Arab establishment rejects Osama theory

By Kesava Menon

MANAMA (BAHRAIN), OCT. 9. The international terrorist suspect, Osama bin Laden's efforts to show, courtesy of an Al Jazeera telecast, that his mission is all about freeing the Arab homeland from Israeli and U.S. occupation has been spurned by the Arab establishment and intelligentsia. But that does not mean that people in the Arab world do not see any merit in Osama's actions or that they believe that the operations currently underway against him, his organisation Al Qaeda and the Taliban are justified.

Mr. Yasser Abed Rabbo, Information Minister of the Palestinian Authority, gave perhaps the most pithy and apt response to Osama's statement that he would make the U.S. endure pain till the Palestinians were relieved of pain. ``I heard what bin Laden said yesterday. It is true that there is oppression, terrorism, killing in Palestine committed by Israel daily but this doesn't justify or give cover for anybody to kill or terrorise in Washington or New York or any other place''.

A senior editor of the London-based Arabic newspaper Al Hayat gave another perspective on the matter in an interview to MSNBC. Osama, she said, was trying to hijack Arabic causes but he actually had no involvement with these causes and was only interested in furthering his own agenda. It may be noted that Hamas and Islamic Jehad too had refuted any suggestion that the terror strikes in the U.S. could be viewed as actions in furtherance of the Palestinian cause.

It is probable that the Iraqi Government and the Lebanese Hizbollah will take a similar attitude to Osama's bid to make out that he was trying to promote their causes. But for all the rejection of Osama's overtures by those who are actually in the forefront of Arab struggles, he still evokes a totally puzzling but still strong regard. One line of thought that is pretty strong in the current context is that Osama's links to the Sept. 11 attacks have not been established and that the U.S. is, therefore, pursuing an innocent man. Another line of thought is that Osama did do it but was justified in doing so because of the ``many atrocities'' that has been committed on the Arabs by U.S. and Israel.

It would have been bad enough if the two different lines of thinking were represented by different sets of people or even different individuals. But currently, in case after case, both lines of thought are given voice to by one and the same person. In newspaper columns or letters to the editors, the same individual will write about how the U.S. is acting against Osama without proof and then go on to state why the Sept. 11 attacks could be justified or at least explained. It is an absurdly illogical situation but there it is.

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Section  : International
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