Security sources said Palestinians from the ruling Fatah movement have
been battling Bedouin tribes around the northern Sinai capital of El Arish.
They said both sides have used automatic weapons and other firearms in
fighting that erupted from an alleged Palestinian assault on a Bedouin girl.
About 150 members of the Palestinian Authority's Preventive Security
Apparatus have been in El Arish since 2007, Middle East Newsline reported. The PSA officers escaped the
Hamas assault and takeover of the Gaza Strip for haven in neighboring Sinai.
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"Security forces have been stationed at key points around El Arish," a
security source said.
The sources said the battle between the Bedouin tribe of Al Khadri and
Fatah gunmen began in late December. They said the clashes, sparked by
the beating of a Bedouin girl, has resulted in the shooting of one person.
Bedouin leaders have demanded tens of thousands of dollars in compensation
for the assault.
Egyptian security forces have been reinforced throughout El Arish and
the rest of northeastern Sinai amid attempts to smuggle weapons to the Hamas
regime in the Gaza Strip. On Dec. 19, security forces were said to have
found and confiscated an arms cache about 10 kilometers west of the
Gaza-Sinai border.
The sources said the cache in the town of Sheik Zwayid contained weapons
and explosives, including grenades and artillery shells. Egypt has reported
a series of weapons seizures in central and eastern Sinai this year.
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