It is one of the odd things about Egypt's current political contortions -- many, if not all, involving Islamism -- that the constant Islamist violence in Sinai is hardly mentioned. Sinai is home both to Egypt's beach tourism industry, and to the desert roads where foreigners are most likely to be kidnapped. Yet when it comes to consideration of the broader picture, it is all but ignored: it is too different from the rest of the country, is what most experts say, Egyptians and non-Egyptians alike.We had all better hope they are correct. Sinai's population is 500,000; the rest of the country weighs in at 85 million.
The second half of the argument about Sinai, militant Islamism and the nation's political impasse goes as follows: while Sinai may be the heartland of whatever violent jihadist groups remain in the country after their gradual defeat in the 1980s and 1990s, the brand of political Islam that dominates the rest of the country is the Muslim Brotherhood. The difference is that the Brotherhood believes in peaceful and often charitable endeavour, rather than war.