The militants include men who have fought in Afghanistan and Pakistan in recent years, as well as Islamists who were released from prison after the 2011 popular revolt that toppled President Hosni Mubarak and drove much of his potent security apparatus underground.
So what?
So perhaps they're smarter than the average jacketwalla. That could be a problem...
The Egyptian government's failure to restore order in the Sinai has unnerved Israel, in part because of a recent attack on an Israeli border post. Some local residents worry that Israel might ultimately respond unilaterally, a prospect that alarms those who survived successive wars in the Sinai between the neighbors in the 1960s and 1970s.
Oh.
The Arabs do seem to forget that provoking Israel leads to drastic and (for them) deleterious consequences.
"In one year, this could all become extremely dangerous," said Nassar Abu Akra, a merchant and elder in the area who fears that the rise of a violent militant movement could spark a crushing response from Israel. "If Israel responds to protect its land, it would be a disaster -- a massacre. Even normal people, not just jihadis, would fight and die if Israelis came back."
So they don't have to "go back", they can just visit and leave a few 500-pound gifts to express their concerns.
Or they could come, take the entire Sinai (again), expel the current occupants to west of the Suez, and declare Sinai to be an eternal part of Greater Israel. That would also solve the immediate problem.
In the recent turmoil, militants have been carrying out attacks on lightly armed police officers in recent months and have repeatedly bombed the pipeline that carries natural gas to Israel. Bedouin tribesmen with grievances against the state, meanwhile, have kidnapped foreign tourists and international peacekeepers. Drug runners and human smugglers have also seized the moment, making both lucrative trades increasingly violent.
Chaos doesn't ask for political ID cards.
Perhaps it's time for all the tourists to go home. No wait, that was last year...
A U.S. Army battalion consisting of several hundred soldiers is stationed in the Sinai as part of an international peacekeeping force. Soon after Egyptians rose up in Cairo in late January 2011 against Mubarak's authoritarian regime, residents in northern Sinai went on a looting rampage, burning police stations and other symbols of a state that became despised for the heavy hand of its security forces and the few services it offered to the residents of the impoverished, barren area.
So now you have zero state security. How's that working out for ya?
They're every bit as good as the Paleos in figuring out 'cause and effect'...
On the other hand, a Big Turban sez...
Acts of violence committed in the Sinai by militants, ought to be seen in proper context. "They feel that there is still lingering injustice," he said. "We still have prisoners we want to get out; there are violations against our brothers in Palestine; there is a war on Islam all over the world. They are affected by it. They can't control themselves."
There you are. They can't control themselves. The Middle East in a nutshell. And the rest of the world accepts it, because - you know - all cultures are equivalent.
Except American culture, of course...