A Tour of Egypt 51advisories and one began special flights to evacuate citizens
on the ground in Egypt. Egypt’s anticipated greatest tourist
year ever fell far short of expectations as a result of many
tour group cancellations.
Like an awakened volcano, the Middle East once again
spews violence. Israel and the Palestinian intifada remind
us that all is not well in the region. The death of Yasser
Arafat (2004), illness of Ariel Sharon, subsequent election
of the 17th Knesset, and recent election of a Hamas
government in the Palestinian area (2006) leave this situation
wide open. Terrorists bombed American embassies in
Africa on 7 August 1998 and the USS Cole in Yemen on
12 October 2000.
The heinous events of 11 September 2001 not only
devastated the United States, but also rocked the Middle
East and all of the world. Egypt seemed to be especially hard
hit, but maybe that is my opinion because I was living there
at the time. As I have mentioned, Egyptians love rumours
and conspiracy theories. The gossip grapevine ensures that
all titbits, no matter how outrageous, get rapid circulation.
Before it became clear exactly what happened in New York
and Washington DC, the rumour-mill was only reporting
that the ‘World Trade Centre’ was hit. Well, there is a ‘World
Trade Centre’ in Cairo on the Corniche el Nil. At first, some
people thought this was the centre that was hit. This was
followed by total disbelief that anyone would do what was
done in New York and DC. People were constantly hugging
me and crying for and with me over the tragedy. It seemed
incomprehensible to most Egyptians that anyone could
perpetrate such a horrid event. When it was announced
that some of the perpetrators were Egyptian, this was (by
many; or maybe even most) considered to be just plain
wrong and absurd because ‘no Muslim could kill innocents
like that’. At this point, I heard every conspiracy theory
imaginable. Well, without going into more details about this
event, let me say that tourism once again declined, hurting
Egypt’s economy.
The attack on the United States and the subsequent wars
in Afghanistan and Iraq appear to have preceded, if not