Terrorism and international cooperation - part 1
Regional, Politics, 12/5/1997

The Al-Gama'a Al-Islamia claimed responsibility for the massacre in Luxor and said the operation was intended to secure the release of its spiritual leader Omar Abdul Rahman from a US jail.

Rahman is serving a life imprisonment sentence in the US. A witness in Luxor said he saw a leaflet at the scene of the crime that read : "No to tourists in Egypt -- Omar Abdul Rahman's squadron of havoc and destruction."

Actually, this devilish act is directed against human rights and international community, not against Egyptians.

Terrorism is an international phenomenon.

As it is well known, the phenomenon of terrorism has been worrying the international community a for long time. Starting from the 1930's, the international community began to show interest in the importance of cooperation to combate this crime. That was illustrated in the Geneva conference in 1934. Unfortunately though the conference issued two important documents, one related to the divination and the organization to confront terrorism, and the second related to the establishment of international criminal court.

But these two documents did not take effect. The united nations assumed the responsibility of this subject and made a big effort in this cadre and still do.

In my opinion the subject of international cooperation in the field of terrorism that demands the cooperation of international terrorism that demands the cooperation of the international community because defining the conception of terrorism means to remove all blemishes, and the attempts done here and there to distort this conception, or to achieve personal or political aims, like the attempt to consider the peoples' struggle or self determination a terrorist act, and this situation contradicts completely with the scientific and precise conception of terrorism, and contradicts with what the international documents about the legitimacy of the struggle for self-determination.

The second point brought about by this subject is related to defining the conception of the obligation to international cooperation so that we are able to clarify when this obligation is individual, and when its is multilateral, and it is assumed by international organizations and also by non-governmental organizations these are points to discuss and recognize.

Then comes the issue of cooperation. Cooperation in confronting terrorism has different sides, first the cooperation to prevent terrorism, and the terrorism itself, and that requires the study of the latent reasons conductive to terrorist acts, whether these reasons are political, economic, social else, and the cooperation for its treatment and to lessen if not to prevent terrorists acts.

The importance of cooperation to confront terrorism itself, will be discussed in the coming story.

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