Znet
Correcting the Record: Palestinian Responses to the Suicide Bombings of theWorld Trade Center and the Pentagon
Contrary to what our national media would have us believe, the Palestinian reaction to the horrific World Trade Center and Pentagon last Tuesday was not just a mindless and gleeful celebration of death and destruction in America. While there were indeed groups of Palestinian men and women both in the Occupied Territories and in the refugee camps of Lebanon who danced and celebrated the attacks, it is simply untrue to portray the Palestinian response as having been so shallow and uniform.Those of us glued in horror to our television sets last week were treated to film footage of Palestinians cheering and clapping as news reached them of the suicide bomb attacks and suicide bombs are indeed what the hijacked civilian airlines became. I could not help but wonder why these images were broadcast across the country when in fact every Palestinian organization and spokesperson unequivocally condemned the cruel and calculated acts of terror wrought on the people of the United States. Could it be that our media and policy makers wanted to reinforce the image of Palestinians (and Arabs and Muslims generally) as terrorists, or at least terrorist sympathizers? I suspect the answer is yes.Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told viewers in an interview with ABC’s Peter Jennings that Palestinians “even have terrorist training camps for their children” where they are indoctrinated with hatred and the goal of destroying Israel. Early reports on CNN stated that the DFLP (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine) had claimed responsibility for the attacks, which of course it did not. Perhaps most despicably, Americans got to watch and listen to Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon talk about the need to fight terror Ariel Sharon, the same man, who 19 years ago this September 16th, gave the green light to the Lebanese Phalange militia to mutilate, rape, and murder up to 2000 Palestinians living in the Sabra and Chatila refugee camps in south Beirut*. Yes, Ariel Sharon, the man directly responsible for the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in 1982, and the subsequent deaths of nearly twenty thousand civilians, stood before US television cameras admonishing us to be tough on terror. Sharon also linked Osama Bin Laden to the PLO. What better way to make the Palestinians accomplices by association to the war crimes committed against Americans last week?The evidence is sobering: for all the calls not to blame Arabs and Muslims collectively for the detestable actions of a few, we nevertheless keep seeing innumerable replays of highly negative images of people from both groups, whether in Palestine, Iraq, Afghanistan or elsewhere. I only wish our news reporters would be so generous with their images by filming and showing, among other places in the Middle East, the insides of a Palestinian refugee camp in Lebanon, the West Bank or the Gaza strip, or by treating us to pictures of the cancer wards in the hospitals of southern Iraq where thousands of people, mainly children, are dying and have died of the effects of our Gulf War bombings. Maybe if more Americans could see just why so many people, and not only in the Middle East, harbor such resentment and hatred towards the United States we could begin to understand the context of the attacks against the US last week. Maybe if more Americans were aware of the fact, for example, that the gunships, tank shells, F-16’s, missiles, and mortars blowing up Palestinian villages and towns are paid for and manufactured by the United States, which unconditionally supports Israel, they might not be so shocked at the outbursts of anger and protest captured on tape for our nightly news shows. Still, we need to know what the Palestinians’ responses to the WTC and Pentagon suicide bombings were. I want to correct, or at least, complete the record by noting them here. Palestinian Chairman Yassir Arafat condemned the attacks saying “I send the condolences of the Palestinian people to President Bush, his government and to the American people for this terrible act. We are completely shocked. It is unbelievable, unbelievable, unbelievable.” This was the response of Fatah, Arafat’s political organization. Likewise, the DFLP (Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine) and the PFLP (Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine) explicitly condemned the attacks. Even the militant and extremist organizations, Islamic Jihad and Hamas, voiced disapproval of the attacks although the spiritual leader of Hamas, Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, added that, “America’s racist policies must not be forgotten.” Independent and individual Palestinian spokespersons such as Hanan Ashrawi, and Eyad Serraj also roundly and eloquently denounced the attacks.In the Israeli occupied Gaza Strip, one of the most densely populated and desperately poor areas in the world, the Al-Mezan human rights organization sent out over the Internet a statement strongly condemning the bombings. Al-Mezan’s central office is located in the wretched and recently bombed Jabaliyya refugee camp. Its statement reads, “Al-Mezan Center was shocked by the terrorist act in the USA which resulted in terrible civilian losses and would like to emphasize that nothing can justify an act of violence of this kind or indeed any terrorist act” (my italics.) It continued, “Al Mezan Center would like to send its condolences to the families of the victims of the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The Palestinian people are very capable of understanding their suffering and sense of loss as we have been victims of systematic terrorism for more than fifty years.” In East Jerusalem Palestinian children participated with many others in a candlelight vigil outside the US Consulate in an expression of mourning and solidarity with the families of the victims. For me, however, the most poignant and expressive responses to the disaster came from friends and students in the Bourj al-Barajneh refugee camp in Beirut, Lebanon a camp I have lived in for the past two summers as a volunteer English teacher. Its conditions, like those of the 11 other refugee camps in Lebanon, beggar description. One must simply wonder how human beings can allow their own brothers and sisters to languish in such hellish places, virtually forgotten by the outside world, without the most basic human rights.“All I want is to see peace around the world and no more bloodshed. Those who died in America are as innocent as those dying in Palestine,” wrote 19-year-old Zeinab in an email message immediately after hearing the news. Others echoed her words. “The news is terrible, so terrible,” wrote another student, Samer. “So many people have lost their lives. I am sorry and very, very sad.”A fifteen-year-old boy, Hassan, wrote less sympathetically. “I am sorry for what happened in America,” he said. “But I think your government brought it on itself by its bad policies. I don’t think such attacks will end.” Beautiful thirteen-year-old Hala added, “I am a little bit sad and a little bit angry. I am sad because of what happened in America, but angry because of what they say about us because we are Palestinian.”Omar, a quiet and studious young teenager, wrote to me from his home after seeing the news. “I know that we Palestinians will be blamed, but I don’t think people here will care. We are killed every day and after a while we stop being afraid or surprised. If we have something against the US it is the government not the people.” But his letter continues, “I’m sorry for what happened. Many people here were glad. I heard the sounds of guns and shouting when the news came out. They felt like now at last the Americans will understand what it means to suffer. I do not think this, though. I support you and I’m against what they are saying. You have to know that there are many people here who also feel sorry for what happened. I hate wars and I hate it when innocent people are killed. When I heard the news I sent messages to all my friends in the US. I’ve been writing to them a long time now. They know nothing about Palestine, but I think that they are lovely and friendly.”It was, however, my supervisor Amal, a woman in her forties with four sons, who best expressed the dual reactions I saw reflected in these writings; the genuine sorrow, on the one hand, for the suffering and death of so many individuals as the result of the bombings, and yet the anger, on the other, at the United States for what it has come to symbolize to them.“As I walked through the market, I saw people scurrying about rapidly and this is when I heard the news that ‘America has been bombed’. There was excitement in their voices. Finally the United States had gotten what it deserved! I was in complete shock. Never in my life had I expected to hear such a thing. I hurried home, wanting to learn more about the details of such a huge event in history. As I turned on the television, I felt a mix of exuberance and panic. I felt a strange satisfaction: the United States has put its dirty hands in many places, giving both military and economic assistance to some of the most horrible countries and terrorists in the world. It continues to oppress the Palestinians by denying us our basic rights while supporting vicious Ariel Sharon and his aim of ethnic cleansing all the Palestinians…. But now, without warning, their invincibility has been shattered. No longer can they stand tall with such arrogance.“But then, as I watched the events unfolding before my own eyes, my sense of satisfaction began to disappear. I had gotten caught up in the moment and was not paying attention to the actual calamity that had happened. I turned the volume up on the television and began to listen carefully to the full story and I was overwhelmed with horror and disbelief. Could it be true that these planes were filled with innocent passengers and that for no reason other than sheer evil they were all killed when the hijackers slammed into the buildings with thousands of people? My first reaction of glee disappeared into thin air. I felt no happiness at all. Instead I felt sick. For although I hate the government of the United States, I do not hate its people. I do not condone violence and although many of you [Americans] see my people and me as aggressors this is simply not the case. We too are victims. And we are human beings, and for this reason I am sorry.“Now, you may ask, is this is the opinion of only one woman? No. Many Palestinians believe that this action was wrong and we send our condolences to all of the families of the victims. We shall pray for the recovery of all those injured and, as we do this, we shall pray for peace.” *The Kahan Commission, set up after the Sabra and Chatila massacres to investigate what happened, found Ariel Sharon “personally responsible” for the killings (see report p.103). This was an Israeli commission.
