The Medina Incident
This is a good article from al-Hayat except that it lumps together the terrorist attacks on tourists in Egypt and Saudi Arabia with the recent tourist kidnappings in Yemen, which were wholely unrelated to terrorism and were, for the most part, a bid to force the regime to release official hostages, in one case a 12 year old.
The Medina Incident, A New Kind of Terror
Daoud Shirian Al-Hayat - 28/02/07//Last Sunday, a number of European expatriates (17 Belgians and 9 French) among which were women and children, were on a touristic trip to the Madain Saleh north of the holy city of Medina, an area attracting tourists from Saudi Arabia and abroad.
This particular expedition, however, was reminiscent of similar incidents involving foreign tourists that took place in Yemen and Egypt since the French convoy was surrounded and attacked by masked gunmen, killing two and seriously injuring two others who quickly succumbed to their wounds and died in the hospital.
The heinous attack broke the silence of terrorism in Saudi Arabia that had been stopped since Last August, and was unexpected in both location and method of execution. The attack was executed in a desert area and targeted. It was carried out with conventional weapons, making it appear as though its perpetrators wanted to send a message that terrorism will target the tourists in the coming stage, and confirms the fact that a number of hardliners are principally opposed to foreign tourism in Saudi Arabia and beyond. Moreover, the attack could disrupt efforts to promote domestic tourism among foreigners and intimidate the western expatriate society in Saudi Arabia and restrict movement of its members and their visits to areas beyond the city limits.
It would not be wise to attempt to discuss the possible affiliation of the perpetrators of this terrorist act before security authorities work out the details of what exactly happened, since rushing to conclusions could stand in the way of the correct interpretation of the attack.
While it is true that al-Qaeda have carried out operations against tourists in a number of Arab countries, the Mesada incident was the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia and was executed in a way that indicates a lack of organizational abilities, as could be seen from the fact that there were no plans for the tourists convoy to remain in the scene of the attack at the end of the trip. It had split into two groups on the way back, with one heading along the Qasim area highway, while the other took the Medina road to perform the ‘lesser pilgrimage’, Umrah.
Therefore, the incident deserves a fresh look at the re-emergence of terrorism in Saudi Arabia, since it carries with it new indications and points to a need that our religious discourse be reviewed with respect to terrorism, its legitimacy and our relationship with foreign expatriates residing in our country, since it is quite possible that the perpetrators of this criminal act were victims of a religious edict permitting the killing of tourists rather than being connected to a terrorist organization.
Surely, calls by the mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abul Aziz Al Sheikh, to Saudi citizens to condemn the attack constituted a significant and timely action. The mufti’s call, however, should have also included religious clerics and preachers, and should have acknowledged the fact that those involved in Islamic and ‘da’wa’ work in confronting the emergence of terrorism are still unsatisfactory.
Many observers believe that writers, intellectuals and the public are the most outspoken opponents of terrorism, while the voices of preachers and religious students, mosque preachers and religious councilors remain muffled, and sometimes, even nonexistent, despite their importance and influences.
Terrorism has been cloaking itself behind religion and using religion as a pretext to kill innocent people. Therefore, confronting this phenomenon should start at the mosques and their platforms. Otherwise, the intellectual battle with terrorism will never meet its objectives, so long as those involved in religious work perceive terrorism as a political issue with which they have little relation.
