This is the second time in over a year that Sinai resorts have been struck by terrorists , demonstrating how vulnerable tourists in the area are. Even after security measures were put into place following the attacks and militants were rounded up, a cell has once again been able to strike the Red Sea coast. As TRC noted when the attacks occurred at the Taba Hilton and Rass Shaitan in October (Terrorist Incident and WAR Report), the Sinai is an immensely appealing target for a number of reasons. First, it is a soft target and one of a handful of places in the Middle East where there are sure to be dense crowds of western tourists. Second, it is one of the only places in the Arab world where Israelis vacation and a place where Israeli and Arab tourists mingle peaceably. In Sharm al-Sheikh, there are Arab tourists from the Gulf kingdoms and other Arab countries visiting the same resorts, restaurants, and beaches with a populace that their governments and religious leaders tell them are their greatest enemy, from a country their governments will not recognize exists. In Sharm al-Sheikh and other Red Sea resorts, such political animosity fades into insignificance as people sit in tables next to one another at cafes, shop in the same stores, and lie out on the same beaches. It is a hopeful sight to most but absolutely infuriating to hate-filled Islamic terrorists.

In addition to the peaceful co-existence at the popular level, Sharm al-Sheikh has also been the site of a peace talks and meetings between Arab and Israeli government officials, adding to its symbolic value as a terrorist target. Historically, it was also a bargaining chip in brokering the peace between Israel and Egypt : giving back the Sinai was the first time that Israel returned a large piece of land to an Arab nation for the sake of peace. Finally, the presence of other western tourists, or ?Crusaders,? as they are known in jihadist jargon, fuels the fire. In a number of ways, both sets of attacks on the Sinai Peninsula are reminiscent of the synagogue attacks in Istanbul, a city, like Sharm al-Sheikh, where Muslims, Jews, and Christians co-exist peacefully. The Sinai acts as a sort of bridge between the Arab and western world, connecting Israel to North Africa and serving as a conduit between the Arab world and Europeans who have felt as comfortable vacationing there as those do on their own Mediterranean, at least in the past. In an effort to isolate the Muslim world from ?Crusader-Zionist? interference and to fulfill the goal of driving all non-Muslims out of Muslims lands, terrorists must strike those places where foreigners feel safe and welcome. Thus came the attacks on foreign residential compounds in Saudi Arabia , the surprisingly cosmopolitan city of Istanbul, another popular tourist destination, several thwarted attempts to attack targets in Amman (Terrorist Incident, Terrorist Incident, Terrorist Incident, and Terrorist Incident), another liberal, tolerant Middle Eastern city where both Israelis and westerners have felt welcome in the past, and then, logically, Sharm al-Sheikh. That vacation town and others like it in Egypt ? Dahab and Taba — are likely to remain vulnerable to terrorist attacks as long as they remains places in the Muslim world where non-Muslims vacation alongside Muslims. Following this pattern, any place in the Middle East where there is tolerance of diversity and peaceful coexistence is a place terrorists might want to strike, and in fact, we may see these types of places becoming the main target set for terrorists in the region. After all, the goal that the caliphate terrorists want so badly to erect is a crushing conformity in which Muslim lands are inhabited and controlled by Muslims alone. ?Fight them until there is no discord and all of religion is for Allah,? reads a Koranic passage that prefaces one of the claims of responsibility for these attacks.