Arab Attitudes on Mideast Change
By HAMZA HENDAWI
September 28, 2002, 6:46 AM EDT
CAIRO, Egypt -- For most Arabs, the suicide bomber has replaced the stone-throwing youngster as the defining symbol of Palestinian resistance.
Two years into the latest bout of Israeli-Palestinian violence, Arab attitudes toward the century-old conflict have fundamentally changed.
Gone is the optimism of the mid-1990s when peace seemed a realistic proposition. In its place is the bitter enmity of old -- and new acceptance of a tactic that was once the subject of considerable debate.
From Casablanca on Africa's Atlantic coast to the Strait of Hormuz at the mouth of the Gulf, suicide bombers are being portrayed as the ultimate Palestinian heroes. Their attacks have even prompted celebrations in some Arab countries.
The Arab-Israeli fight "remains the main conflict pitting Muslims against non-Muslims," says Dia'a Rashwan, a senior researcher at Cairo's Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies.
"No other issue enjoys that consensus among Muslims," he said.
The fighting began Sept. 28, 2000 when Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, then Israel's opposition leader, visited the most-disputed site in Jerusalem. Jews refer to it as the Temple Mount and Palestinians call it the Haram as-Sharif mosque complex.
Rioting spread through the West Bank and Gaza Strip and it soon became known as the second "intefadeh," following a 1987-1993 uprising that helped lead to interim peace accords between Arabs and Israelis.
Two years on, more than 1,800 Palestinians have been killed, prompting growing calls around the Muslim world for jihad, or Islamic holy struggle. At least 620 Israelis have died as well, scores of them killed by suicide bombings, which Israel views as acts of terrorism.
Angered by TV images of Israeli soldiers firing away at Palestinian targets, often with the latest U.S.-made weapons, Arabs have taken to the streets in numbers not seen in decades. In protest after protest around the Middle East, they have proclaimed their support for the intefadeh, criticized their governments for not doing enough for the Palestinians and blasted the United States for backing Israel.
In the conservative Gulf, where Saudi Arabia and its small Gulf allies are ranked among Washington's closest Arab allies, tens of millions of dollars have been donated to Palestinian charities over the past two years.
Palestinian flags and stickers saying "Jerusalem is ours" and depicting Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock, Islam's third holiest shrine, can be found in many homes and on cars across the oil-rich region. Some in the Gulf are boycotting U.S. products, accusing Washington of blind support of Israel.
In response, Arab leaders, including those of close U.S. allies like Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, have hardened their own rhetoric against Israel and Washington, hoping to ride at the wave of popular anger, which has distracted from troubles at home.
"The Arab world is drowning in its own problems. It's the Arabs that need help to stand up to their authoritarian regimes," said Ali Jarbawi, a political scientist who lectures at Birzeit University in the West Bank.
Egypt and Jordan, which signed peace treaties with Israel in 1979 and 1994 respectively, have had to deal with the largest and most violent of the anti-Israeli protests.
But leaders like Egypt's Hosni Mubarak, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler Crown Prince Abdullah remain firmly committed to the principle of negotiations to end the conflict with the United States as the main broker and guarantor.
In a case illustrating the limits of the Egyptian government's tolerance for support of the Palestinians, a military court convicted 51 men Sept. 9 on charges that included illegally raising funds for the militant Hamas group, which is responsible for most of the dozens of suicide attacks against Israelis.
"We expected support from the Arabs, specially from Jordan and Egypt because of their proximity, but we at the end realized that the abilities of the two peoples to maneuver are limited under repressive regimes, the same as elsewhere in the Arab world," said Abdul-Sattar Qassim, a lecturer at al-Nagah University in the West Bank who plans to run for the presidency of the Palestinian Authority.
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