed
by Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood. As a result, the
army has been closing tunnels - more than 150 since June - used to
smuggle goods of all kinds in and out of Gaza. It is also removing
buildings regarded as a security threat on the Egyptian side of the
frontier.
Although Hamas has denied supporting the Jihadists in Sinai, the
steps being taken by the Egyptian authorities are isolating the
Gaza Strip still more by restricting its access to the outside
world. Food and other essentials have long been brought into Gaza
by tunnels; closing these seems certain to increase the economic
suffering in this overcrowded and impoverished territory.