Al-Ahram Weekly Online 11 - 17 October 2001 Issue No.555
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875		Current issue | Previous issue | Site map

Out of balance

If there is a lesson the US must learn, and learn quickly, it is that the assault on Afghanistan will only alienate it further from Arabs and Muslims everywhere, and antagonise even moderates in most developing countries.

This is why President Mubarak urged the US to take effective steps to resolve the Palestinian question; this, he explained, is the surest means of combating terror. "We believe such a solution is of key importance to drying up the sources of terrorism," Mubarak explained.

Moderate governments cannot afford to alienate their peoples by appearing to support the American and British attacks on the hapless people of Afghanistan. Osama Bin Laden has stepped up his war of words, calling for a jihad against the US. He is urging Muslims to take up arms, and many may heed his call.

Bin Laden's message, calculated to appeal to the widest possible segment of oppressed opinion, touched a real chord. The fight against the US, he assured his Arab and Muslim viewers, was being waged to liberate Palestine and avenge Iraq; America, he added, must not be allowed to enjoy peace until the long-suffering Palestinian people are free from Israeli occupation, and until innocent Iraqi children are no longer suffering under the merciless American and British onslaught.

While Muslim and Christian Arabs alike are outraged at the injustices visited upon Palestine and Iraq, however, they do not necessarily agree with the logical leap Bin Laden makes in implying that revenge attacks are effective, morally or politically. Nor will they all condone his denunciation of the Arab regimes as "morally corrupt." There are genuine fears across the region about the possibility of direct conflict between highly organised militant Islamist groups and the security forces. If the US does not review its foreign policy, it will be risking not only the lives of its innocent civilians, but the very survival of moderate governments in the region.

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