Are Egypt's measures to tackle terrorism too little, too late?

What the Arabic press says about terrorism in Egypt

According to Arabic-language commentator Aisha Sultan, terrorism has spread across the Arab world, thanks to some religious sheikhs and scholars who are promoting extremism, war and sedition.

Groups such as ISIL, Al Qaeda and Jabhat Al Nusra have a firm grip on parts of Iraq and Syria, and Sultan wondered whether it was enough for these countries to ban these preachers from their territories, throw them in jail or even execute them, to tackle the menace.

“Many are looking for ways to escape this reality,” the writer noted in the UAE newspaper Al Bayan.

But, Sultan argued, such attempts came six years late. During this time, the sense of nationalism eroded significantly, making room for all kinds of evil.

"As a result, these groups are roaming free in the region where they have imposed their own rules and laws," she noted.

Sultan wondered why ISIL was allowed to gain power, expand and bring death and destruction to the region.

She concluded that it was no longer enough to bar a certain sheikh or preacher from entering a territory owing to their history of fomenting extremism.

“It is the governments that should stand firmly in the face of extremism to protect what is left of their countries.”

Writing in the Arabic-language newspaper Aletihad, the sister daily of The National, Egyptian columnist Emile Ameen noted that terrorism was not unique to Egypt or to the rest of the Arab world as ideas spread quickly in today's interconnected world.

However, Ameen wrote that “in the Arab and Muslim world, terrorism was born out of extremist Islamist movements”.

The writer believed that foreign infiltration was one of the reasons that directed the course of the Middle East towards violence. This explains the emergence of the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.

Subsequently, he said, violence turned into a pandemic and some countries resorted to terrorism as a means to achieve their goals.

Consider this: terrorism was used over the past few years to achieve some of the Arab Spring’s objectives.

As such, the writer wondered whether security was the only solution to the problem.

“Police or security confrontations remain limited, even though they are crucial for putting out the flames.”

According to Ameen, the spread of terrorism in the Arab world needs out-of-the-box solutions. “More importantly, we should question the failure of Arabs to forge a modern state based on citizenship, human dignity, education and honest media,” he said.

The writer wondered whether the time has come to activate the Arab Convention on the Suppression of Terrorism, which was signed in 1998. Its 42 articles stipulate a minimum cooperation in fighting terrorism.

He praised Egypt for forming a supreme council to fight extremism and the Arabs for calling for a crisis-management group comprising Christian and Muslim military experts, sociologists, ethnologists, economists, intellectuals and media people.

“Terrorism is reflected in the attempts at creating a schism in the community, dividing the nation, building walls and burning bridges. It’s in these spheres – and not in the attacks – that lie the seeds of catastrophe.

“Each day that passes without a multidimensional confrontation brings the nation one step closer to its downfall,” he concluded.

* Jennifer Attieh