Global Policy Forum

By Miral Fahmy

If Washington and its Enemy Number One Osama bin Laden think they're winning over Arabs by pledging support for creation of a Palestinian state, they're probably both wrong.

Arabs have scoffed at what they see as the United States' sudden support for a long-sought Palestinian state, and many say they will only believe it when it happens.

They are just as skeptical about bin Laden's new-found espousal of the Palestinian cause, although analysts say his anti-U.S. rhetoric has struck a chord with ordinary Arabs angry at Washington's perceived bias toward Israel.

"We totally reject those who terrorize and harm innocent people and justify it in the name of Palestine," wrote Abdul Rahman al-Rashed, editor of the pan-Arab Asharq al-Awsat daily.

"We do not accept Palestine to be liberated by burning Jordan, or Lebanon, or Kuwait or Afghanistan, no matter how strongly we feel about this issue," he added.

Analysts say both the United States and bin Laden, who Washington believes masterminded last month's attacks on U.S cities, have tried to hijack the Palestinian cause to further their own goals.

President Bush and his ally British Prime Minister Tony Blair have spoken in support of a Palestinian state, hoping to win Arab and Muslim support for their military campaign against bin Laden and his Taliban protectors in Afghanistan.

They have also made clear that they believe Islam to be a religion of tolerance, not terrorism, despite heightened anti-Arab and anti-Muslim sentiment in their countries.

PROPAGANDA WAR

But bin Laden's videotaped warning that "America will not live in peace before peace reigns in Palestine," which seared itself on thousands of sympathetic Muslim minds, was definitely a decisive blow in the propaganda war, the analysts said. "What you're hearing from bin Laden is clearly propaganda, but why does it work?" asked Ali al-Ansari, lecturer of Middle Eastern political history at Britain's Durham University.

"He sees discontentment (about the Palestinian issue), and he exploits it very well...In a way he is preaching to the converted and reinforcing the message many believe anyway."

Bin Laden also came up trumps by playing on the fact that successive U.S. administrations have often stood by Israel at the expense of Arab interests.

"Bin Laden's idea that the Muslims have been victimized for a long time is a strong propaganda weapon. Even though he wrapped up the idea in religious rhetoric, most Arabs share the same feelings," said Rachid Kchena, editor of the Tunisian opposition Al-Mawqef newspaper.

Long accustomed to fighting for their beliefs in an often unsympathetic West, Arabs now see Western respect for their faith and the cause closest to their heart as sheer hypocrisy.

In Lebanon, Sheikh Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, an authority for Shi'ite Muslims, called the U.S. support for the Palestinians "a transparent bid to win Muslim backing."

"Washington is trying to flatter and deceive the Arabs and Muslim masses by playing on their emotions and sentiments," he declared in his weekly sermon.

Across the Middle East, many Arabs echoed similar comments.

"It is very offending to many Muslims to see Bush and Blair pretending to understand Islam and pretending to understand our concerns," said Ali Sayed, an Omani civil servant.

"They think that we are stupid...They don't do this out of love for us or for Islam. They need the support of our leaders."

Many Arabs also see right through bin Laden, even if his rhetoric is easier to identify with.

"Bin Laden never spoke about Palestine before...now he is trying to capitalize on it. He tricks no one," said Fahd Fanek, a Jordanian analyst. "There is some sympathy for him among ordinary Arabs, but this sympathy is ineffective. There has been no mass movement in the Arab street." In Cairo, the most populous Arab city, many Egyptians shared the same conviction.

"(The United States) will probably change its mind," said pharmacist Sawsan Alfy. "When everything is over, it will blame the Palestinians as usual and say it is not up to the United States to interfere in Israeli-Palestinian affairs."

But she also said: "Bin Laden is harming the Palestinian cause. No one accepts harming innocent people. That makes bin Laden no different from (Israeli Prime Minister) Ariel Sharon."

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