PARIS: One of Europe’s leading specialists on Islam, Antoine Sfeir, editor of the much respected journal of Islamic studies, Cahiers de l’Orient, says that in his opinion the May 16 terrorist attacks on Casablanca that left 40 dead do not constitute the end point of a process that began on September 11, 2001, and before, but rather they mark a new period in the development of international terrorism.

“Think of it,” notes Sfeir, “the repression that Morocco will undertake in the coming weeks against its Muslim population: what better calling card for fundamentalism and the recruitment for eventual kamikaze? What we’re seeing is the very same phenomenon that followed the attacks on the World Trade Center, which rather than lessen the ranks of terrorism, saw the movement gain members by the thousands. Certainly the same thing will now happen because of Casablanca.”

“And just as there was an inflation of candidates at the time,” he adds, “probably the same thing is to happen now.” And who is to benefit the most from the plethora of candidates that are likely to start presenting themselves as the result of Casablanca? Says Sfeir: “Given my belief that Osama bin Laden has been long dead, it’s obviously Al-Zawahiri and the leaders of this movement who will certainly hit paydirt with the Casablanca attacks. And you can be sure that we’re starting to witness a resurgence of a ‘hardline’ and of a more violent strategy.”

And this,” he notes, “largely because Al-Zawahiri was silent during the Iraq war. With the end of the war, and the overthrow of Saddam, however, all of that has now changed and Al-Zawahiri is once again ready to take on recruits.”