Posts claiming that Google has removed the Sinai Peninsula from Google Maps have gone viral, yet Al-Masry Al-Youm has clarified that Sinai was not deleted from Google maps.
The misunderstanding arose from the fact that Google does not usually show the names of the governorates.
How Google Maps works
Maps of the continents are divided into countries with clear borders, with countries then divided into governorates with clear borders. Google writes the names of the capitals of the governorates, such as Alexandria, the capital of Alexandria Governorate, but it does not write the name of Beheira Governorate, and only mentions its capital “Damanhour”.
The same applies to Sinai. Google only mentions the capital of North Sinai governorate, which is Arish, and the capital city of South Sinai, Al-Tur.
President Sisi stresses Palestinians cannot evacuate into Sinai
Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has once again warned against displacing Palestinians to Sinai.
“Transferring Palestinian citizens from the Gaza Strip to Sinai means that we are transferring the idea of resistance and the idea of fighting from the Gaza Strip to Sinai. Thus, Sinai becomes a base for launching [attacks] against Israel, and in that case Israel has the right to defend itself and its national security,” he stressed.
If this were to occur Israel will end up attacking Egyptian territory, Sisi warned.
Sisi added, during a conference at the Ettihadiya Palace with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, that Egypt is desires peace.
He therefore urged people not to dissipate hope in the peace process by agreeing to the unfeasible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza Strip to Sinai.
Sisi brought up the Negeb desert in Israel as an alternative location for refugees to flee into, until Tel Aviv finishes its declared mission against the armed groups of Hamas and Islamic Jihad in the Gaza Strip.
The military operation through which Israel wants to displace the Palestinians to Sinai to liquidate the armed groups in Gaza may take years.
Egypt will bear the consequences, Sisi warned, as Sinai becomes a base for launching attacks against Israel.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
