But on Tuesday evening, it was war in Dahab. Three terrorist bombs exploded on a promenade on either side of Tota, killing at least 23 people and wounding dozens of others. Tota itself was spared, but Tota bartender Mohammed Yassin found himself saving lives instead of serving liquor. "I heard the explosions and ran outside," Yassin, 29. told TIME. "People were bleeding. I carried some of them to a taxi so they could get to the hospital." Twelve hours later, as detectives scoured the scene for evidence, Yassin shrugged in disbelief."This is a place where we feel the world is one family," he says. "We get Americans, Europeans, even Israelis. Everyone is welcome in Dahab."
That tolerant attitude, as much as anything else, is what the terrorists were targeting. Perhaps more than any other location in the Middle East, Dahab has been a meeting point between the West and the Arab world. There is no other place where Israelis and Arabs forget their animosities and party together so heartily. Dahab is also a magnet for skin divers and backpacking bohemians, who are variously drawn to its famous coral reefs, gorgeous desert moonscapes and hashish-induced laid-back vibe.
Egyptian investigators are looking into possible links between Monday night's mayhem and two other major terrorist attacks on the Sinai Peninsula's Red Sea coast in the past 18 months. Fifteen Egyptians are currently on trial for the October 2004 attack on a hotel in Taba that killed 34 and a blitz last July in Sharm El Sheikh, the Sinai's premier resort, that left at least 64 dead. Egyptian officials believe that the accused operated an Islamic extremist cell in the Sinai, calling itself Tawheed and Jihad and relying on sympathetic local Bedouin for logistical support.
Authorities have cast doubts on speculation that the terrorists were part of Osama bin Laden's al-Qaeda network, saying they appeared to be home-grown religious fanatics. Still, Monday's attack bore some of al-Qaeda's hallmarks. Though the size of the bombs was relatively small and they did not appear to be carried by suicide attackers, the operation featured simultaneous explosions designed to produce maximum headlines as well as casualties.
Like the previous Sinai attacks, the Dahab bombings took place on the occasion of a major national military holiday, this time Sinai Liberation Day on Tuesday, marking the Israeli withdrawal from the territory it captured in the Six Day War. Many analysts agreed that the terrorists were targeting the pro-Western government of President Hosni Mubarak as well as the 1979 Camp David peace treaty with Israel signed by his predecessor, the late Anwar Sadat.
At sunrise Tuesday, patches of blood, shattered glass and eyeglasses and shoes that belonged to victims still covered the pavement. Despite the wreckage and high toll, however, the blasts were less powerful than the explosions in Taba and Sharm el Sheikh, which ripped off front portions of major hotels.
Unlike those attacks, the Dahab blasts did not spark a mass exodus of tourists from the Sinai. But some Egyptians were worried that the latest terror spree may cause future holiday cancellations. "We were just waiting for the season to begin, and now this happens," said Tareq Ibrahim, 33, an Egyptian masseur, as he stood on the promenade watching the cleanup effort. "The terrorists want to kill tourism in Egypt."
Eyewitnesses told TIME that after sunset about 7 p.m. a bomb apparently placed in a sack exploded in front of the Al Capone restaurant. A few seconds later, another explosion occurred in front of the Neptune Hotel 100 feet across a footbridge on the promenade, which runs along Dahab's windswept beach. Another few seconds later, 100 yards further down the walkway past the Tota Dance Bar, a third bomb exploded in front of the Mona Lisa jewelry shop. Mohammed Ali, who runs a computer shop on the promenade, lost two friends amid the carnage, both waiters at beachfront restaurants. "Because they are Muslims, I know they are in paradise now," he said. "But the terrorists, I am sure that they will go straight to hell."
Some tourists, perhaps inured by terrorism spanning the globe in recent years, seemed eager to take a stand against the violence by not budging. American Amy Widener, 41, was dining near the blast site with her father and infant son when the explosions sent panic through the area. But she said they would not change their plans to explore the Red Sea's famous coral reefs. "If I go home, the terrorists win," she said. Scuba instructor Anya Kozlova, 25, from Moscow, arrived a year ago to experience the splendors of the Sinai. She went diving in search of body parts after Monday's blast. "This isn't what I came for, but I really want to help," she said as she stood in her wetsuit on the beachfront.
At the Tota Dance Bar, owner Della Levanos, 45, is determined to fight back. "Terrorism is a 21st century phenomenon," said Levanos, who says "fate" brought her to the Sinai 20 years ago from Australia and she never left. "London, New York, Madrid, Dahab. It could happen anywhere." Then she took a piece of chalk and scribbled a message in big letters on Tota's blackboard menu facing the promenade. "Stop Violence Everywhere," it said. "Stop All War." It's a new, less celebratory slogan for Tota. But after three successive terrorist attacks in what ought to be one of the most tranquil places on earth, it seems grimly appropriate.