Arabs' resentment of U.S. escalating - Palestinians decry alliance with Israel

Associated Press via Houston Chronicle ^ | September 27, 2001 | Donna Abu-Nasr

[Illbay]

Sept. 26, 2001, 8:47PM

Arabs' resentment of U.S. escalating

Palestinians decry alliance with Israel

By DONNA ABU-NASR
Associated Press

DAMASCUS, Syria -- A morgue assistant pulls out drawers holding the mutilated corpses of Palestinians killed in clashes with Israelis. Doctors pummel the chest of a dead Palestinian in a desperate attempt to revive him. The body of an infant, swathed in bloodied blankets, is held by a grieving parent.

These raw images -- aired almost daily on Arab television since the Palestinian-Israeli clashes erupted a year ago -- haven't lost the power to touch the hearts of Arab viewers.

Indeed, they have fed a buildup of Arab anger -- not only against Israel but also against the United States, its chief ally, already resented for imposing 11 years of sanctions and carrying out repeated airstrikes on Iraq.

That anger provides a potential base of support for the militants, who can use it to keep governments from cracking down on them. The outrage has also left many Arabs grappling with conflicting emotions over the Sept. 11 suicide attacks in the United States.

Some governments -- while decrying the deaths at the World Trade Center, the Pentagon and in Pennsylvania -- have echoed murmurs in the streets that the United States brought violence on itself by angering Arabs. Others have made it clear they want to be sure U.S. retaliation doesn't target nations like Iraq or groups like Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas, who are heroes to some Arabs because of their anti-Israel stance.

"We feel outraged by what happened in the United States, but we want the world to feel the same about the daily Israeli killings of Palestinians, the demolishing of houses and the humiliation of the people," said Wafa Mohammed, a shop owner in Jordan.

"If the United States had sympathized with the Arabs, the destruction that took place in the United States wouldn't have happened," said Mohammed Tohami, 22, an Egyptian frame maker.

"There's a feeling among Arabs that the United States is totally responsible for what's happening in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict," said Imad Shueibi, a Syrian political analyst.

The Palestinian-Israeli clashes began one year ago Friday. The spark, the Palestinians say -- or the pretext, according to Israel -- was a visit by then-opposition Israeli leader Ariel Sharon to the holiest and most disputed site in Jerusalem, which Jews call the Temple Mount and Palestinians Haram as-Sharif.

Since then, 642 Palestinians and 177 Israelis have been killed. Many of the Israeli casualties were civilians who died in Palestinian suicide attacks against discos, restaurants, markets and train stations or shootings with machine guns and mortars.

The resulting resentment cannot be ignored as President Bush -- who has threatened to punish Afghanistan's Islamic rulers harboring suspected terrorist Osama bin Laden -- assembles U.S. forces for a retaliatory strike. Bin Laden has portrayed himself as the champion of Muslims and Palestinians.

Adding to the pressure on the mostly secular Arab governments are fatwas, or religious edicts issued by Muslim clergymen warning the governments against joining the anti-terrorism coalition.

[TheDon]

More anti-American propaganda. If the Palis don't want to be killed they shouldn't attack the Israelis. That they are complaining about their own stupidity after the fact is rather pathetic and does not wash.

[Illbay]

A few days ago an Israeli woman was killed by terrorists. It would never have occurred to me that she had "brought it on herself."

Why is that the first thing that comes to your mind?

[walden]

The Israeli/PLO/other terrorist organizations conflict has been going on for years now-- 30 at least-- it didn't just start months ago. Moreover, if you read unbiased facts about the conflict, you'll notice that Israel strikes only in response to previous terrorist attacks, and only at military targets. Unfortunately, the terrorists deliberately hide themselves among as many civilians as possible. However, far more of the Palestinian casualties are terrorist cell members than the Palestinian press would have you believe.

By the way, I have lived in Houston for 30 years and the Houston Chronicle is as far left as any paper in the country-- I dropped my subscription years ago.

[TheDon]

If you could show that American weapons were being used by the Israeli military to purposely kill Palestinian civilians, then I could have some sympathy for the Palis.

[TheDon]

I don't recall making any such statement about the Israelis bringing it on themselves. It is the Palis who are purposely killing Israeli citizens. You know, that terrorism thing.

[Illbay]

How much foreign aid do we send to Israel each year? Isn't it in the neighborhood of $3 to $5 BILLION?

[Illbay]

So you contend that the Israelis NEVER indiscriminately kill Palestinians?

Sounds like a stretch to me.

[TheDon]

And the relevance is what?

[TheDon]

Well, at least you are willing to consider it. You haven't been completely brainwashed by the Pali propaganda.

[Illbay]

Is it not reasonable to expect that money goes for weapons? Even if not directly, it frees up cash in other areas for weapons purchases.

The fact is, we support Israel to a far greater extent than any other nation its size. That doesn't go unnoticed by the Palestinians and the Arab world. No matter how you slice it we have purchased a boat-load of resentment and hatred that way.

[TheDon]

Ah, I see the point you are making. You should be more direct. You are saying that the Palis are mad at the US because we are supporting the Israelis militarily.

What if we were supporting the Israelis militarily, yet the Israelis did not use the weapons against the Pali terrorists, as the Pali terrorists weren't attacking the Israelis? Then, the Palis wouldn't be mad at the US, right? You see, the point you are making is that the Israelis have no right to self defense. I hardly think you will convince anyone with that argument.

[dennisw]

How much foreign aid do we send to Israel each year? Isn't it in the neighborhood of $3 to $5 BILLION?

You post a lot about Israel and still don't have a clue do you  LOL
Israel would defend itself even if all US aid were cut off. So who cares what you and the other chatterers go on about. It's all you got in your quiver son. To whine incessantly (just like the Muslim websites do) about US aid to little Israel

 

 

[dennisw]

 

Israel only gets you figure this out dumbass billions per year while $50 billion is spent by us on Gulf security and security for Kuwait and Saudi Arabia. We have troops stationed in those two nations. Bin Ladin wants the US out and so does Saddam Hussein

 

http://www.brook.edu/Views/Op-ed/Korb/19960918.HTM

Holding The Bag In the Gulf

The New York Times, September 18, 1996

By Lawrence J. Korb, Director, Center for Public Policy Education, and Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies

After the gulf war, the Navy created the Fifth Fleet, stationed permanently in the gulf. It consists of 21 ships manned by 15,000 sailors and marines, along with 12 more ships with equipment for ground forces and about 250 planes to protect the fleet and enforce the no-flight zones over Iraq. In addition, there are 10,000 people on the ground in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates, along with enough equipment for another Army brigade.

On various occasions since the gulf war, including this month, the United States has augmented this standing force by sending a second aircraft carrier, a squadron of stealth fighters and additional air defense groups and bombers.

According to Michael O'Hanlon, a military analyst at the Brookings Institution, the total cost of maintaining the United States force in the gulf is at least $50 billion per year.

The purpose of spending all this money is to insure that neither Iran nor Iraq threatens the oil fields of Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. But the United States currently imports only about 10 percent of it's oil from the Persian Gulf — some $10 billion to $15 billion worth, depending upon world prices.

MORE>>
http://www.brook.edu/Views/Op-ed/Korb/19960918.HTM

 

[null and void]

My proposed solution:

Ship ALL the Palistinians to Afghanistan.
They deserve each other
Cure the problem in the middle east
When the Taliban and the Palistinans are done with each other there won't be much left...

[dennisw]

You really ought to read Bin Ladin's propaganda statements. He wants the USA out of Kuwait and Saudi. We spend a heck of a lot more defending Kuwait and Saudi than we give Israel in foreign aid. If we leave Saudi and Kuwait then Saddam Hussein moves in. You want Saddam Hussein controlling MidEast oil? You want China and Russia to expand their influence there? Are you crazy? THINK THINK THINK THINK THINK

 

 

 

http://www.msnbc.com/news/629210_asp.htm
By John Hockenberry

		HE IS A CREATURE of shadows with a resume of terror, a master of secrecy. But even before this week, Saudi millionaire Osama bin Laden, the presumed mastermind of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon, had made no secret of his hatred of the United States. Bin Laden has said, “We want our land free of the enemies. We want our land free of the Americans. I have been in a war, enemy, hated against Americans.” To Osama bin Laden, America and the non-Islamic West have exploited the Muslim world, have Muslim blood on their hands and have turned Saudi Arabia — his home country — into the West’s petroleum filling station to drive its industry and wealth. Yet this zealot’s first battles were part of the Cold War, and he fought on our side..........(more at above link)
Saudi-born guerrilla leader Osama bin Laden aims an AK-47 in an undated video obtained by Kuwaiti newspaper al-Rai al-Aam in June.

[Anonymous2]

thanks for the propaganda, illbay the appeaser. i'll remember that next time i eat pizza in an israeli sbarro.