No contest in the battle for Arab hearts and minds
Special report: George Bush's America
Brian Whitaker and Suzanne
Goldenberg in Jerusalem
Monday February 19, 2001
The Guardian
In the Middle East, Saddam Hussein
appeared to have won the public relations
battle yesterday in the aftermath of the
US-British air strikes on radar stations
around Baghdad.
Western arguments that the attacks were
necessary to protect patrols in the no-fly
zones have cut little ice with Arab leaders
or the public, allowing President Saddam
Hussein once again to portray himself as
victim rather than aggressor.
Egypt described the strikes as "a serious
negative step" which endangered Iraq's
"safety and sovereignty" and could not be
justified.
In 1991 Egypt provided troops for the
international coalition against Iraq's
occupation of Kuwait and helped to
ensure that other Arab countries
supported the effort.
The Egyptian foreign minister, Amr
Moussa, said Friday's attack could
undermine talks on resuming weapons
inspections and lifting UN sanctions on
Iraq. The talks are due to begin on
February 26.
In the West Bank, hundreds of
Palestinians took to the streets within
minutes of the air strikes, and television
reported protests in Ramallah, Tulkaram,
Qalqiliya and other towns.
In the four-month uprising, Saddam
Hussein has been held up as a heroic
figure for Palestinians. He has sent
payments of $10,000 (about £7,000) to
the families of every "martyr" and $1,000
to those wounded by Israeli gunfire.
At the weekend, some analysts predicted
that the attack near Baghdad could
ratchet up the rhetoric of war, feeding into
the tense situation that has seen the
uprising in the West Bank and Gaza
intensify since the election of the hardline
Ariel Sharon as Israel's prime minister.
Iraq launched 39 Scud missiles at Israel
during the 1990-91 Gulf war, but
yesterday official Israeli reaction to the
attack was relatively muted.
The outgoing prime minister, Ehud Barak,
said: "Israel need not take any steps at
the current stage." Reports said Israel had
no prior notice.
Arab citizens in Israel protested against
the US and British air strikes in front of
the US consulate in Jerusalem. Placards
read: "From Baghdad to Gaza, we are all
one people."
Syria, Qatar, Jordan, Yemen and Algeria
also criticised or condemned the attack.
Jordan's foreign minister, Abdulilah
al-Khatib, was quoted by the state news
agency, Petra, as saying that the
western-imposed no-fly zones in Iraq were
illegal.
"Jordan has always rejected the use of
force and violation of the sovereignty and
territorial integrity of Iraq and always calls
for an end to all acts that take place
outside the framework of UN resolutions,"
he said.
Yemen described the raids as "a
dangerous development that threatens the
security and stability of the Gulf region"
which violated UN resolutions.
Several Iraqi opposition groups joined the
chorus of criticism. Libeid Abbawi of the
Damascus-based Iraqi Communist party
said the air strikes "would never help our
people in their struggle against the
dictatorship but would rather foment Arab
feelings against the United States".
Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, the Arab
countries with most to fear from Iraq and
which provide the US and Britain with
facilities for patrolling the southern no-fly
zone, made no immediate comment.
Meanwhile, a prominent Saudi
businessman, Abdul-Aziz Mohammed
al-Rafidi, complained: "Bush has
uncovered his ugly face and all the hate
and spite he has for the Arabs."
In Baghdad, one of the official
newspapers, al-Qadissiya, declared that
the reason for the attack was Iraq's
support for the Palestinian uprising
against Israel.
But while state-run TV showed homes and
shops said to have been damaged in the
raids, protests in the Iraqi capital were
curiously small: more than 2,000 people,
including the deputy foreign minister,
Nabil Najim, protested in central Baghdad
and at least 1,000 others gathered across
the city near the offices of the ruling
al-Baath party.
"This dangerous aggression shows how
much the Americans and Britons hate
Iraqis and do not respect any international
law," Mr Najim told the crowd
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