Rafah Copts attacked again

At dawn this morning, and according to eyewitnesses, masked men in a 4×4 truck shot at the house of the Copt Magdy Naruz in Rafah, the town on the Egypt Gaza border in Sinai. The

At dawn this morning, and according to eyewitnesses, masked men in a 4×4 truck shot at the house of the Copt Magdy Naruz in Rafah, the town on the Egypt Gaza border in Sinai. The shots smashed a window on the ground floor of the house; Naruz says no-one of his household was in that room at the time, so no-one was hurt.

Army forces—there is no police in Rafah—attempted to chase the shooters, but were unsuccessful.

The Copts were critical of an army story which they insist was an attempt to obscure the facts, and which claimed the shooting came from a stray bullet as the army was chasing a vehicle of militant Jihadists. “The story runs contrary to that of the eyewitnesses,” a Copt who wished for his name to be withheld said. “How can a ‘stray bullet’ directed at a vehicle down the road inflect its path sideways to smash a window on the side of the road?” he bitterly mocked.

What protection?

The shooting gives the lie to the governor’s pledge to protect Rafah’s Copts against the threats they have been receiving form militant Islamist forces based in Sinai. Some two weeks ago, fliers were thrown at the doorsteps of Coptic homes in Rafah warning that Rafah was now an Islamic emirate in which the Copts had no place. A week later, masked Jihadists on motorbike shot at a Coptic grocery shop in town. Even though the Coptic grocer escaped unharmed, the message was clear: the Jihadists were serious.

Coptic complaints to the authorities brought about an initial positive response from the North Sinai governor Abdel-Fattah Harhour who promised to transfer the Coptic employees in governorate offices in Rafah to Arish, some 50km west, and offer them temporary alternative housing. But after the media uproar against the forced eviction of the Copts—not the first since the January 2011 Revolution—and President Mursi’s declaration that the Copts will not be forcefully evicted from Rafah, the governor reneged on his promise, but pledged to protect the Copts. The Copts reiterated that the State was unable to protect its own facilities in Rafah, so how could it offer them any protection. But Harhour was adamant he would not help any of the Copts leave. “I will not allow you to tarnish my image before the media,” he said.

The Copts found themselves in a difficult predicament. They could stay on, but that would be at their own peril, since all indicators said the State was unable to protect them. Or they could leave to more safe ground, but give up their livelihood. Finally they decided to take the first option, but most of them sent their children away to stay with relatives or friends outside Rafah.

The President changes his mind

Before the January 2011 Revolution, there were some 17 [extended] Coptic families living in Rafah. A few days into the revolution, their church was looted and burned at the hands of Islamist militants, who began harassing the Copts. Some Copts decided to leave; 10 families left at different intervals. Now there are only seven Coptic families in Rafah, and their church is still in ruins since the authorities are neither helping them rebuild it nor offering them protection should they wish to do so.

It is not clear now that the Copts of Rafah have been targets of a second shooting what will they decide to do, or whether or not the State will help them. President Mursi had said last week that he would visit Rafah on Friday and meet its Coptic families but, come Friday, he changed his mind and visited Arish instead.