Dahab in the southern Sinai is a beach of exotic scenic beauty set in the backdrop of a sprawling romantic desert landscape just a short drive from Sharm El-Sheikh attracting holidaymakers from around the world.

This is the very reason that prompts the enemies of Egypt’s development and peace, criminals and reportedly, terrorists to make a beeline to Dahab.

The timing of the bombing in the resort was, seemingly, planned to synchronize with the traditional spring festival of Egyptians, Easter for the Christians and besides being the memorial day of the liberation of Sinai.

So it was a cause of great sorrow to all sections of Egyptians as well as international tourists. The timing of the dastardly act reminds the Egyptians of last year’s Sharm-El-Sheikh bombing on the day of the Egyptian celebration of the July 23 revolution and the Taba bombings on the anniversary of the October victory against Israel.

The striking uniformity of these blasts makes one wonder if a single force was plotting all these terror acts at different places. One thing is certain: Their aim was to jeopardize the progress of Egypt and embarrass its government. Or it can also be deduced that there is a link between the terrorist bombings elsewhere with a single source masterminding all the monstrous acts.

The tendency has to be stopped indeed, but one huge task before us is to distinguish between criminal acts and terrorist attacks that call for penal procedures and acts of resistance against foreign occupation. A new definition should be found for terrorism so that it could not be confused with freedom struggle and required steps could be taken to root out the former.

Hurried measures would not guarantee the uprooting of terrorism. Experience has taught us that violence breeds only violence.

Since 1986 Egypt has been calling for an international conference to counter terror. The United States turned down the proposal and the European nations followed suit on the argument that terror was an issue that concerned only Arabs and Muslims and that Egypt wanted other countries to embroil in its problems. The West formulated its own strategy called “resistance to radical Islamic fundamentalism.”

And terror has been raising its ugly head here and there often until the United States, unassailable superpower, was struck on Sept. 11, 2001. The US responded instantly with declaration of a war on terror but in its exclusive style to serve its own interests with scant regard for international laws and conventions. In its blind war against terror it laid waste two large countries, Afghanistan and Iraq, made air strikes on civilian targets in Sudan and demolished the political and security system in Somalia. The US has expanded its hit list to include more Arab and Muslim countries. All its efforts came to naught. Ironically it helped cause terror strikes in Spain and Britain.

Meanwhile, the US citizens are being deprived of several of their rights and freedom. Egypt has repeatedly called for convening a world conference to discuss ways to exterminate the terrorist menace from the face of the earth. Saudi Arabia has demanded to set up a strategic documentation center to study the growth, causes and ramifications of the terrorism phenomena by gathering all available documents on the terrorist menace so that affected countries can use them. The Egyptian and Saudi calls have however been ignored by the US, which wants to pursue the issue alone from its own standpoint.

Therefore I believe it is imperative that we should make our own efforts without waiting for the US to arrange an international conference and hopefully the US will join it later, particularly if it is targeted by more terrorist acts.

There is a legal axiom: To make a move to stop a crime before it occurs is more significant than chasing the criminal after he commits the crime.