50 CultureShock! Egypt
sites from Luxor south to Aswan) proved to be insufficient
when six men attacked tourists on Luxor’s west bank on
17 November 1997, killing 64 people. The six perpetrators
dressed in police uniforms, believed to be members of Al-
Gamaa’a al-Islamiyya, were killed during the subsequent
gun battle between the terrorists and police forces. On
18 November, a rival militant group, Talaa Al Fath, headed by
Ayman Al Zawahari living in Switzerland, reportedly issued a
statement to an international news agency warning tourists
to stay out of Egypt. According to Richard Engel writing in
the Middle East Times, the statement said, “Today’s military
operation in Luxor won’t be the last one. Foreigners per se are
not targets, but we have warned them about giving money
to the Egyptian regime.”
Egyptian government officials responded immediately
with massive police support in and around all tourist sites
in Egypt. Changes were made at the ministerial level when
a new Minister of Interior was appointed following the
immediate resignation of his predecessor. New plans were
developed to re-evaluate and refine security measures at all of
Egypt’s tourist sites. For example, several military sites were
built above the Valley of the Kings where guards overlook
the whole valley on a 24/7 schedule. Initially, tourist groups
found their movement restricted as forces sought to secure
their safety through increased security forces. In March 2006,
I toured Upper Egypt as a standard tourist with my sister.
What I observed at that time was actually more freedom
for the tourists to climb the hills on the West Bank in Luxor,
more people taking donkey rides, more balloon rides and,
generally speaking, more flexibility for tourists to wander
among villages and streets than I had seen prior to that
time. Security was present more than pre-1997, but seemed
slightly subdued compared to times more closely associated
with the 1997 event. When I would point out something
I thought looked different, I usually got a shrug and a “well,
you know—1997” for an explanation.
International governments also reacted immediately to
events in Luxor, which occurred at the beginning of the high
tourist season in Egypt. Many governments issued travel