Defeating terrorism will require changing minds

What the Arabic press has to say about global extremism.

A woman lights a candle at a makeshift memorial at the Place de la Republique in Paris. Eric Feferberg / AFP

The terrorist attacks in Paris last week have created fear and panic among people all over the world.

​Writing in the pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat, George Semaan remarked that crises in Libya, Yemen and Syria have sparked anxiety among envoys. The international community must make fruitful efforts to tackle terrorism that has touched countries from North Africa and the western Sahara to the south of the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant.

“In recent days, terrorists have succeeded in linking these crises together by crashing a Russian passenger plane and then launching attacks in France. They also tried to reaffirm their presence in Yemen by attacking military sites in Hadramout,” Semaan explained.

“Regional and international players can no longer neglect these events. The slogan ‘Let’s fight them away from our territory’ is not adequate. Terrorism has reached every corner of the world, where it has been disrupting normal life. This will lead Europeans, Americans and others to reconsider their policies, laws and procedures in an unprecedented manner.”

Writing in Al Ittihad, the Arabic-language sister newspaper of The National, Abdelhaq Azoozi wrote: “France has gone – and is still going – through difficult times following terrorist attacks. Some of those young people who carried out the operations in Paris sold alcohol, while others had nothing to do with religious rites. Overnight, they decided to carry out attacks on innocent people.

“There are about six million Muslims in France and mosques are aplenty. These people can perform their religious rites without any problem in the country, because the state does not interfere with anyone’s religion.

“Imagine if such things happened in our societies. We would have churches and monasteries closed down. That’s what some French politicians are now calling for. They are demanding that mosques that adopt an offensive position against French values be closed down and their imams be deported.”

French president Francois Hollande has declared a war against ISIL, while a national emergency was declared for three days, which was later extended to three months by the French parliament, in conformity with the constitution, Azoozi wrote.

As the Charles De Gaulle aircraft carrier heads to the Arabian Gulf to strike ISIL, strategies have changed and Russia has become a reliable ally in the war against the terrorist group, leaving its former allies, the Assad regime and the Iranians aside, the writer argued.

“Is this enough? No. Perhaps ISIL will be vanquished as a terrorist group in a particular region, just like the Taliban in Afghanistan, and some political matters will change. Yet, killing and destruction will continue, while new terrorist groups will emerge if we do not change the minds of the youth in Arab, Muslim and western societies alike,” he concluded.

Translated by Carla Mirza