Wednesday, May 2, 2012

Chancing It With Vacationing in Egypt

Nadene Goldfoot
I remember my first year of living in Israel in 1980-81 and living in the Ulpan in Haifa.  We had a Spring Break and two of my friends took their vacation in Egypt.  One was able to live it up in nice hotels while the other used hostels.  My husband and I felt we had to study more for our Hebrew test and so spent it in our little dorm, studying like crazy.  I was able to go through our whole first textbook again.  Some Spring Break that was.  When I finally took the test at the end of the semester I fell down just before the big day and broke my left elbow and arm.  Of course I am left-handed.  I finally took the test while running a fever and wearing a cast but passed, baruk ha-shem.

Israelis do get "cabin fever" and love to travel when they can.  Egypt was open to Israel then.  With this new "Arab Spring"  last year that has come about by getting rid of Mubarak and allowing the Muslim Brotherhood to gain a foothold, things are changing.

There has been much terrorizing going on in the Sinai, and the Sinai Peninsula and Red Sea resorts are popular tourist sites. They will most likely still go there.  Rafiah, on the border at Gaza and Egypt and central Sinai are too difficult for Egyptian police and soldiers to handle today.  

The major terrorists are the Bedouin who are close friends of the Gaza Arabs.  They're involved in the weapons smuggling.  Al Qaeda-linked groups, Hamas and the Army of Islam are all involved in being terrorists.

The Egyptian-Israeli natural gas pipeline has suffered 14 attacks already.  There has also been many carjackings in el-Arish.   Altogether there has been at least 50 terrorist attacks.

Resource: Arutz Sheva http://www.israelnationalnews.com/Subscribe  Arab Spring Anarchy in the Sinai: 50 Terrorist Attacks by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu 

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