Press Release
The Al-Arish Port Neighborhood: A New Warraq
Displacing its people: Forced investment or a crime of displacement?
The city of Al-Arish is witnessing these days a new chapter in the suffering of the people of Egypt at the hands of a regime that sees people only as an obstacle to its investment plans and profit-making projects. After years of silence and false promises not to harm the people of the port neighborhood, people were surprised by the regime's bulldozers returning to demolish houses and uproot residents, without regard for the sanctity of homes, the dignity of people, or the rights of people that God has ordained for them in their land and property.
Since July 2025, the regime began implementing the fourth and fifth phases of the Al-Arish port expansion plan, targeting about 180 homes, out of more than a thousand residential and commercial properties located within the scope of the "public benefit" announced by the regime. The demolition operations were accompanied by widespread protests from the residents, who chanted against the forced displacement, to which the police forces responded with arrests and psychological pressure, in a scene that has become familiar whenever the regime decides to evacuate an area for the benefit of investors or projects that do not benefit its people.
Despite the governorate's announcement of alternatives and compensations, such as small plots of land or apartments in other areas, the residents considered these offers unfair and not equal to the value of the land, which is located in a prime strategic location, which opens the door wide for huge future investments in the port and the surrounding areas, to pour its profits into the pockets of a minority linked to the regime, while the original residents are thrown into the wilderness.
It is known that the port of Al-Arish has become the focus of the regime's attention since it was annexed to the Suez Canal Economic Zone, and there is talk about investments worth billions of pounds to expand it and turn it into a gateway for exporting mineral raw materials and others. This project is no different in nature from the displacement of the people of the Maspero Triangle in the heart of Cairo, where the area was transformed into a promising investment land for major real estate companies after the expulsion of its poor people. It is also no different from the tragedy of Warraq Island, where its people have been living for years between constant threats and forced expulsion attempts to hand over the island to Emirati and foreign investors and companies, under the pretext of "development".
The commonality between all these cases is that every spot where the state sees an investment opportunity turns into a threatened land, and its residents become victims of forced eviction. The state no longer sees itself as a sponsor of people's affairs or a trustee of their interests, but has become a broker selling land, and treating its owners as if they were a human surplus that must be disposed of for the benefit of market plans and the whims of capitalists.
What is happening is a blatant attack on people's rights and a clear violation of the provisions of Islam. God has made ownership of three types: individual ownership, public ownership, and state ownership. Each of them has its own rules and limits. The lands that people live in and inherit from father to grandfather are individual properties that the state may not take away from them except with a legitimate right, such as the land being abandoned without being revived or used in a definite harm to others. As for being forcibly taken away under the pretext of "development" or "public benefit" and then handed over to investors and merchants, this is eating people's money unjustly. God Almighty said: ﴿O you who have believed, do not consume one another's wealth unjustly but only [in lawful] business by mutual consent.﴾. Then, displacing people from their homes and demolishing their homes by force falls under the category of injustice that God has forbidden in the strongest terms, and how great is the injustice when it comes from the ruler who is supposed to be protecting his subjects!
Also, the "public benefit" that the regime uses as a pretext has no basis in the Sharia in this broad sense, but is an intrusive concept from capitalist systems, used to justify the deprivation of rights under the pretext of a higher interest determined by the ruler according to his interests. As for in Islam, the measure of actions is the Sharia, not the abstract interest or investment. If there is a benefit for Muslims in establishing a port or expanding a project, then that never justifies oppressing people or confiscating their property unjustly.
In Islam, if the land is public property such as rivers, minerals, and major facilities, it belongs to all subjects, and the state manages it and distributes its benefit equally. As for the state turning into a tool to evacuate people and hand over their lands to companies, that is false, and it is not permissible to do it, accept it, or remain silent about it.
What is happening in Al-Arish, Warraq and Maspero is but a link in a long chain of the regime's policies aimed at linking Egypt to international investment projects, and making land and people tools in the service of the plans of local and foreign capitalists. This explains why the scene is repeated in every place where economic value looms: houses are removed, people are displaced, deals are concluded, and meager "compensations" are offered as a bribe to pass the crime.
The solution to this issue can only be by rejecting these policies from their roots, uprooting the regime that applies them and forces people to submit to them, and establishing the Caliphate state that rules according to what God has revealed, so it protects people's property, prevents injustice, and manages public utilities in a way that achieves the interest of the subjects, not the interests of companies.
What is happening to the people of Al-Arish today should be a warning bell ringing in the ears of all the people of Egypt. Whoever thinks that displacement will be limited to a specific spot is delusional; Every land that is worth a profitable deal to the regime is threatened, and every family that lives on a beach, an island, or in the heart of a city promised "development" is threatened with expulsion. Just as the people of Maspero were evicted from their homes, and just as the people of Warraq have been restricted for years, the people of Al-Arish are facing the same fate.
O people of Egypt the beloved: The regime's hand that did not stop at Warraq Island will not be satisfied with the Al-Arish neighborhood, but will extend to every land in which it sees even a little distinction and the possibility of investment, and it will seize it by force and coercion. Your standing in the face of the regime now and preventing it from infringing and attacking the people of Al-Arish and seizing their land from them is a legal duty. If you fail them today, the regime will isolate you one after the other, and you will say on that day, "I was eaten the day the white bull was eaten," and we were raided the day we left the people of Al-Arish alone in the face of the regime. So let you declare a unified position against a regime that does not observe in you any kinship or covenant, wastes your rights and wealth, fights you in your land and sustenance, and declares war on your religion.
O you sincere people in the army of Egypt: When Ibn Taymiyyah, may God have mercy on him, was in his prison in Damascus, the executioner came to him and said to him: Forgive me, O Sheikh, for I am commanded. Ibn Taymiyyah said to him: By God, without you, they would not have been unjust! By God, without you, the regime would not have wronged Egypt and its people, nor would it have been tyrannical against them, nor would it have been able to enslave them as it is doing now. By God, you are responsible on the Day of Presentation, the day the Lord Almighty calls out to you: ﴿And stop them; indeed, they are to be questioned. * What is [the matter] with you that you do not support each other?﴾. Neither he, nor his money, nor his positions and privileges with which he tempts you and buys your religion, honor and consciences will benefit you. So prepare for a day when you meet God, and people are clinging to your necks, saying, "O Lord, they have forsaken us and enabled Your enemy and our enemy against us!" Know, O soldiers of Egypt, that your duty is to protect people from the oppression of this regime, and your primary duty that guarantees people their rights and dignity is to uproot this regime from its roots with all its tools, symbols and implementers, and to support those working to resume the Islamic way of life by establishing the Rightly Guided Caliphate according to the method of Prophethood, which protects people from the oppression of every oppressor and restores their dignity and pride. This is your role and that is your job for which you will be questioned before God Almighty, so hasten, may God accept you and forgive you for what has passed and open up with you, so we see it as a reality that pleases God from us all and Egypt will be enlightened by you, God willing.
﴿And do not consume one another's wealth unjustly or send it [in bribery] to the rulers in order that [they might aid] you [to] consume a portion of the wealth of the people in sin, while you know [it].﴾
The Media Office of Hizb ut Tahrir
In the State of Egypt