Arab nations fear backlash

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (Bahrain), SEPT. 14. All the U.S. allies, and even some of the countries not so well-disposed to it, have indicated that they support the concerted campaign that is to be launched against global terrorism.

This support does not seem to be wavering despite the signs that the U.S. is leaning on Pakistan, strongly hinting that this is yet another Muslim majority country on the wrong side of the war.

However, the Arab Governments are concerned about what effect the U.S. administration's change of rules will have on the Palestinian issue and are worried about the signs of anti-Muslim and anti-Arab backlash in the West.

In a telephonic conversation with the U.S. President, Mr. George W. Bush on Thursday, Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince, Abdullah-al- Saud promised full co-operation in the hunt for the perpetrators of the terror attacks on Tuesday.

This support will be vital since many of the financiers, recruiters and ideological supporters of world-wide terror can only be tracked down if the States of the Muslim world co- operate.

As the first among equals in the Muslim world, the Saudis have a particularly important role to play.

Likewise, if the Saudi authorities are convinced that the U.S. is moving against Pakistan and Afghanistan on the basis of solid evidence, Riyadh will probably not extend the parachute that they have always provided to these two when they faced hardships in the past.

If the Saudi offer of support was more or less expected, the expressions of sympathy and offers of support from Libya and Iran have come as a surprise. Libya's mercurial leader, Col. Muammar Qaddafi, has signalled a switch from a turbulent past with his expressions of sympathy.

If the U.S. administration has determined that Sunni-based terrorism emanating from Afghanistan, and by inference from Pakistan, was the force behind Tuesday's events, expressions of Iranian support should have been more forceful.

Iran has been extremely apprehensive of the Taliban- inspired millennial movement and working with countries such as Russia and India to do what could be done to contain the menace.

But Iran has had its own troubled relations with the U.S. and the continuing strife between the two contending tendencies within the regime has come in the way.

Reformers in Iran have almost wholly endorsed the campaign that is to be launched but the conservatives are unable to bring themselves to do so though they have extended their sympathies to the victims and their relatives.

A sign of the quandary that Iranian conservatives find themselves in was provided by one of their chief ideologues who claimed that only Israel would have had the expertise to have carried out such a coordinated attack.

While the Arab world seems to have recognised that the concerted campaign against terror is unstoppable, they do have concerns about what it will mean for the Palestinian cause.

There is a realisation that tolerance for terror tactics is at a lower level and the U.S. is not going to be in any mood to countenance any use of terror by Palestinian groups.

There has been a feeling here that the resort to terror by Hamas and the Islamic Jehad has had an impact on the Israel-Palestine exchanges.

It is now difficult to figure out how these exchanges will pan out once the resort to terror is no longer a factor. There is also an apprehension that the U.S.' direct experience of terror will lead to an even greater degree of empathy with Israel.

All Arab Governments are very worried about the well- being of their citizens, or people who originated from their countries, who are currently in the West. Reports of attacks against Arabs, Muslims and Islamic centres have received attention in the media here.

These Governments are making frantic appeals that the action of a few fanatics should not be used as the criterion to judge a whole religious community.

This message was reported to have taken up quite a substantial portion of Prince Abdullah's conversation with Mr. Bush.

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Section  : International
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