I thought it would be interesting to read the Arab newspapers and their take on this issue? Here is one:
Hope at Ground Zero (AL-AHRAM Weekly) Opinion
...Having failed to block the project, the neocons are venting their ire on Muslims. Former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (remember her?) has gone on Twitter to ask “peaceful Muslims” to “repudiate the mosque”, because it “stabs hearts”. Conservative pundit and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich says no mosque can be built near Ground Zero as long there are no churches and synagogues in Saudi Arabia.
A former New York mayor and another frustrated presidential hopeful terms Cordoba House a “desecration” and an insult to the victims of 9/11 attacks. A Florida church has given the call for “burn a Quran day” to protest the “Ground Zero mosque”.
As these instances of Islamophobia grow across America, fuelled by preachers of sweetness and light such as Pat Robertson and Ann Coulter, and TV networks like Fox News, some wonder if Cordoba House is such a good idea. Given the rancour and acidic bitterness the issue has already generated, which is being exploited by Muslim bashers, some think the promoters should just call off the whole thing. It now seems to defeat the very object of the project.
They’re probably right. Islam believes that the whole earth is a mosque for believers...
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2010/1011/op9.htm
Thanks for adding that article to this thread. The writer wants the mosque to be built. No surprise there, and we know why: It’s a marker fof victory.
I don’t like this one sentence either:
“The response of the US leadership will be watched closely around the world, especially by Muslims.”
Screw the current leadership. The mosque won’t be built in a day. Just watch the next leadership and I pray it’s Sarah Palin.
Description of neocons has been expanded.