Israeli holidaymakers ignore warnings to avoid Sinai

Sunday (AFP)

Hundreds of Israelis continued to cross the border into the Sinai despite warnings Sunday to avoid the Egyptian peninsula after the multiple bombings in the resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

Alarmist predictions of danger from the authorities one day after a wave of suicide attacks killed at least 88 people appeared to do nothing to dim the ardour of Israelis bent on enjoying the beaches and coral seas of the Sinai.

As other foreign holidaymakers packed their bags and fled to airports, 700 Israelis had crossed into Egypt by Saturday afternoon, hours after news of the explosions and terrifying footage filled television screens.

The tourism ministry said 7,000 Israelis are vacationing on the peninsula. Travel agents reported few cancellations for holidays in the Red Sea resort, public radio said. At least one Israeli was among the wounded in the bombings.

"They continue to put themselves at danger," bemoaned the mass-selling Yediot Aharonot newspaper, publishing a photograph of an Israeli tailback waiting to cross into Egypt at the Taba border crossing.

Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon spoke to President Hosni Mubarak and offered to cooperate with Egypt in the fight against terrorism.

"We discussed the need to fight terrorism and the need for cooperation between countries, including between Israel and Egypt, to confront Islamic and extremist terrorism," Sharon said.

The head of Israel's parliamentary foreign affairs and defence committee, Yuval Steinitz, on Saturday said the bombings represented a major failure on the part of the Egyptian intelligence services.

Saudi Arabia's Al-Watan newspaper blasted Steinitz's comments, and said that some Egyptians and other Arabs had "pointed an accusing finger at the Mossad," Israel's spy agency.

Nevertheless, Israel's counter-terrorism chief renewed calls for his countrymen to steer clear of the bomb-racked peninsula and Arab countries in general out of fear of further bombings.