Students on the College's foreign study program in Fez, Morocco, are safe and will continue their studies despite having been only four hours away from Al-Qaida-linked terrorist attacks that killed dozens in Casablanca on Saturday.
All Dartmouth students on the Asian and Middle Eastern studies-run program were safe in Fez at the time, except for one who had returned to the United States for a job interview. While saddened, according to Director of Off-Campus programs John Tansey, the students "remain calm."
"Some of us heard the news last night, and some learned when our group met this afternoon, but all of us know that we are in good hands with our host families," said the Fez students in their May 17 newsletter published on the AMES website.
The students in Fez are continuing to go about their program as before, but according to Professor Dirk Vandewalle, chair of the AMES department, Professor Dale Eickelman, faculty advisory to the Fez students, "is going to watch the situation very closely."
Morocco has traditionally been a country in the Arabic-speaking world considered safe and easily accessible to Americans. Morocco was the first Muslim nation to condemn the Sept. 11 attacks, and has been relatively sympathetic in its dealings with Israel.
In February, an audiotape -- purportedly of Osama bin Laden's voice -- saying that Morocco was "ready for liberation" was released to the public.
Though this attack has made Moroccans nervous about the future of its large tourism industry, both Tansey and Vandewalle said that they felt the program would be safe to continue in future years.
"This is quite a ways in the future, but there is nothing to indicate that there will be any changes in the programs," Tansey said.
"We are much safer spread among [Fez] homes than we would be scrambling aboard jets or fleeing to cluster in large hotels ... That said, we are taking appropriate precautions, some in consultation with local authorities," said the Fez students.
Fourteen terrorists detonated bombs in various Casablanca locations on Friday night, several of which targeted Jewish-owned businesses. One suspected bomber survived and has been detained by Moroccan authorities. According to Moroccan Justice Minister Mohamed Bouzoubaa, all 14 bombers were Moroccan citizens, and all had spent time outside of the country.
Moroccan authorities are still trying to determine if the Casablanca bombers were linked to either Salafia Jihadia or Attakfir wal Hijra, two Moroccan extremist organizations.
American intelligence agencies suspect that about 300 Moroccan citizens spent time in Al-Qaida training camps in Afghanistan.
The bombings in Morocco came in the wake of another bombing in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia just four days prior. The Riyadh bombers used similar techniques and killed 25 Saudi citizens and all nine bombers.
The Casablanca attacks also had a strong resemblance to the Oct. 2002 bombing of a nightclub in Bali, Indonesia which killed 200 citizens.
Over the past two days, there has been an increase in suicide attacks in Israel. Five separate bomb attacks have taken place in Jerusalem and Hebron since the weekend began.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
