As we know, the inhabited portion of Egypt, which consists primarily of the Nile Valley and the Delta, makes up only about 10 per cent of the country. The vast deserts that comprise part of the great Sea of Sand to the west and that extend eastward to the Red Sea, and most of the Sinai, form the rest. This "other Egypt" is largely unfamiliar to us and only forces itself upon our consciousness on far and few occasions, such as when its depths are probed by explorers, or when it becomes a theatre of war, as occurred in the Western Desert in World War II and in the Sinai in the Arab-Israeli wars, or when it serves as a staging point for terrorist activities, as has tragically been the case recently.
One of the rare occasions when the attention of Egyptian public opinion was turned to the "unknown" part of Egypt occurred in 1937. The cause was what the press labeled "The Ameriya antiquities case" which surfaced in June that year and continued until a ruling was pronounced on 24 May of the following year.
Good article. The Sinai has seen some recent work, much of it related to CRM work before work begins on a canal being built. There is no doubt much there besides the later Greco-Roman stuff.
Also, this report from Al-Ahram on the meeting of the International Council of Museums.