Arab-West Report extends its condolences to the family and friends of the victims in the March 22 and March 27 terrorist attacks in Brussels and Lahore, as well as to all Belgians and Pakistanis. The terrorist attack at Zaventem Airport and Maalbeek Metro station in Brussels claimed the lives of 34 people and injured 198. In the attack in a park in Lahore at least 65 people, mostly women and children, were killed and over 300 were injured.

Many people call for police and military response. We believe peaceful ways of addressing violence need to be part of the package of responses to the attacks we have seen in Brussels, Lahore, Paris and around the world.

We also believe that Europeans should cooperate with authorities in the countries where much of this extremism has originated. Not because those authorities have used such great methods in clamping down on radicalism, but because a better understanding of catalysts is much needed.

Downplaying information from Arab states does not help. On March 23, MEMRI published in dispatch 6360, an overview of Arab media reporting about the attack in Brussels and  wrote that the

“Terror attacks in Brussels triggered a wave of condemnation from all Arab and Islamic countries, which stressed their opposition to terrorism. However, the condemnations and articles in the Arab press also highlighted the attempts, on the part of every country and every regional bloc, to place the blame for the attacks on their respective opponents in the region, while accusing the West of supporting this particular opponent.”

This only part of the truth.