By Salama A Salama Since the pace of US massacres picked up in Iraq, and since Sharon escalated his brutal "days of penitence" campaign, the region has hurtled uncontrollably towards chaos and bloodshed. The carnage in Taba was the latest contribution to regional mayhem. The Sinai bombings, the first such attacks in Egypt in seven years, seem to have been planned outside the country. But the sure thing is that they were not directed against Israel alone. The bombers' choice of venue was a calculated one. Sinai is a place where people of different nationalities, including Israelis, mingle. Therefore, the terrorist attack was not confined to the two sides of the conflict, the Palestinians and Israelis. It had other regional dimensions. Earlier, Israel assassinated a Hamas leader in Damascus, clearly upping the ante in cross- border conflict. Israel likes to blame the elusive Al-Qaeda. Conveniently enough, no one knows whether Al-Qaeda has a branch in Israel. The Israeli accusation is not without a purpose. Israel wants to distract attention from its state-sponsored terror in the Palestinian territories. It wants to blame things on an omnipresent enemy. Who knows? Perhaps Israel would soon be chasing Al-Qaeda operatives all over the occupied territories. A tit-for-tat between Al-Qaeda and Israel would absolve the latter of much of its crimes. This would come in handy, if one were to remember that the UN Security Council was contemplating a resolution -- vetoed by the Americans -- calling on Israel to stop the carnage in Palestinian territories. So long as Al-Qaeda is seen as an overall threat in the region, who would dare to blame Sharon for his barbarism? Who would dare blame the Americans for their collusion? Violence and murder, the random destruction of homes and hotels, have all become ordinary occurrences, things that the world is learning to live with. The international community is getting complacent, unless English or French or Italian hostages are taken. When a British hostage was executed in Iraq recently, the news of his murder drowned those of Taba bombings. The style of the Taba attacks, we were told, is typical of Al-Qaeda. But is this style totally inimitable? One cannot rule out Al-Qaeda or anyone else. There are splinter Palestinian groups that oppose the resumption of peace efforts. There are Israeli extremist groups that want Israel to stay in Gaza and that would do anything to stop the dismantling of settlements in the occupied territories. At the end of the day, and irrespective of the crude pleasure of vengeance, terrorist operations invariably harm the interests of their perpetrators. There is a certain peril inherent in linking Al-Qaeda to the attacks. Israel is likely to use the connection -- true or imaginary -- as a pretext for crimes against the Palestinians, as an excuse for more land grabbing. Israel will exploit the attacks, either through waging more military operations in Palestinian territories or making more security demands on Egypt. A recent UN Security Council resolution, tabled by Russia, calls for more international efforts to combat terror, which it describes as a threat to global peace and security. The resolution fails to distinguish between terror and national liberation. This is a serious flaw, for such resolutions would open the door for malicious interpretation and consequently for more violence in the region.
