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Yoram Schweitzer
international issue, transforming millions of citizens around the world from
spectators into participants in, and victims of acts of terrorism.
It seems that at this stage, the cross-border paradigm of suicide attacks that Bin
Laden presented and implemented only attracts individuals from the population of
Muslim countries and the population of Muslim immigrants in non-Muslim
countries. That is, it has not become a model of ideological identification for large
groups within these populations. Still, there is a danger that this dynamic of
empowerment and self-actualization which Al-Qaeda uses to promote the idea of
suicide operations around the world could be adopted by socially frustrated Muslim
populations in the west, resulting in the evolution of a more popular culture of
suicide.
Beyond the clear operative and practical need to thwart the terrorist attacks of Al-
Qaeda and its partner groups in general, and "retain focus and maintain vigilance
and keep up pressure on terrorists by adapting and adjusting rapidly and
efficiently" (Hoffman, 2005) the major conclusion of this study is that there is an
urgent need to provide an ideological answer to the suicide challenge put forward
by Al-Qaeda. Supporters of extremist Islam must be offered an ideological Islamic
alternative offering moderate and pragmatic interpretation of the commandments of
the Koran, in contrast to the unequivocal extremist interpretation offered by Bin
Laden and his associates. Such messages have a slim chance of being accepted if
they are disseminated by parties that are not seen as possessing primary Islamic
religious and moral authority. Thus, such an alternative can be provided only by
prominent Muslim clerics and leaders with wide support in Arab and Muslim
countries and recognized Islamic institutions whose opinions are regarded as
carrying religious, cultural, and moral weight. Countries in which extremist and
reputable religious clerics issue religious rulings supporting religiously-sanctioned
murder, under the slogan of self-sacrifice in the name of Allah while taking the
lives of others, must restrain this activity much more aggressively and not give
these individuals the freedom to incite. Non-Muslim forces must play the role of
offering encouragement to the leaders of Arab and Muslim countries and of
pressuring them to undertake such actions if need be.
At the same time, it is important that countries with large Muslim minority
populations – for example, the countries of Europe – begin encouraging leading
religious figures to put all of their social and moral weight behind efforts to prevent
the spread of radicalizing trends influencing young Muslims today. Increased
violence and terrorism coming from extremist Muslim forces may result in
counter-extremism among peripheral groups in the west, who could exploit the
situation in order to incite a racially-based confrontation, plunging the continent
into a bloody cycle of religious and racial violence.
Many circles in the Arab and Muslim world have severely criticized the methods of
operation of Al-Qaeda and its partners. This criticism has increased in light of the
suicide attacks in Iraq, which primarily hurt Iraqi citizens. There has been
especially harsh criticism of the kidnapping and execution of hostages in Iraq (such
as the murder of twelve Nepalese citizens, the beheading of American hostages,
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