CEMO’s seminar on dialogue between the two banks of the Mediterranean – Full report

Special to the Reference

• Some European states treated terrorists as freedom fighters
• Ali accuses European media of double standards when it comes to terrorism
• Ali advocates three-pronged counterterrorism strategy

Director of the Center for Middle East Studies in Paris (CEMO) and Member of the Egyptian Parliament, Abdel Rahim Ali, said today that terrorists and their financiers had benefited a lot from the presence of political and ideological differences between countries in the past years.

“While Arab states suffered an upsurge in terrorist attacks in the 1980s and 1990s, some of them against state institutions, tourist establishments and Christian citizens in Egypt, some European states, the UK in particular, viewed terrorists as freedom fighters, even as they were a mere bunch of armed men,” Ali said.

He added at a seminar organized by CEMO on dialogue between the two banks of the Mediterranean that the same terrorists were given the right to political asylum.

They, Ali added, were allowed to organize conferences and attend hearing sessions in elected parliaments, including in the British House of Commons.

“European media conducted interviews with the same terrorists and allowed them to express their views in which they denigrated the faith of governments and those who were different from them,” Ali noted.

Abdel Rahim Ali, said today that major media outlets, such as BBC, continue to call terrorists who stage attacks against the Egyptian army and police in Sinai “militants”.

“However, if someone stabs a British citizen or drives over some British pedestrians on one of the streets of London, the same media outlets immediately call this person a ‘terrorist’,” Ali said.

He added at a seminar organized by CEMO on dialogue between the two banks of the Mediterranean that if a politician calls for suppressing women, spreading hate against those who are different and barring music and the arts on religious grounds, this is considered a crime against civilization and humanity in the West.

A politician, he added, accused of making this is never allowed to win elections.

He said French politician Marine Le Pen is a case in point in this regard.

“Nevertheless, some senior writers who write in major European newspapers, such as Robert Fisk who writes for the British newspaper, Independent, consider Mohamed Mursi, a Muslim Brotherhood leader who harbored the same racist views, a democratically elected president who has to be supported and considered a victim, even if he dies in a natural manner,” Ali said.

Abdel Rahim Ali, called for the presence of a clear strategy for the fight against terrorism.

“International cooperation, not only within the Mediterranean basin, has become extremely important for the fight against terrorism and its financiers,” Ali said.

He added at a seminar organized by CEMO on dialogue between the two banks of the Mediterranean that this cooperation has to be in the following areas:

1 – Intelligence cooperation and the exchange of information

2 – Security and military cooperation in chasing terrorists and denying them safe refuge

3 – Technical and economic cooperation, especially in conflict zones, such as Yemen, Libya and Sinai in Egypt, This cooperation, Ali said, has to include strong support to state institutions so that they can win the fight against terrorism.

“Without this cooperation, we will be in a big trouble, one that will harm us all,” Ali said.

The seminar focuses on cooperation between Europe and non-European Mediterranean states, including Egypt, in the fight against terrorism; illegal immigration; education, and water.

The seminar is held on the sidelines of the Two Mediterranean Banks summit which is held in Marseilles on June 23 and 24.

CEMO takes the opportunity of the summit to open discussion on the issues that cause problems between countries on the two banks of the Mediterranean.

Apart from the Arab-Israeli conflict, which stands behind most of the violence in our world today, the Arab Spring came to wreak disaster on the world and widen the scope of problems in it.