About 500 senior members from Bedouin tribes in Sinai have demanded the removal of Governor Khaled Fouda and Security Director Mohamed Naguib.
The elders, who are staging a sit-in in Wadi Feiran, also demanded social justice for the Sinai population through introducing reform programs and stopping the cultivation of hashish, which they claim was started by Israel and continued by the Mubarak regime's security leaders.
They also demanded the release of their relatives from Israeli prisons.
“Our sit-in is peaceful so far,” said Sheikh Mohamed Darwish of the Qararsha tribe.
Activists Youssef Nada and Mohamed Hussein said the Sinai Bedouins are still being marginalized by military officials. “The Sinai Bedouins had to plant hashish because they are poor,” they said. “No real development has been carried out there in the last 30 years.”
Translated from Al-Masry Al-Youm
