A Blog by the Editor of The Middle East Journal

Putting Middle Eastern Events in Cultural and Historical Context

Monday, August 2, 2010

Who's Firing Rockets from Sinai?

For the second time in three months, a person or persons unknown havc fired rockets against the Israeli resort town of Eilat and the Jordanian port of Aqaba next door. Though Israel was probably the intended target, no one was injured by the one rocket that landed in Eilat; one man was killed and three others injured by the rocket which fell in Jordan, just outside the Intercontinental Hotel. Two more rockets fell into the Gulf of Aqaba.

As with the previous incident, it's not clear who is firing the rockets, which appear to come from Egyptian territory in Sinai. In the April incident Egypt reflexively denied the rockets came from Egyptian soil until it was clear that they must have.

Israel has suggested radical Islamists may be behind the attacks; unlike rocket firings from Gaza, Palestinians do not have ready access to Sinai. But radical attacks on Egyptian hotels in Sharm al-Sheikh and Dhahab have demonstrated a willingness by radical Islamists (perhaps) to strike at Egypt's "Sinai Riviera" tourist industry, which is popular with Israeli tourists. attacking Eilat carries the fight directly to Israel's own resort industry.

2 comments:

Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs said...

Range of Rockets from Gaza -
Just how much of a threat are the Kassam and Grad rockets aimed at Israeli civilians? This interactive map shows the rocket range and threat to Israeli population centers.
http://blog.dailyalert.org/2010/08/01/range-of-rockets-from-gaza/

For more on creating defensible borders for a secure Israel, see:
http://www.defensibleborders.org/security/

- Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs

afadda said...

to the jerusalem center...
and do you have a map of the range of Israeli rockets in the territory? Israel is actually part of NATO now, so needless to explain the range of Israel's hand.
For more on creating defensible borders for a secure Palestinian people... I don't have a link.