? The terrorist attack in Sinai has uncovered a critical security challenge forMorsi

? Expert: deterioration had something to do with Ayman al-Zawahri who took overal-Qaida.

? Fears mount aboutEgyptian-Israeli ties from one side and Egyptian-Palestinian ties from the other side.

The terrorist attack inEgypt's Sinai which killed 16 soldiers on Sunday has uncovered a critical security challenge for Egypt's President MohamedMorsi, given Egypt's relations withPalestineandIsrael.

In reaction to the attack on a military checkpoint, Egyptian troops have started an operation to crack down on rising terrorist activities. Early Wednesday, 20 militants were killed as the army, using military helicopters, raided a village where militants were hiding.

"No one is sure about who is behind the incident, if they are Jihads Islamic groups or other groups like al-Takfeer wal Hijra, but no doubt it's terrorist action which shows the security situation in Sinai is very critical as it fell into the danger of becoming a weapons warehouse", Noha Bakr, political studies professor at American University in Cairo, told Xinhua.

"Sinai becomes easy to be infiltrated and to be a seat of weapons smuggling because of the security vacuum," she added.

Egyptian military forces said in a statement "terrorism came back with its ugly face but in new dress during this attack which killed 16 Egyptian soldiers".

Since Egypt's turmoil early last year, the security situation in Sinai has deteriorated. Militants attacked police stations while local Bedouins committed some kidnappings of foreign tourists. The pipeline, which exports natural gas to Israel and Jordan, was attacked more than 10 times. In late July 2011, dozens of armed men attacked a police station in Arish, capital of North Sinai, leaving six policemen dead and more than 10 injured.

Akram Hossam, political analyst with the Middle East Center for Political Studies,said the security deterioration had something to do with Ayman al-Zawahri, an Egyptian who took over theal-Qaidaafter Osama bin Laden's death.

"Zawahri said several times al-Qaida needed to turn to other places in the Middle East, and now Egypt's Sinai Peninsula is now a suitable place to be penetrated as it's a desert inhabited by Bedouins and has a small population ", Hossam said.

Rafah crossing, the only land crossing for the besieged Gaza Strip, was closed after the attack, although Morsi recently had promised Hamas leaders to reduce the tough security measures on the borders between Gaza and Egyptian territories.

Hossam said the decision of closing the Rafah crossing was "a sort of correction to Morsi's decision of reducing the rules , " Constant opening paves the way for smuggling and infiltration".

Helping the Palestinians doesn't mean threatening the national security and other neighbor states' security like Israel, especially that Egypt has a peace treaty with it ", Bakr said.

Following the attack incident, fears mount about Egyptian- Israeli ties from one side and the Egyptian-Palestinian ties from the other side.

"I don't think such incident will affect negatively the Egyptian-Israeli ties. On the contrary, it will work positively in the way of their bilateral relations, as both sides will enter a dialogue stage to review the clauses of the Egyptian troops existence on borders, and will cooperate in the security aspect to secure the borders zones and the national security for both states ", Hossam said.

Bakr ruled out the predication of unstable ties between Egypt and Palestine as the authorities in Gaza were aware of the importance of the national security in Egypt.

Other political activists and figures blamed the incident on Morsi's pro-Islamic groups policies, claiming it emerged in his decisions to release some detainees belonging to Islamic groups.

But presidential spokesman Yasser Ali denied any relations between the decision of Morsi to release political detainees and recent attack in Rafah.

Ali said all of the released either finished their sentences or were tried before extraordinary judges, adding that this is against the justice aimed for in the Egyptian society, official MENA news agency reported.

Bakr suggested short and long terms plans should be put in place to overcome the terrorist elements in Sinai and to enhance the national security threatened by the "neglected Sinai Peninsula ".

"A short term plan should secure the whole Peninsula of Sinai and probe the strongholds of the terrorist groups, while the long term one is to develop the desert life of Sinai inhabitants", Bakr said, adding the Bedouins are the most challenge in Sinai as they can be attracted by the terrorists.

Hossam said Egypt should hold consultations with Israel on the peace treaty to amend some articles allowing Egyptian side to increase its troops in the different zones of Sinai, especially "D " zone that lies on the Egyptian-Israeli borders.

" Sinai is a file urgently needed to be open as it implies the national security from one side, and the Egyptian bilateral relations with Israel and Palestine from the other side", Hossam said.

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