Egypt is flattening homes and displacing thousands of people to create a 500-meter buffer zone along the border with Gaza.  The massive counterinsurgency measure is intended to stop smuggling of goods and weapons into the territory controlled by Hamas.

It’s part of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s sweeping security response to the massacre of at least 31 soldiers in Sinai last Friday, and other terrorist attacks.  Al-Sisi says Hamas is working with the Sinai militants.

There are widespread complaints that the government gave no warning.  Indeed, some are saying they had no idea this was going to happen until troops with megaphones appeared outside their doors barking orders through megaphones. 

People were ordered to clear out of the homes they’ve had for decades in the border town of Rafah.  Those who won’t, will be forcibly removed by police and their property will be seized.  Egypt is promising to compensate the hundreds of displaced families along the entire border, some 13 kilometers.  But that deal is moot for those with smuggling tunnels to Gaza discovered beneath their homes.

Forcible displacement is a criminal act under the constitution, but it’s doubtful any court would rule against the powerful al-Sisi.  That doesn’t mean this is going to work.

“It’s going to wind up being counterproductive in the long term,” said Egypt scholar Aaron Reese of the Institute for the Study of War in Washington.  “You can’t bulldoze an area, home by home, and persuade people to work with you.”