Sept. 11, Palestinians' situation draw media attention, Thamer Abu Baker

Opinion, September 2003, www.aljazeerah.info

Sept. 11, Palestinians' situation draw media attention

Thamer Abu Baker

Jordan Times, Sunday, September 28, 2003

THE SEPT. 11 attacks, their consequences on the region and the Palestinian situation were among many issues discussed by the Arab media this week. Mshary Alzaezy, analysing the Sept. 11 attacks in an article published in the London-based Asharq Al Awsat, claimed that religious belief was the only motivation for Al Qaeda members' and other Islamic groups' action, who see the West, the Arab and Islamic regimes, as their enemy.

The columnist stated that the Sept. 11 attacks had nothing to do with the US policies in the Middle East or the Palestinian cause. He argued that the Islamic fundamentalists desire to establish Islamic states in which Islamic traditions are the only source of legislation, adding that political and economic conditions did not act as a motive for the suicide bombers' acts and that ideology alone inspired these groups.

However, Al Qaeda is not the only group where religion is the main ideology. For instance, he said, the Lebanese Christians had taken the same position taken by Ben Laden against secularism. Thus, the writer concluded, Al Qaeda is a general trend in the Middle East where religion is the driving force behind many parties' actions.

The Egyptian Al Ahram's Mohamed Al Maragy debated the US stands vis-ý-vis the so-called terrorist groups. Referring to a report by the US State Department which said that there are 33 terrorist groups in the world, the writer said that all these groups, such as the Basques in Spain and the IRA in Northern Ireland, have a specific goal; even Al Qaeda had a precise purpose, which was to force the US troops out of the Arab peninsula. Hence, violence is not carried out for the sake of violence, but because every so-called terrorist group has its own ideology or national identity and goals.

The US administration, however, has ignored all these groups, the writer said, including those who attacked its interests in South America, and focused mainly on the Arab and Islamic groups.

The writer concluded that fighting terrorism in Afghanistan and Iraq is only a US pretext for exercising hegemony over the world. Maragy argued that the Arab governments are not to blame for the Sept. 11 attacks, but the Arabs are the ones who are paying the price. For instance, these attacks led to the occupation of Iraq, allow Israel to do whatever it wants in Palestine, and resistance against the occupation became an act of terrorism.

Regarding the Palestinian situation, Fuad Abu Hejlah affirmed in his article in the Palestinian Al Hayat Al Jadeeda newspaper that the Israeli siege imposed on Palestinian President Yasser Arafat, along with the US administration pressure, were meant to circumvent the Palestinian leadership and to marginalise the Palestinians in the Middle East political game.

However, the writer continued, the result of these policies backfired and that made the Israeli prime minister take the decision to kill Arafat. Abu Hejlah stressed that these policies helped the Palestinian National Authority renew its relations with countries like Iran, Syria and Lebanon.

Ghassan Mahfoz asserted in an article published in the Syrian Tishreen newspaper that the international community, including Israel's ally, the US, is opposed to Israel's security fence which swallows almost forty per cent of the West Bank's land, yet Israel is determined to carry on building this wall, as its defence minister said recently.

The columnist argued that by doing so, Israel is killing every opportunity for resuming the peace talks with the Palestinians, because once this wall is built, it will eradicate the idea of an independent Palestinian state. The writer added that the Quartet, the sponsor of the roadmap peace plan, has to exert every effort to stop Israel's aggressive behaviour, and mainly stop the building of the wall.

Ahmad Ouraby said in the UAE-based Al Bayan daily that the main Palestinian goal should concentrate on a strategic plan to end the Israeli occupation and not on reinforcing Ahmad Qureia's government. The writer claimed that as long as the Oslo agreement influences the Palestinian leadership's strategy, any agreement or understanding between the PNA and the Palestinian resistance groups will be impossible.

Ouraby asserted that the problem with the Palestinian leadership is that some of its members do not believe that the military approach the right method to secure liberation, and they prefer the diplomatic track; thus, Abu Ala's government will not succeed unless it supports the military resistance against the occupation.

Abdulhalim Kandel, writing in the Qatari paper Al Rayah, reached the same conclusion, saying that the PNA should be dissolved by a Palestinian initiative because its role has ended. The writer said that the Palestinians must establish an authority which embodies the needs of the Palestinian people and that replaces the PLO whose clout has waned in the aftermath of the Oslo accords.

Kandel said that this new authority should consist of all the Palestinian parties, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad. The columnist concluded that the main aim of a Palestinian Authority should be military resistance against the occupation, rather than the search for diplomatic channels.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).